Computer Wont Boot

[BrknFngrs]

I'm hoping someone here might be able to help me figure out what could have happened to my media centre computer. Everything has worked great since I've owned the machine, no known issues and I used it yesterday without incident.

Today I went to start it up and it got to the bios screen (I think? The screen that shows the motherboards name and an Asus graphic, model #, etc) Usually it will show this screen for a few seconds only but it seemed to get hung up so I restarted it. After this nothing shows up on the screen at all.

I've tried a new HDMI cable, tried display port instead of HDMI, tried resetting the computer, resetting the TV (incase it was a maybe a HDCP issue?) and I tried running it though my receiver and then into my TV to see if I could hear the windows startup sounds; all unsuccessful.

When I click the power button all fans spin up, LEDs on the motherboard light up like normal, I can open and close the bluray drive and there is no obviously awful noises, etc.

Any ideas what could be wrong? Did my boot drive maybe die?

[gt2871r]

Originally posted by BrknFngrs
I'm hoping someone here might be able to help me figure out what could have happened to my media centre computer. Everything has worked great since I've owned the machine, no known issues and I used it yesterday without incident.

Today I went to start it up and it got to the bios screen (I think? The screen that shows the motherboards name and an Asus graphic, model #, etc) Usually it will show this screen for a few seconds only but it seemed to get hung up so I restarted it. After this nothing shows up on the screen at all.

I've tried a new HDMI cable, tried display port instead of HDMI, tried resetting the computer, resetting the TV (incase it was a maybe a HDCP issue?) and I tried running it though my receiver and then into my TV to see if I could hear the windows startup sounds; all unsuccessful.

When I click the power button all fans spin up, LEDs on the motherboard light up like normal, I can open and close the bluray drive and there is no obviously awful noises, etc.

Any ideas what could be wrong? Did my boot drive maybe die?

How many memory modules are in the computer?

If you have two, you could try each of them one at a time. This would identify if a faulty stick of memory is causing your PC to not be able to post.

It does sound like your motherboard could be toast though, which you can't really test for unless you have alternate components.

[CompletelyNumb]

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbysymptom/ht/nothingonscreen.htm

A few things to try.

[BrknFngrs]

Thanks for the quick replies guys.

I reseated all the ram and also removed the battery on the mobo, left it out for a few minutes and replaced it. After doing this it seemed to boot up normally.

Not sure what this means? Should I be looking to backup important files ASAP or possibly do some kind of system test? Is it possible I maybe reset the computer when the Mobo was auto-updating or something?

[AE92_TreunoSC]

It's a hardware failure not a hard drive issue.

Removing the bios battery simply resets the mobo back to factory settings in most cases. Perhaps an old setting finally caused issues, or one became corrupt.

Loose ram can cause this issue as well.

Next time it happens, do one troubleshoot at a time and try to boot.

A Motherboard BIOS update would be my next step personally.

[gt2871r]

Originally posted by BrknFngrs
Thanks for the quick replies guys.

I reseated all the ram and also removed the battery on the mobo, left it out for a few minutes and replaced it. After doing this it seemed to boot up normally.

Not sure what this means? Should I be looking to backup important files ASAP or possibly do some kind of system test? Is it possible I maybe reset the computer when the Mobo was auto-updating or something?

I wouldn't worry about backing up files, although its always a good idea to back up anything important to you. The problem does not sound hard drive related at all though, so don't be too concerned about losing your data.

[BrknFngrs]

Thanks again for the input, seems to be working now and I'll look into a motherboard bios update.

[Seth1968]

I wouldn't update the motherboard (BIOS) unless there was a specific need to do so. In other words, unless you have a problem that can be definitively traced back to the BIOS, then don't fix what isn't broke. The BIOS is too critical to the functioning of the computer to be haphazardly messing with.

In addition, all electronic and mechanical components begin to "fail" from the moment they're first turned on. Even a new hard drive can fail within days, so keep your important data backed up.