Won't boot/freezes

[RandomZero]

Motherboard: Intel db43nb

CPU: Intel E5300

PSU: Sparkle Power 400w

RAM: Corsair CM2x1024-5400C4

OS: Ubuntu 14

GPU: Dedicated

Problem: A few weeks ago the pc was freezing randomly, so I'd hard restart to get it back up. Did this more and more frequently until it started freezing in the bios. I finally got around to troubleshooting it and found that the onboard video no longer works, or at least just shows a black screen. When I initially took it apart to troubleshoot, I noticed the CPU cooler (stock) was just kind of hanging there with one mount pin connected so I'm inclined to believe the CPU is fried, or it's just old and decided to die on me because I've had this running almost 24/7 for about 6 years but I just want a second opinion. I have tested it with an nvidia 750TI and that does work, however the mobo just beeps constantly (continuous beep without pause) and doesn't do anything past the bios. If I just turn it on without using the 750TI, it sounds as if it is booting up (no bios beeps, just the regular boot up sounds), but doesn't respond to SSH connections or anything over the network.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Have you tested ram in anouther system?

 

Probably a bad board. Time to get a new system.

[Wrb]

It's probably either the CPU or motherboard so do you have any spare kit to test out other parts on?

 

Also, that power supply's name made me laugh!

[Ryujin2003]

Did you clean up the old thermal paste, reapply and reapply the heatsink?

[EPPHO]

Reset bios

[RandomZero]

No other system to test the RAM in, I did however have some extra sticks lying around (not sure if they work or not though). I did reset the BIOS, made no difference. I was able to kind of get it to post again, it went to a part that said SMBios table mismatch but stopped responding to anything there. Had to hard reboot and it went back to not displaying anything but sounding like it was booting normally.

 

I also did clean up and reapply the thermal paste when I put the heatsink back on.

 

I too had a laugh at the PSU name, I couldn't remember so I went to check it out when I first made this post and laughed when I saw it. Hilarious name.

[NeoFrux]

Wow that's an old system. We used to put together stuff with Sparkle (SPI) PSU's 10 years ago, and they were ironically one of the better ones we had. That said, I had a higher-end one in my personal system and one night it decided to die on me and take my mobo with it. Neeeeever purchased a PSU with less than a 5 year warranty since.

 

Anyway, this really could be any number of issues, but with the heat sink having come loose like that for who knows how long, my guess is the biggest issue is the CPU probably having gone belly-up. The PSU is definitely old enough now that it's not going to be outputting steady power, and with a motherboard that old, I almost expect it to have bad capacitors by age alone.

 

Couple things to try would be to try POSTing without the RAM in at all and see if you get a POST error, clear the CMOS, and if you've got one, try a different PSU just to see if that makes any difference.

[RandomZero]

Yeah I'm surprised it's lasted this long. I still have the invoice in my email dated 10/2009. There was a period of time where it wasn't running I think but it's been on, tucked away doing it's thing since.

 

I tested it with no RAM, unfortunately there wasn't any beeps and no video.