This morning as is my custom, I got up, got a cup of coffee and sat down to read the library and forum updates. I then used my computer for a couple of hours for some MSWord documentation work. No problems whatsoever. Everything worked perfectly as it has for some months if not years. Then, I went outside to shovel and plow snow for a couple of hours, which is not one of my favorite things as an old gulf coast guy. (West Virginia snow thanks to my neighbor's lake effect snow from the Great lake area).When I finished outside, I came back in to do some more computer work. The three computer screens were blank, so I assumed as per normal procedure the computer was in standby. Clicked my mouse. Nothing. Clicked my space bar. Nothing. Wouldn't reset for a warm restart so tried a cold one. Nothing. Unplugged the computer and went to eat at my wife's call. Returned and tried another startup, nothing.I then disconnected all hardware except the power supply, motherboard, CPU, Primary Harddrive, and Video card. Still nothing.Switched my 6800XT AGP video card for a PCI card I usually use for a third monitor. Still nothing.Unplugged the harddrive. Still no bootup/error screen. No display at all at any time.With my DVD/CDROM unit plugged in, it blinks normally for startup a few times. The HD light comes on immediately when the power button is pressed and stays on indefinitely. With the DVD/CDROM unit disconnected, the HD light blinks on immediately after power is applied, and then goes out permanently.All Power supply voltages read correctly.With only the power supply, motherboard, CPU and video card installed (with or without the primary harddrive), does anyone know of anything else that might cause this malfunction except the CPU and/or Motherboard?Honest everybody. In spite of the fact that I already have a new upgrade already priced out and confess I have the bug (FSX DX10 Ready), I did not originate a virtual boo boo to convince my wife (or in reality myself) to spend the money. My intentions were to wait a few months to see what fell out relative to patches, Vista, DX10 and hopefully progress (of which I am somewhat apprehensive). Looks like I may have little choice though.Any ideas?RTHSystem components:WinXPProASUS P4C800 Deluxe MBIntel Pentium 3.2 Socket 478Zalman CNPS7700-CU RT CPU Fan3GB 400 Memory (Paired sticks)6800XT AGP Video with 3rd party coolingDiamond Stealth III S540 VideoTwo each Viewsonic Pro Series P815 21" MonitorOne each 17: CTX MonitorSB Audigy2.ZS Sound BoardTwo each Seagate 80GB SATA HD'sTwo each Seagate 80GB IDE HD'sAbove four HD's originally RAID0 Array now BackupsOne each Seagate 250GB IDE HD (Original backup, now primary)One each Seagate 30GB SCSI HD BackupOne LG DVD/CD Writer/ReaderOne LG CDROM DriveOne PlusDeck 2C Tape driveOne Std. Floppy DriveOne cordless Logitech MouseOne Std. KeyboardOne Epson Profection 2480 Photo ScannerOne Konica Minolta MagiColor 2400W Laser PrinterOne TI Microlaser Plus PrinterMicrosoft OfficeFSXFS9And a mess of other software, all in use for many months, if not years with no problemsPossible new system in question:Asus P5N-E-SLI MotherboardCore 2 Duo E6600 (Possibly E6700)4GB Kingston KVR800D2N5/1G Memory8800GTX Primary Video7950GT Secondary VideoThermaltake 750 Watt Power SupplyNew Tower Case

It's hard to diagose those type of problems without sitting in front of your computer.I would check the following:a) Reset your CMOS. You can find instruction on how to do that in the manual of your mainboard.:( Check the memory. Maybe some of your sticks got corrupted. Very likely, if your BIOS doesn't even show up.c) HDD fried. Could be a possibility. Try unplugging the HDD and boot.d) Mainboard fried. But somewhat unlikely.e) Fan fried and CPU overheated.Are there any unusual or grinding sounds? Do all your fans work? All connections snug? Do you hear the HDD spinning up?Good luck!Pat

I've seen dead hard drives do that. But I've also seen dead motherboards do that.Do you have power spikes or surges in your area? Was there a power failure or blink about that time? I understand, you may not know if you were outside plowing snow. Sometimes those can send shaky hardware over the edge.As was said it's hard to say exactly what the problem is being remote...Regarding your proposed system build:If you don't need SLI, don't worry about getting the 2nd video card. It certainly won't do much in FS. On the other hand, you might want to run secondary displays in which case that might be of some benefit.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2310 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 2.5-3-3-8 (1T), WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian case

Hello Pat.Thanks for the reply.a) I reset the CMOS. No cigar I am afraid.:( I have a matched pair of 1GB memory, and a second matched pair of 512MB memory as per the configuration specified in my Motherboard manual. I would think that all four sticks would not be corrupt, so I tried several combinations within the MB specifications. Tried just the 512's which have been in for years. I then tried just the 1GB sticks. No luck I am afraid. I tried singles, but I am not sure that is even supposed to work. I also switched slots (within the specs).c)As mentioned in my previous post, I tried disconnecting all hard drives, and also tried with a different primary harddrive. My backup SCSI has another installation of WinXP Pro on it which I never use unless I am troubleshooting something. Unfortunately, this time I can't get far enough to implement it. The problem is upstream of windows startup.d)I have a gigantic third party CPU fan as also mentioned in my original post. It, my four case fans, and the third party video card cooler with four more small fans are all going strong. The highest CPU temp I have observed since installing these has been in the mid 30's to about 40 degrees C (When running FS9 with all kinds of things implemented. To my surprise, FSX runs a little cooler but of course there are few adders involved for FSX).AS per Rhett's suggestion, I will try a different Motherboard tomorrow. I just dread having to take the CPU out and reinstall it.Thanks again for the kind help.RTH

Thanks for the reply Rhett:I am afraid I cannot get anything to show on a monitor with other harddrives, or no harddrive. Unless I am mistaken, even with no harddrive, one should get a bootup display that will evolve into an error message saying there is not bootup device.No power problems. While I was outside playing in the snow, my wife and daughter had two other computers going strong inside with no knowledge of any glitches.The only reason I am not interested in SLI is that I understand that it negates multiple monitors. I usually implement a whole series of secondary windows. Throttle quadrants, GPS, Radio Stacks etc. on the secondary. On the third monitor I usually leave FSNAV displayed (FS9 only darn it). If implementing VATSIM, a whole new scenario is in use. In fact, with the new system, I will probably add a forth 21" monitor I have in storage.I have another duplicate Motherboard that if I remember correctly had other problems long ago on another system (instigated by Roger I hate to confess). However, if I remember correctly, I was able to get a bootup display. I will try that later. I have had about all the pain I can stand for today.I appreciate the help.RTH

Before you try a new motherboard, if you have a spare Power supply kicking around, try swapping that out first. Even though everything seems to check out power wise, you never know.My daughters computer was off one morning(its usually left on all the time), and wouldn't boot up. The lights and fans came on, but it wouldn't boot. My computer also crapped out overnight as well. It turned out that it was her power supply, and it was my mother board that fried. I put my power supply in her computer, and all was well. There must have been a lightning strike or a power surge overnight that caused the problems. Both computers were plugged into cheap power bars. I learned my lesson after that escapade, and now have good quality surge protectors.Bill

>>I am afraid I cannot get anything to show on a monitor with>other harddrives, or no harddrive. Unless I am mistaken, even>with no harddrive, one should get a bootup display that will>evolve into an error message saying there is not bootup>device.>That is right. Usually when a hard drive goes out, you at least get thru the bios POST screens at the beginning.We've lost the hd's on two workstation systems recently, and in both cases the machines booted to POST screens but then when they tried to load the OS, nothing happened.>No power problems. While I was outside playing in the snow, my>wife and daughter had two other computers going strong inside>with no knowledge of any glitches.>Still, if you have a spare power supply around, I'd put it in there, as per the other advice.Sometimes what is a power spike to one computer, doesn't affect the other computers, or lights, or anything. Weak hardware is more susceptible to power anomalies.>>I have another duplicate Motherboard that if I remember>correctly had other problems long ago on another system>(instigated by Roger I hate to confess). However, if I>remember correctly, I was able to get a bootup display. I will>try that later. I have had about all the pain I can stand for>today.>Another thing I'd try, because it's easy, is to put another video card in the machine and try to boot it. I've seen dead vid cards do what you describe, too.For sure a dead motherboard can cause a comp to not even hit the boot screens. I had one of those too, and the computer would turn on, but the hd light, etc. just stayed on. The motherboard power indicator light was also lit. It was getting juice, but the board itself was french toast.Yep, I know how aggravating it can be. Sometimes I get aggravated to the point where I don't mess with it for about 3 days.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2310 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 2.5-3-3-8 (1T), WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian case

I had a similar problem several years ago when I put a system together. I had everything working but occasionally the screen would go blank when rebooting. I'd reboot and I'd get everything working again. I decided to read the instructions for my Intel MB to see if I missed anything. Sure enough I did. There was an additional socket which provides additional power for my graphics card as the video card slot didn't provide enough power for the modern graphics cards. Plugged it in and never had any further problems. After West VA, the clipper continued to Virginia and I got about an inch to shovel. This is my 3d week of confinement from visiting my favorite golf course. Looks like at least another week of confinement....Best regards,Jim

Hello Rhett:Unfortunately the only spare Power Supply I have does not have the P4 jack, which if I am not mistaken would give exactly the same indications I am getting. Next Monday (weather permitting) my wife is going out of town. I probably will swipe her computer and do a bit of patching (Power Supply, then possibly Motherboard and CPU. Unfortunately, her's is an AMD, so I cannot isolate the CPU. I am tempted to just buy a low level CPU for test purposes as I see they are as low as $25 or so, but I am about through with cutting into money that could be applied to an upgrade. I have considered taking an intermediate step and purchasing an ASRock 775Dual-VSTA LGA 775 Motherboard and E6600 CPU. I would only be out $58 considering that I could retain the rest of my hardware, and then already have the purchase of the E6600 for a future upgrade if and when that took place.I have already tried another video card. Same result I hate to say.I tried an old motherboard, but it is somewhat suspect itself, and I have to confess that I know exactly why with it (No relationship to the cause of the present problems).I think I am going to sleep on it until next week.Thanks for the advice.RTH

Hello Jim:I have the additional power plugged into my video card. Of course this situation is a little bit different from yours as everything had been working flawlessly for months with no modifications taking place. All at once, the problem raised its head with no provocation at all to my knowledge. I also tried an older PCi Card that requires no Aux.Power.Weather is beautiful here now, but still cold. Sure makes one look forward to spring.Thanks for the input.RTH

Thanks for the advice Bill:Tomorrow morning while my wife is out for a while, I will swipe her computer and give it a try. She has an AMD motherboard, so I don't remember whether the PS has the P4 connection or not, but I will take a peek. I have another in a box, but I know it lacks that connection. If that fails, I will try my daughter's. I know it has it hanging loose as it is also an AMD system and makes no use of that provision. I put her PS in my system when I upgraded some years ago. Made the old mistake of getting high wattage without paying attention to quality. FS kept failing. Got a good name brand unit and all problems disappeared (until now). Without anything too demanding (which fits my daughter's use) it works fine, so I will give it a try.All motherboard components show no visable damage (I realize that may or may not mean anything). I wish I had another compatible CPU to check that.Again, thanks for the suggestions.RTH

One other thing to try. I, too, had the same problem a few months back. My son the-computer-guru told me to unhook the flat screens and hook up my old CRT monitor. Sure enough, the error message from the post failure was visible on the CRT. Why the message didn't show on a flat screen is beyond me but he says they always keep a CRT-based monitor at work just to use in cases like this. A long shot but who knows...Doug

Thanks Doug:I am afraid all three of my monitors are CRT's.Regards:RTH

Last time I saw this, it was the power supply on my daughters computer. I happened to have a spare and all was well.Did you also reset the bios by moving the jumper? That is another problem that is common that it is not properly reset. Place the jumper for a couple of minutes to be sure it resets. Unplug the power first before you do it.

Hello John:Afraid I have tried both along with everything else I can think of.Did the same thing with a power supply that is working in another computer. I tried resetting the CMOS by moving the jumper. I even changed the battery and tried again.While I was at it, I put my video card in another computer and it displays fine. I think we are down to the motherboard or CPU. The MB, CPU, power supply, video card and monitor hookup are all that I ended up useing in my last attempts. A different power supply did no good. I know the video card and monitor hookup are ok. I am afraid I refuse to replace either (with the same CPU or MB) as I would prefer to use those dollars in an upgrade,although I am tempted to get the lowest level 478 socket CPU just to isolate that possibility ($23 to $26). If that cured the problem, I would transfer the present Motherboard and the new low level CPU to another computer, and go for a total upgrade on mine.As soon as I can get a couple of video card questions answered (other posts), I think I will go for broke. My wife is tired of me working on this, and says get a new system!Thanks again:RTH