PC Help- Mobo dead. I give up.

[SpaceBooger]

My old PC died and I'm trying to fix it. The computer would power up but not boot. I thought it was the processor (Phenom X4) so I bought a cheap Athlon 64 processor to see if it was the processor.
The PC has 2x2GB and 2x1GB DDR2 ram. I tried all of the memory and all but one boots the PC up with the Athlon. Thinking it was the memory I tried the Phenom again and it wouldn't boot up with any of the memory.
It never booted up with any of the memory and the Phenom, so I put the Athlon back in and now it wont boot with more than one of the three working memory in it. I tried just the 2x2GB in all possible positions - both in the same same channel and one in each. No combination of more than one module works.
Any suggestions? I really want to use this with my geforce 8800gt as a replacement for my MAME cab... help please.

EDIT: Here is the motherboard: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/docu ... lc=en#N149

[CRTGAMER]

1. Make sure the bus speed and memory jumpers are set to whatever memory you have plugged in. Verify the memory speed and size are matched to your motherboard.

2. Unplug and replug every wire connection from the motherboard and drives. Hit the drive read write cables first, sometimes they act up.

[SpaceBooger]

1. Make sure the bus speed and memory jumpers are set to whatever memory you have plugged in. Verify the memory speed and size are matched to your motherboard.

2. Unplug and replug every wire connection from the motherboard and drives. Hit the drive read write cables first, sometimes they act up.

The memory is the same ones that came with the machine. It just booted once with all four in... now it wont boot again. Maybe it is the motherboard.

[Anapan]

I've been thinking of buying a motherboard diagnostic card. They're really cheap ($2 - $20 on Ebay and Deal Extreme). They can test almost all motherboard components via a PCI slot- sorta like those OBD2 scanners that test vehicle computers. You can also get power-suppy testers that connect directly to the PC's power supply and give a more detailed analysis of it's health than those PCI cards do. It's good to have the correct tools.

[JGBtypeR]

Take a look at all the capacitors on there and make sure none are bulging or leaking.

[SpaceBooger]

Now it seems that if I reset the cmos (by taking the battery out) I can boot to the bios/os once. But if I restart it does nothing... not even post.

I did try years ago to replace the motherboard, that didn't work... so I'm thinking its the processor. The old phenom wont boot at all no matter what. The Athlon does after cmos reset.

I also found a bios update that looks to deal with this problem, but you have to install it from windows. I do not have windows installed on the hd yet... I don't know if I can if it won't reboot. Anyone know of a way to install a bios without windows or a HD intalled?

[Hobie-wan]

Windows BIOS updates are cool, but you're sure there's no old school floppy version or one that can be burned on a CD that you then boot off?

[SpaceBooger]

Windows BIOS updates are cool, but you're sure there's no old school floppy version or one that can be burned on a CD that you then boot off?

Right now I used this to make a usb drive bootable in dos: http://www.cybernetman.com/kb/index.cfm ... icleId/162
And using AFUDOS to flash the BIOS.

I successfully updated the bios, but it didn't work.

I have the jumper for clearing the cmos set and if I clear the cmos I can boot. I can't reboot unless I clear the cmos again.

I am at a loss... If I clear the cmos I can boot. I cant find any settings there to change it seems to automatically detect everything.

[SpaceBooger]

Ok, now I feel stupid. I ordered the Athlon 64 4400+ since it was the same socket (AM2) and it was $7 shipped. I just wanted to know if the problem was the mobo or the cpu. I never thought that getting an underpowered cpu of the same socket type wouldn't work. After five hours of doing everything I could, I stumbled upon this page that clearly states that the mobo will only accept Athlon Dual Core CPUs. Today I will be getting my hands on a AMD Athlon 4450B Dual Core processor and try that this afternoon.

[Hobie-wan]

Derp, forgot about USB stick options as I've never needed to boot a PC from USB. Glad you found an option to investigate.