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My brother's friend accidentally kicked the computer while bouncing up and down on a large ball (kids ), and the comp froze while in Windows. My bro then turned it off. Upon turning it on again, there's no video. Again and again and again, never any video. First, a history of this comp and quick specs:

-2.26 ghz P4, WinXP
-I built it using the rare, yet fast, yet problematic RDRAM (512mb) & compatible ASUS motherboard
-Comp always had to be turned on twice to get video, sometimes more... BIOS says wrong CPU setting but it's really an instability issue involving the RAM
-Comp works great once powered up... RAM performs with impressive speed

Here's what I've done to try to figure out why the comp is dead:

-Removed BIOS battery, waited 2 minutes, put battery back in
-Still dead
-Removed CPU heatsink, removed mounds of dust from it
-Removed CPU, looked at it, put it back in, put heatsink back on
-Still dead, but getting BIOS beep language now (dunno why now and not before)
-Long repeating beeps mean no RAM installed or detected
-Rearranged RAM four times, comp still dead every time
-After second rearrangement, stopped getting BIOS beep language
-Removed BIOS battery, waited 2 minutes, put battery back in
-Still no beep language, comp still dead

I'm just struggling with the concept that kicking the computer can ruin the RAM. I've heard of hard drives dying from shock but not RAM (hopefully the HD survived in this case... won't know until comp works again). But I'm confident that this is a BIOS/motherboard/RAM problem based on the diagnostics performed. If the CPU was dead the BIOS would pop up on the screen and say so. The comp was unstable before at power-up, so I'm thinking this kick pushed it over the edge. But before I look into getting a replacement P4 motherboard with the typical SDRAM I just want a second opinion. Are you also confident that replacing these components will get the thing running again? Thanks in advance.

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FFXI (Siren server)
Tauu the Windurstian Tarutaru!
White Mage & Paladin

Best way to tell if it's RAM is just plug some other RAM in its place that's known to work. If it still doesn't work, then it's not the RAM. If it does, then it's the RAM.

And if it's not the RAM, it could actually be the motherboard, though I kinda doubt it. :-/

Also, try checking the power supply, just in case 'cause you never know...

...

Hell, it could be a lot of things. If worse comes to worse, ask Soup or Tommah or take it to a shop.

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~Status Report~

* Completed... Dragon's Head
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* In Progress/Undecided... Of Love and Betrayal
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Since it's an odd type of RAM, I don't have any compatible memory in other computers to swap in.

The power supply appears to be functioning properly, since the comp does turn on and the drives light up and all. But swapping in another power supply for test is doable. Perhaps the motherboard isn't getting the power it needs.

Quote

take it to a shop.

I can see it now...

"You need a new motherboard and memory because your memory is shot, and you won't find RDRAM anywhere, so you need a new motherboard with DDR memory. The motherboard is $35 and the RAM is $65, plus $80 for service for a total of $180, if you wanted us to fix it for you. If not then it's just $50 for the diagnostic service."



This post has been edited by i90east on 23rd May 2005 03:55

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FFXI (Siren server)
Tauu the Windurstian Tarutaru!
White Mage & Paladin

Yeah, you will get stiffed if you can't do it yourself, but you do get what you pay for, y'know.

It might be a better idea to just switch to DDR until Rambus gets where its cheap, easy, and affordable too.

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~Status Report~

* Completed... Dragon's Head
* Completed... Soldiers of the Empire: Disciples (release pending)
* In Progress/Undecided... Of Love and Betrayal
* Planning/Assembly... Where it all Began

Why would you need compatible ram? Just stick the stick of ram in another PC on its own. If nothing's detected, there's your problem. Otherwise, the two most likely causes are the power supply not delivering power properly to your components or the mobo being damaged (that would have to be a pretty solid hit to damage the mobo though; your HD's platters would come unhinged before the mobo would crack from the case being hit, but then again you never know.)

Not every store is going to abuse your trust. Find a reliable one you trust and stop being such a corporation-hating hippie Getting a professional to look at it if you don't have anyone in your immediate vicinity who knows what they're doing and can give it a look is a much better move than buying pieces when you're not certain which ones you need; THAT's how people get screwed over.

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

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Why would you need compatible ram? Just stick the stick of ram in another PC on its own. If nothing's detected, there's your problem.

Actually, for one, Rambus is rare and won't fit in a DRAM slot, but if he could find someone who also uses Rambus that'd work too... ^-^;

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~Status Report~

* Completed... Dragon's Head
* Completed... Soldiers of the Empire: Disciples (release pending)
* In Progress/Undecided... Of Love and Betrayal
* Planning/Assembly... Where it all Began

Quote (Zephir @ 23rd May 2005 00:13)

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Why would you need compatible ram? Just stick the stick of ram in another PC on its own. If nothing's detected, there's your problem.

Actually, for one, Rambus is rare and won't fit in a DRAM slot, but if he could find someone who also uses Rambus that'd work too... ^-^;

Ah, my bad. I misread that. ^^;

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

Apart from the RAM, have you tried resitting the video card (IE; taking it out and putting it firmly back in?). Unless you have onboard graphics that seems a step you have missed out. May as well resit all the cards whilst your there, and ribbon cables, and power cables.

Oh btw, can you remember if the kick was on the side of the case that the mobo is attached to or the other side?

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Whether you take the doughnut hole as a blank space or as an entity unto itself is a purely metaphysical question and does not affect the taste of the doughnut one bit.

http://slightly-bitter.blog.co.uk

Actually I did take out the video card and put it back in, twice. I just forgot to mention that. The case was kicked on the front, causing the comp to move back about 2 inches. It didn't fall over or anything.

Quote (Silverlance)

Getting a professional to look at it if you don't have anyone in your immediate vicinity who knows what they're doing and can give it a look is a much better move than buying pieces when you're not certain which ones you need; THAT's how people get screwed over.

The thing is, I got the problem narrowed down to the motherboard/memory. If the motherboard was functioning correctly there would at least be video provided by the BIOS boot sector, unless the video card is blown. This could be the case, but when the comp was kicked there was still video on the screen. Based on the fact that the BIOS, motherboard and memory has always been problematic since day 1 at power-up, there's a 95% chance that this is where this fatal problem is coming from. Plus, the BIOS beep language was saying there's a memory detection problem, not that there's no functioning video card. If throwing in another video card doesn't solve the problem, then I'd say there's a 100% chance it's the MB/RAM. There's no way it could be anything else. All you need to get a BIOS boot up is a motherboard, memory, video card and a power supply.

Unless anyone here really thinks it's a bad idea, I'll probably go to a local computer show next weekend, pick up a P4 motherboard with ram, and hope to get a boot up into Windows! Thanks again for the responses, and I'll let you know how it goes.

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FFXI (Siren server)
Tauu the Windurstian Tarutaru!
White Mage & Paladin

I feel somewhat dumb for suggesting this but:

Have you done prehaps something simple as a google search for "Common problems with RDRAM"?

Prehaps there are others who have encountered a similar problem out there.

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