My PC won't boot. Fans spin, HDD starts, ODD lights up but no video.

Hi Guys! I was recently using my PC last night to watch movies (1080p h.264 content) and then I shut it down. Then this morning, the PC won't even boot to the BIOS. The fans spin, the HDD spins up and HDD lights show activity. ODD lights up too. But no screen and video. I removed the video card and tried it on another PC. It works so it's not that. I tried cleaning and reseating everything from the Processor, Video card, PCI cards and the RAM but no avail. I tried booting without the RAM and my board gives me three long beeps. The ATX 12v connector is connected. I tried to reset the CMOS by taking out the battery and putting the jumper into recovery mode. But no screen. I also tried putting another video card and the Video Card BIOS shows. But no POST screen. And before that happened, the computer occasionally hangs. I think it's because of the PSU cause the 3.3v rail shows 2.6v only. Could you help me?

Hardware specs:
Generic 500w PSU
Intel D865PERL motherboard
Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz Prescott with Hyper-threading
1 GB PQI DDR400 RAM
512 MB Kingston DDR400 RAM
PowerColor ATI Radeon HD 3650 AGP 512MB GDDR3
(Other video card that was tested: nVidia GeForce 5500 AGP 256MB DDR)
1 TB 7200RPM Western Digital Black SATA HD
BenQ DVD-RW Drive
Lite-on DVD-ROM Drive
Floppy drive

Tags: agp, bios, boot, booting, d865perl, motherboard, post, problem, windows

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Have you ruled out the monitor?
uhm the monitor works just fine. it shows a self test that the monitor is working.
Well from everything you stated, it sounds like you are having an issue with your power supply. I recently ran into a problem with two different computers recently that showed the same results and for the one computer it turn out to be the power supply. And I verified that by opening up the power supply and found 3 exploded / leaking capacitors - which means no voltage regulation and no voltage when a system load is put on it.

And the other computer turned out to be a bad video card - the heatsink became loose did not provide cooling, so the card fried its chip.

You could also do a visual inspection on the motherboard just to verify that you do not find any bulging or leaking capacitors - which would mean you need a replacement motherboard.

Here is a good example of what to look for:

i cant find any bulging or leaking capacitors. if there is 3 leaking capacitors in the PSU shouldnt be the PSU not working by this time?
Not necessarily, they control voltage regulation, in other words maintaining a certain level without going low or high. If all of the connections are intact, then the voltage is still present. Once you hit the power switch and the voltage cannot climb past a certain level supplied to the motherboard, then fans spin, lights come on and hard drives can spin at 3.3 volts and 5.5 volts, but if the power supply cannot be maintained at a 12 volt level for the motherboard and the increasing draw from the video card, then nothing happens.

The voltage is at its greatest draw at initial power on and boot time and if it cannot supply enough power then either the power supply will just shut off after a few seconds, or you get the low voltage stuff working like the fans, LED lights and hard drive spin but no video or motherboard trying to boot. Or I have seen that the system only gets so far in the boot process with the Windows splash screen and shuts off and starts rebooting again, until it gets to the same point and stays stuck in an endless reboot cycle. And if it is truly is the power supply and not a bad driver or some other hardware, then the power gets to a certain point, short and trips off and on stuck in the eternal reboot loop.

If you have or can temporarily borrow a power supply, you could test the bad power supply scenario with one that is greater than the 500 watt generic that you have. And if the same thing happens with a replacement power supply, then it pretty much narrows it down to the motherboard, but hopefully not.
the 3.6 volt rail is the one supplying power to the PCI cards. it can't be removed. i dont think the mobo has the problem cause i hear beeps when i remove the ram.
UPDATE: So I removed everything. All the PCI cards (Firewire, 56K modem, Ethernet) and removed the HDD and the ODD's. I used an old GPU (FX 5500). All that is connected is the Processor, GPU, RAM and PSU. I only put 1 stick of RAM (512MB kingston.) after 12 retries i got the pOST screen to show but it hanged. after that i restarted again. it wasnt working again. help? If i remove the ram, i hear 3 long beeps from the Mobo.
oh and the nVIdia VGA Bios shows up occasionally.
Have you tried to clear and re-set the MB bios, last time I had a similar problem was due to overclocking the system and I had to revert to factory defaults to clear it. Better option to check first rather than than shelling for a new board or power supply.
ill try to reset. but i dont think the mobo has the problem. i think it's the PSU
This was copied from Intels own support site:-

Settings Were Changed in BIOS
Certain changes in BIOS settings (such as chipset timing or latency, memory timing or latency, processor clock frequency, etc.) can cause a system to no longer boot.

If you are able to enter the BIOS Setup by pressing F2, reset the BIOS to factory defaults by pressing F9. Save and exit the BIOS Setup.

If you cannot enter the BIOS Setup, clear the CMOS:

Turn off all peripheral devices connected to the computer.
Disconnect the computer’s power cord from the AC power source (wall outlet or power adapter).
Remove the computer cover.
Locate the battery on the board (see figure below).
With a medium flat-bladed screwdriver, gently pry the battery free from its connector. Note the orientation of the “+” and “-” on the battery.
Wait one hour then replace the battery.
Replace the computer cover.
Plug the computer and all devices back in.
You may also need to perform a BIOS Recovery after clearing the CMOS.
i have tried this but no avail. i think its the PSU. im gonna buy a corsair or acbel psu tom.

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