I have now killed both of our main computers

[beelzerob]

So I come home from work yesterday and my wife says that my PC wouldn't boot up. I try it a few times...sure enough, nothing even ever shows on the monitor.

So I open it up, and it's showing a POST code of "2d". I get the motherboard manual, and step 2d for this Abit AB9 QuadGT motherboard is the step where it shows the splashscreen and bios info on the monitor. Well, ya, I can see that step is not happening.

I reset the bios...nothing. I replace the video card with the identical one in my wife's PC (we have identical setups)...still nothing (and my card works fine in her PC). So I send an email to abit for help...and along the way in my google searches discover that abit decided to leave the motherboard market sometime last year. So probably no help is coming from them. A post in an abit enthusiast forum gets no help.

So I figure I should just bite it and buy a new motherboard. Apparantely the motherboard I had from abit was known to be a little flakey with the bios...figures I find that out now. So onto newegg and a few review sites, and in record time, I've purchased a new motherboard.

In the meantime, I'd still like to get SOME work done. So I stay up to 1:30am fulling the two hard drives from my PC and putting them into my wife's PC (along with doing some other stuff...it wasn't all that hard). It comes up fine in windows, and now I have my data along with hers. That'll work.

In a sudden fit of creativity, I also decide I might as well give her 2 monitors, since I won't be using mine. I figure maybe she'll fall in love with it and I can end up with dual monitors for both of us before long. So after a lot of desk clearing and cord stretching, I now have both monitors plugged in to her video card.

I boot up her machine...and wait...and wait. Nothing is being displayed. I had just booted up this machine 10 times this night, with no problems. I try it again. Nothing. I'm now about to throw up.

At that point I notice something...my monitor is still showing "No signal" whereas when I turn on her monitor, it shows no signal for about 5 seconds and then powers off. Not mine. It just sits there powered on, showing no signal. I also notice that just pressing the power button won't turn my monitor off....I have to actually hold it for a few seconds. The button line is that the monitor is acting weird.

Anyway, I open up my wife's case, and there it is...code 2d.

Somehow. My monitor has now killed 2 PC's. There's no other explanation. My monitor is acting weird....and as soon as I try to boot up with my monitor plugged in (to the VIDEO card, let me remind you...not directly into the motherboard), it kills the board.

My monitor does work, by the way. It was one of the first things I tested when my PC showed no video...I unplugged my wife's monitor and plugged in mine, and it showed the desktop just fine.

But for some reason....trying to bootup...with that LCD monitor plugged into the video card...has cause (presumably) irreparable damage to the motherboard.

I'm just astounded.

I guess the real question now is, when my nice new gigabyte board comes in...do I care plug this monitor into it? How can any sane person think that there would be any risk in that?

Anyway, I'm going to go do a combination of falling down dead tired and furiously angry.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :nutz: :lol:

 

[sic0048]

Ah, just wait until the wife wakes up to find you killed her computer too. If I did this, my wife would say something like "you stayed up till 3am and all you did was kill my computer???" Heads are going to roll in the Beelzerob household.

 

[samgreco]

I've never seen this happen in all the years I've repaired and worked on PCs. I think that something else is going on with your wife's PC.

Did you "wipe" the BIOS? Go back to the original monitor setup. Then open up the PC and short the BIOS battery jumper. You may need the manual to find it. But there is always a jumper to wipe the BIOS.

Then start the PC and see if you don't boot. You will probably need to reset all of the stuff in the BIOS, since it will be reset to default.

As for your PC... ???

 

[beelzerob]

I have the most tolerant, loving, and compassionate wife....she actually comforted ME when I came to bed. Hehe...of course, it was a tactical decision to tell her about her computer while she was half asleep, so that it deadened the affect when she woke up this morning.

Ya, the abit boards have a switch in the back that let's you reset the BIOS...very handy! I tried that. Nothing. So, I then did find the internal jumper to reset the bios, and the POST code showed CC which meant it was reset, and then I replaced the jumper in the normal position...still nothing.


But now get this...you'll LOVE this:

So when I woke up, I decided to try one more thing. I went and got one of the DVI to VGA adapters that came with the motherboard. I then hooked up her monitor to her computer using a regular VGA cable... AND IT WORKED. :angry: (Yes, I'm still angry because all of this makes no sense).

At that point I decided I was done messing with things on HER PC, I'd wait until I got home and then I'd play with mine instead.

So here's a possiblity...maybe, somehow, it's the DVI cable, and not my monitor?? Tonight I'll try my monitor with my PC normally (to see if sitting overnight fixed something somehow), and then I'll try my monitor with the vga cable and see if that works. Even if it is the DVI cable, don't forget...it's not like I moved anything or anything got jarred...if the cable broke, it broke without any outside help.

But even if it IS the DVI cable, remember that I also tried booting up her PC (after it stopped working) with only her DVI cable and monitor, and even tried booting up with no monitors attached at all (dunno if the bios would have allowed that anyway), and it still didn't work. So once it broke, it STAYED broke...until I tried just a regular VGA cable this morning.

I will say this, though...newegg ROCKS. I was able to get on live chat with them this morning and cancel both new motherboards I had ordered. We'll see if my PC comes to life tonight, but at least I don't have 2 potentially un-needed boards on the way.

 

[Steve]

I will say this, though...newegg ROCKS. I was able to get on live chat with them this morning and cancel both new motherboards I had ordered. We'll see if my PC comes to life tonight, but at least I don't have 2 potentially un-needed boards on the way.

Geez man, have you learned nothing from IVB? You were not supposed to cancel the new mobos. You were not supposed to even know you can fix the problem easily until you pass the no return period. We were all waiting for a half price sale on new unneeded mobos. :angry:

 

[beelzerob]

Ya, it did kind of have that IVB feel to it....the anger, the frustration, the wtf, the reckless throwing of money at it...

 

[Digger]

...the anger, the frustration, the wtf, the reckless throwing of money at it...

Are you talking about Insteon???? Just Kidding!!!! To funny to pass up though....

 

[beelzerob]

Well, it's been an interesting day....

I came home and tackled my PC. First, I used the original DVI cord and monitor to verify that it was in fact STILL not booting up. Check. Then I used the DVI cord from my wife's PC (remember, she's now using a DVI to VGA adapter and a regular VGA cable). Nope, no bootup. So then I broke out another DVI to VGA adapter and a VGA cord. Sure enough, up it comes. I then went BACK to the DVI cable. Nope, no bootup.

So....somehow, in the span of 24 hours...both of our PC's have developed a lethal allergy to DVI cables. I really don't know how else to explain it. Thank goodness the VGA cable can give the same resolutions...so really nothing has changed as far as our computing goes. I'm still greatly perplexed about the whole thing. :angry:

I can't test a different video card, since there are no other PCIe16 video cards in the house. But someday that'd probably be a worthwhile test. But I still just can't begin to imagine reasons that both of our PC's would develop the exact same issue within a day of each other.

Oh...and after booting up once with my now-working PC, I rebooted only to discover that my raid was telling me a hard drive had failed. I can only say that I'm glad I went with RAID1 and not 0. So, after repeated attempts, it still isn't being seen by the board at all, and it does seem to make some weird repetitive sounds. Thankfully, even though I bought these drives used two years ago, they still have over a year of warranty in them, confirmed on the seagate site, so I'll just mail this out and get a replacement. Now, as long as my single drive doesn't die while it's gone, I'll be ok....

 

[DavidL]

Well, it's been an interesting day....

I came home and tackled my PC. First, I used the original DVI cord and monitor to verify that it was in fact STILL not booting up. Check. Then I used the DVI cord from my wife's PC (remember, she's now using a DVI to VGA adapter and a regular VGA cable). Nope, no bootup. So then I broke out another DVI to VGA adapter and a VGA cord. Sure enough, up it comes. I then went BACK to the DVI cable. Nope, no bootup.

So....somehow, in the span of 24 hours...both of our PC's have developed a lethal allergy to DVI cables. I really don't know how else to explain it. Thank goodness the VGA cable can give the same resolutions...so really nothing has changed as far as our computing goes. I'm still greatly perplexed about the whole thing. :angry:

I can't test a different video card, since there are no other PCIe16 video cards in the house. But someday that'd probably be a worthwhile test. But I still just can't begin to imagine reasons that both of our PC's would develop the exact same issue within a day of each other.

Oh...and after booting up once with my now-working PC, I rebooted only to discover that my raid was telling me a hard drive had failed. I can only say that I'm glad I went with RAID1 and not 0. So, after repeated attempts, it still isn't being seen by the board at all, and it does seem to make some weird repetitive sounds. Thankfully, even though I bought these drives used two years ago, they still have over a year of warranty in them, confirmed on the seagate site, so I'll just mail this out and get a replacement. Now, as long as my single drive doesn't die while it's gone, I'll be ok....

Try up / downgrading the driver. Could a update killed one after the other?

 

[beelzerob]

Driver for what, though? Nothing was changed on our systems. I have windows update turned off, too, on both machines.

Remember...her PC worked just absolutely fine...until I plugged my monitor into it. Since then, it won't accept any DVI cable connection to any monitor. Just VGA.

 

[DavidL]

Driver for what, though? Nothing was changed on our systems. I have windows update turned off, too, on both machines.

Remember...her PC worked just absolutely fine...until I plugged my monitor into it. Since then, it won't accept any DVI cable connection to any monitor. Just VGA.

Upgrade the video card driver. Won't hurt.
The grahpics card might have sensed "some other kind" of monitor when you plugged the "suspect" one in. Something in the driver might have gotten corrupt.

Keep in mind that the software mods itself when you plug in different hardware. Even if the hardware doesn't "look" different to you.

Cheap attempt.

 

[personalt]

There was a windows update in the 24-48 hours that left my PC in a half sleeping/locked up state. When I woke up this morning I could see the mouse pointer but that was about it. Reboot got it going and I saw a message that it said a windows update was installed.

you sure you have windows updates turned off?

 

[mdesmarais]

DVI carries 5v and DDC info up to the monitor, VGA typically does not.

I still don't see how your monitor or cable could kill the PC, but it is a difference between the interfaces. Maybe your monitor went bad in such a way that it kills the 5v. The graphics card can't properly handle that (bad design) and either blows a part (5v fused? shouldn't be) or becomes non-functional when that line is pulled down.

 

[beelzerob]

Ya, I think if I had another pcie video card, I could probably troubleshoot this a little better.

I double checked..yep, updates were off. Mainly for that very reason, and ones IVB has mentioned before, how the updates will kill you when you're not lookin'.

That's actually a good idea about the video drivers (though I think I've updated them recently). I was getting my older media PC working again, via component out signal, and it went from looking fine, to all blue, and no amount of rebooting would fix it. I checked the cables and everything because it seemed like the red and green were bad somehow. Finally, I installed the latest drivers...and that fixed it. So, something that looked VERY much like a bad piece of hardware got fixed with new drivers.

Now that I feel confident that I can get it back to working, I'm willing to try a few things to see if I can figure out the problem.

 

[jaysonc]

I remember seeing things like this back when I worked with a PC hardware company. Back then we would see these types of illogical issues after power surges, especially lighting storms.

In general, grounding technologies have gotten much better, but having two cables on two machines go bad on the same night is too much coincidence. I suspect that if DVI cables are expected to carry 5V DC, then they have very limited insulation. Only a minor surge would be required to damage them.

--
Jayson