[coby858]

Hello,

My uncle gave me his desktop about a year ago. It was "messed up" and he didn't have the money to fix it. I am fairly knowledgeable with computers and can usually fix any issue I need to fix. This one however has be baffled. Problem is, I don't really have the cash to experiment with it or take it somewhere to get it checked out.

The computer:
Gateway Bafx530xt

The problem:
Push the power button, computer turns on fine, But there is no display at all, nothing. When you power the pc on, you hear 3 equal beeps and it seems to be running fine but as I said, nothing. Not sure if it is actually running fine or not other than the display.

What I have tried:
First thing I did was check to make sure everything was properly connected inside. I tried resetting the BiOS by removing the CMOS battery for 15 minutes. While the battery was out I had the monitor and keyboard plugged in and held the power button for about 15 seconds to drain any power in the MOBO. I reinstalled the battery and it did not help.

This computer has 2, 1GB sticks of ram and 4 DDR ram slots. I tested 1 stick at a time in each slot and it did not help.

I am thinking it has to be either bad ram, bad graphics card or a bad MOBO. But, I really just don't know.


I would like to either keep this PC and use it myself if it is a cheap fix because it is a much better computer than what I am currently using. If it is an expensive fix, I would like to know exactly what is wrong with it so I can part it out on ebay and make some cash. Anything is better than it sitting in my closet wasting space.

Please help!

[waldojim]

According to the Intel guide found here, that beep code means that it cannot detect any installed memory.

Please check the Gateway website to ensure I got the right machine.

If that is the correct motherboard, then the solution would be to test the ram first, then the motherboard.... There really is no good way to test either without a donor machine. But for now, remove ALL of the ram, except for one stick, installed in DIMM 0, then try to boot the machine, try each stick individually this way to verify that all work or don't work. If you never convince the machine to start, then you will need to locate known good ram to test with. Once you have verified that known good parts do not work, then you will have exhausted the possibilities down to the motherboard.

[coby858]

I have already tested each of the 2 sticks in each slot one at a time. It did not work. I do have my personal computer that I need and do not want to risk messing up. Would it be dangerous at all to try one of my own ram sticks in the other computer? Both are DDR2. Also, would it be bad to use the other ram in my computer. I could at least see if the ram is good or bad.

[coastie65]

Hi and welcome to the forums. OKay, you have tewo sticks and 4 slots. With dual channel you need to make sure the memory is in the right slots. It could be slots 1 & 2 or slots 2 & 4 Would need to check to see how that is configured. Your Monitor isn't coming to life, because your computer is not getting past post.

[waldojim]

coby858, on 19 December 2012 - 02:06 PM, said:

I have already tested each of the 2 sticks in each slot one at a time. It did not work. I do have my personal computer that I need and do not want to risk messing up. Would it be dangerous at all to try one of my own ram sticks in the other computer? Both are DDR2. Also, would it be bad to use the other ram in my computer. I could at least see if the ram is good or bad.

It shouldn't hurt the ram from your working machine. But the safer test, is to put the ram from the dead one into your known good machine. Bad ram rarely does damage to a motherboard, but a bad motherboard can cook good ram. It is highly unlikely, but possible.

[coby858]

coastie65, on 19 December 2012 - 05:13 PM, said:

Hi and welcome to the forums. OKay, you have tewo sticks and 4 slots. With dual channel you need to make sure the memory is in the right slots. It could be slots 1 & 2 or slots 2 & 4 Would need to check to see how that is configured. Your Monitor isn't coming to life, because your computer is not getting past post.

The ram was in 1 and 3 by default. I only tested 1 at a time after that. Slots 1 and 3 from top down are white tabs and slot 2 and 4 were black I believe.

[LiveBrianD]

Have you tried, say, slots 1 and 2 on the bad machine? I saw this happen once - the RAM was in slots 1 and 3 (for dual-channel), and slot 3 went bad. Using slots 1 and 2 fixed it, though at the expense of forcing the RAM into single-channel mode. (not a big deal)

This post has been edited by LiveBrianD: 19 December 2012 - 06:59 PM

[coby858]

Sorry it took me so long to get back on this.

I just tried both sticks of ram on my good PC. Worked great, nothing wrong with them. Checked them out in CPU-Z and did a mem test and everything says the ram is perfectly fine.

I also moved the ram around in the bad machine to test that. From top to bottom I tried this:

Slots 1 and 3, Slots 2 and 4, and slots 1 and 2. Nothing changed.


Is there anything else it could be? The ram is fine.

[mjd420nova]

What indications do you get from the keyboard?? ANY lights flash?? A multimeter would confirm the power supply but without it, you just put a toothpick in the power supply fan to stop the fan from turning. This will let you hear if the hard drive spins up. If it spins up, the P/S is okay. Look closely at the plastic brackets that hold the RAM locked in place, a fractured or cracked frame would not allow sufficient pressure to contact the RAM board edge. If that turns out to be the case, maybe the plastic assembly is only held in place by tabs fitted through the board and can be released the the bottom side. This might allow you to move the fractured holder to a slot no needed. Good luck... MERRY CHRISTMAS.

This post has been edited by mjd420nova: 24 December 2012 - 06:58 PM

[coby858]

The lights on the front of the machine light up when I turn it on, the video card has a small light on it that turns on green and the fan on the vid card spins. I would assume that means the power supply is okay? I haven't checked the keyboard yet, I will see tomorrow.

[mjd420nova]

The lights on the MOBO would suffice for the five volt test. I do suspect that the plastic is fractured or a memory address chips or buffer on the MOBO is the culprit. Many of those RAM connector banks are mounted and soldered to the board. When the plastic fractures, that's a job for a very patient tech as the pins have to be removed one at a time. A solder flood at this point could do more harm than good. Many a case was the culprit of a heavy handed user not knowing how to install the RAM modules and broke the connector or the hold down clip. This is often from users who don't know how to operate the connector. I tackled a few hundred in the beginning on the bench with a low watt iron, solder sucker, solder wick and a lighted magnifier to work under. A grounded anti-static mat and wrist strap is essential. Sounds like a E-bay search would lead to a replacement board.

This post has been edited by mjd420nova: 24 December 2012 - 07:24 PM

[waldojim]

bottom line, the motherboard is the problem here.

[coby858]

Well, thank you all for your help. I appreciate it immensely. I will explore my options now that I am sure what the problem is.