I'm not sure how the problem started but after moving back to my parents for the winter break my computer stopped outputting to my peripherals. All the fans light up and start spinning but my mouse and keyboard lights won't light up and my monitor stays at a black screen.

I plugged in the motherboard speaker and I got one short beep. According to this that could mean either everything's fine and it didn't detect the problem or there is a problem with my RAM. I'm not sure which category my bios falls into because my motherboard box only says it uses Click Bios II and I couldn't find anything else in the manuals.

This is the build that I'm using and its only a year old so I'm really hoping the only problem is with the RAM. If anyone has any idea of what else the problem could be it would be greatly appreciated. I don't have a lot of spare cash right now so I want to make sure I fix the right thing.

 

You have a two digit debug LED on the motherboard itself. Take the side panel off and turn the computer on, then take note of the last set to show up, then consult your motherboard manual as to what that actually corresponds to.

 

If you think it's a problem with the ram, then open up the computer and take out one ram stick and start the computer. Keep doing this until you find one that starts the computer, and then use memtest to test it.

But to be honest? I'm thinking motherboard failure.

 

Check the debug LED first and figure out what the number means. But if it is a ram problem run memtest overnight. http://www.memtest.org/

 

I've had a similar problem where I have my USB-HDD plugged in and it prevents the computer from booting.

Have you tried removing all devices and plugging them in once it boots? That solves it for me.

 

I've tried switching around the sticks of RAM and using one at a time but nothing worked. I also don't have any spares lying around so I can't check that way. I also can't run memtest because there's no output on the screen. All peripherals except my monitor have been unplugged for awhile now.

This is the message I get from the LED panel you were talking about (assuming you meant the multibios LED near the bottom). The entry for d7 in the manual is "Console Output/Input devices/Console initialization and Load Option ROM(VGA, RAID, parrallel ports, serial ports .....)". I'm not entirely sure what this means but it definitely sounds like my problem since none of the output ports are working. Anyone have any ideas?

 

new motherboard. It's also possibly a PSU problem, but I'd lay good money on it being the mobo.

The components on a mobo can degrade and fail within a year. With a very close inspection you might even be able to see swollen or burst capacitors (look online for example images).

 

That sucks, I was hoping it would be the RAM so it would be a quick fix. Is it likely the motherboard even if I can't see any burst capacitors? Granted the things are tiny and some are covered by the gpu and the cpu fan.

 

Yes it's most likely the motherboard. A quick google search showed that this seems to be a problem that quite a few people have, and none of the threads I've read have a solution, so you probably have to make use of your warranty (which you should still have after just a year) to get a new one.

 

Well the problem isn't the motherboard. I replaced my motherboard with this one and I'm still getting the same problems (No output to screen or power to peripherals). Fans and stuff turn on fine. I was also able to test with a stick of RAM that a friend let me use and that didn't work so my initial idea is out the window also.

The new motherboard stops at the code A0 which has the description "IDE initialization is started". Seems like its stuck in boot mode or something.

Yak said the other possibility is the PSU so I'm beginning to think that is probably the actual problem. Anyone have any other suggestions?

 

Strip it down to the barest components:
CPU
Motherboard
PSU
1x known working drive to boot from
Video out via motherboard (uses integrated graphics on CPU)

If that still doesn't work, it's almost definitely the PSU.