Aurora Startup Issue

[wolfpack]

Hi Everyone,

I have a megatouch aurora (Serial Number 080311MRE60031) that is having an issue during boot.  We renovated our game room and it sat unplugged for a couple months.  We just got the room back together and when I plugged it back in and booted it up, the unit appears to power on (all the exterior lights, bill acceptor, LED's, motherboard fans, etc. come on.  The monitor initially flashes a no signal right message right when the unit starts, but then the monitor turns on and the only thing that appears on the display is a single blinking underscore in the top left corner of the display.  There are no error messages displayed and nothing else is displayed on the monitor except that underscore (looks like a command prompt).  What I've done thus far to troubleshoot, but still get the same result.

1. I opened up the back panel, pulled out the motherboard, and then re-seated all of the connections and cables on the board.
2. I removed the memory module and re-seated it.
3. I ordered a new replacement memory module on ebay and installed it.
4. I removed the memory completely and booted up the unit.  The unit plays several loud beeps, which I assume is a boot error code because of the missing memory.  I then reinstalled the memory and rebooted.
5. I connected an external monitor to the vga connection on the motherboard and I still get the same flashing underscore on the external display.

Does anyone have any additional suggestions or ideas of what the issue might be?

Thanks in advance for responses and advise!

[orizzle]

Your serial number indicates this is a widescreen Aurora so I'm going to assume you have the Intel motherboard.

I've seen this issue with a bad hard drive. The system hangs trying to detect the drive. Try unplugging the hard drive SATA cable and seeing if you get any messages

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[wolfpack]

I unplugged the SATA cable and get the same result.  Just a solid underscore is displayed in the top left corner of the monitor.  No error messages, beep tones, etc. 

[orizzle]

That's frustrating. What I'd do next is completely remove the motherboard from the system. Hook up a known working power supply, RAM, monitor only. See if you get further. If so, you'll have to one by one figure out which component is causing the issue.

Also have you tried clearing CMOS?

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[wolfpack]

I have not cleared the CMOS.  I will give that a try and if that doesn't help, I will remove the board and try that suggestion.  I'll report back what I encounter.

Thanks

[wolfpack]

I cleared the CMOS by removing the battery for 10 minutes, but that had no effect.  I also removed all of the connections and cables on the motherboard and that had no effect either.  I also used a different SATA drive and connected it and still no change.  At this point i'm guessing the motherboard is bad? 

I found a few motherboards online that are exact model matches.  Can I just swap the motherboard and see if that fixes it?  Is there any type of hardware check specific to my existing motherboard that is done by OS?

[orizzle]

Have you tried a different power supply yet?

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[smartbomb2084]

Take the motherboard and power supply COMPLETELY out of the game.  Connect the power supply to the motherboard and the motherboard to a separate monitor.  We want power supply, motherboard, and monitor connected ONLY.  Nothing else, as we want to see if you get some kind of 'Hard Drive not found' Error Message.  I have had this problem before and it usually is something shorting the Motherboard or a bad hard drive.  With only these three things connected we can help narrow the problem down.

Good Luck

[wolfpack]

The problem has been resolved!  I ordered a new motherboard via ebay and it booted up perfectly after the swap.  I'm not sure what failed on the original motherboard, but the new board did the trick.  Thanks for all of the tips and assistance.  I thought it may be the board all along since I wasn't getting any kind of messages at initial boot, but I wanted to try everything else before resulting to replacing the board.

Thanks again!