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[Christoff Yurievich]

I'm trying to figure out what is wrong with my computer, here are the symptoms:

Turn on: no beeps, no signal to monitor, fans are running. No windows start-up noise either. The HDD accesses for a little bit, but then stops.

Nothing has been taken from or added to the computer software or hardware-wise. I checked and rechecked the seating on everything, even the chip, they are all fine. The monitor says "Monitor is working, check connection."

So what should I start with? I hope it's just the video card because that would be the cheapest to fix. After that, how do I check to see if the motherboard is fried? or the chip even?

many thanks in advance.

 

[DarienA]

What OS?

Does the HD spin all the way through what would be the time for a normal boot up process?

 

[DaCocoBrova]

Reset the CMOS.

Either find the jumper or re-seat the CR2032 battery on the motherboard. This has nothing to do w/ the OS it seems.

Video card errors will cause a beep @ POST.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

XP, and the HDD spins long enough to make me think it is booting but then nothing.

If the HDD was dead, would I be able to hear it? from the stories on here about drive failure it seems the drive usually sounds like it is eating itself when it dies.

EDIT: so I put a new battery in?

 

[DaCocoBrova]

No.

Re-seat it. That will set the BIOS to the default settings. It should then boot. If not, then it is most likely your PSU (power supply). Unlpug the molex connectors to everything except the HDD, grfx card if yours has one, and the motherboard. You don't need an optical drive so you can unplug that/those aswell until you can determine the PSU is not the culprit.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

OK, so by "re-seat" do you mean take it out?

so no beep means it's not the video card? You really think it's the battery then?

there isn't a power line to the video card, so that's a no-go. I'm gonna go try this stuff and then see what happens. Thanks for the help.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

I think I found the problem. (click the links...they're too big to put inline)

Connector on motherboard for power cable - see the brown spots?
...not a happy cable at all
and now you might notice the melted plastic there.

so, does this mean I need a new power supply, or does it mean I need a new motherboard? or does this mean I'm hosed and need a new power supply and motherboard?

XP is not going to like a MB change, that's for sure.

When I checked the seating of the cables I guess I should have taken each one out of the connection and looked at it.

 

[Darias]

Your power supply either malfunctioned or took a surge.

Couple things you could do here...

A) Scrap the fahker... definite fix.

B) Replace power supply. Roughly half the time I see this problem, the power supply has done its job and absorbed the possible damage before it whacked your motherboard or other components. Now, the scorch marks are not necessarily a "good thing," but they are not necessarily indictive of a catastrophic problem either. If you have a spare power supply, I'd try that before purchasing a new one, only because there are tests you can run that won't need the extreme amperage of your video card. (I am assuming you have a decent 'gamer' set up) If there HAS been physical damage, than you can find it most likely quickly, and nail down the affected component.

If the machine powers on, that's a good thing. A single beep in POST (Power On Self Test) will indicate that the memory bus and processor bus are responding to power. Also a good thing. Any other pattern of beeps, or a long tone is 'bad.'

Next, assuming the previous is working, you want to run a memory test. (http://www.memtest86.com/)
This is easiest from a boot burned CD or floppy. This program will quickly detect any surge damage to your ram. If your processor has been nailed, you will probably notice crashes all over the place, seeming at random. Once you have tested the memory good, processor is the next likely candidate for crashes. (At least before you start gaming)

Scandisk, checkdisk, diskdoctor, and sfc /scannow are all good to verify both the physical integrity of your hard drive and the data on it.

After all the above passes tests, hopefully... grab futuremark '05 (http://www.futuremark.com/) and push your video card through its paces.


That's about the easiest way to test through the components in a reasonable order. If you have a similar second machine, and you notice failures, I would try swapping ONE COMPONENT AT A TIME before applying the credit card at your local retail store, that will also help nail down problems.

Don't fret though, I have seen machines with scorch marks that survived. My roommates actually managed to burn through three power supplies, and is still running fine, smoke, scorch marks, and all.

Good luck!

~Darias~

 

[Darias]

Addendum - reseating the BIOS is usually best done by removing the bios battery (The CR 2032 mentioned above) for at least twenty seconds, then replacing.

I wouldn't bother in this case yet, but it also couldn't hurt to do before you start swapping components around.

Also, make sure you statically ground yourself to the case before you mess around too much inside.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

Your power supply either malfunctioned or took a surge.

Couple things you could do here...

A) Scrap the fahker... definite fix.

B) Replace power supply. Roughly half the time I see this problem, the power supply has done its job and absorbed the possible damage before it whacked your motherboard or other components. Now, the scorch marks are not necessarily a "good thing," but they are not necessarily indictive of a catastrophic problem either. If you have a spare power supply, I'd try that before purchasing a new one, only because there are tests you can run that won't need the extreme amperage of your video card. (I am assuming you have a decent 'gamer' set up) If there HAS been physical damage, than you can find it most likely quickly, and nail down the affected component.

If the machine powers on, that's a good thing. A single beep in POST (Power On Self Test) will indicate that the memory bus and processor bus are responding to power. Also a good thing. Any other pattern of beeps, or a long tone is 'bad.'

Next, assuming the previous is working, you want to run a memory test. (http://www.memtest86.com/)
This is easiest from a boot burned CD or floppy. This program will quickly detect any surge damage to your ram. If your processor has been nailed, you will probably notice crashes all over the place, seeming at random. Once you have tested the memory good, processor is the next likely candidate for crashes. (At least before you start gaming)

Scandisk, checkdisk, diskdoctor, and sfc /scannow are all good to verify both the physical integrity of your hard drive and the data on it.

After all the above passes tests, hopefully... grab futuremark '05 (http://www.futuremark.com/) and push your video card through its paces.


That's about the easiest way to test through the components in a reasonable order. If you have a similar second machine, and you notice failures, I would try swapping ONE COMPONENT AT A TIME before applying the credit card at your local retail store, that will also help nail down problems.

Don't fret though, I have seen machines with scorch marks that survived. My roommates actually managed to burn through three power supplies, and is still running fine, smoke, scorch marks, and all.

Good luck!

~Darias~

Hmm. couple of questions:

I don't have a spare supply. There are no beeps, so does this mean that there is no power getting to the motherboard? There is power to the fans and everything else, so the power supply does still work. It just seems to not be powering the MB.

Funny you should mention the weird crashes. Lately the system has crashed 3 times for no good reason. Not only that, but prior to this the computer would turn itself on. Is it possible that the computer has been getting hit with a lot of surges, and when the computer is off the surge turns the computer on? I have a surge protector but it seems to not be doing it's job.

It sounds almost like I need a new motherboard, chip, and power supply.

thanks for the help.

 

[DaCocoBrova]

Keep in mind that power supplies, the crappy ones in particular, can still partially work. Of the 6 or so leads, you may find that one wil work while the rest won't or something similar.

Either way, get a nice, new good PSU.

You shouldn't need a new CPU though. Worst case a new mobo and PSU.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

So I'm getting a new power supply. What do I do if the computer still turns itself on? I am still on dial-up, so it's not that LAN wake-up thing. Would that mean the chip is damaged?

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

well, it was the worst case scenario. I took it to a shop and the guys were nice enough to test the chip and ram for me, they're both fine. But I do need a new MB and power supply. Getting those today. Oh well, I was wanting to reinstall Windows XP anyway.