PC won't boot - suspect old MB failure. Help a novice please!

jzurflueh

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Aug 19, 2014
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4,510
A little help for a novice, please!

So I was getting ready to run a Skype call on my home PC for the first time in a while. Had to upgrade Skype software. Check. Decided to plug in a new headset to front USB. Driver installed. Check. Plugged in an external camera to front USB and everything froze. I went on to conduct the call on my phone. About five minutes later I see a BLUE SCREEN! PC start to reboot and looks like the MB is sitting at a command prompt. I hit the restart button and the ASUS MB boot screen comes on and goes to command prompt again...doesn't seem to progress to load Windows. I try to restart again and now I get nothing. MB power light is on. If I remove power and try again I see the CPU and case fan spin for a split second but nothing else happens. I have an Antec 24 pin power supply tester which shows the power supply should be OK. The drives start to spin when I start the tester.

Any thoughts on whether the power supply (just 3 years old) is really the culprit or is it my 8 year old MB failing? I'm trying to use this as an excuse to upgrade MB/memory/CPU but dreading a Win 7 reinstall that I know I'll need to do. I'd hate also to grab those components to only find it's something else!
 

jzurflueh

Reputable
Aug 19, 2014
6
0
4,510


Hi Shneiky - Thanks for the follow up question.

I removed both from the USB ports before attempting to reboot. In subsequent attempts to troubleshoot I also removed those front-side USB connections from the MB in hopes that maybe there was something specific to that connection on the board.