HELP: Is my computer dead?

[hijodeltiger]

(Didn't know where to post. )
I know it sounds really really newbish, but I just want to make sure before I buy another motherboard.
Well, at first it started rebooting on its own. Then after several reboots, it no longer turned on. The next day my brother tried turning it on, and it worked, for a while.
Several days have passed and it no longer turns on.
I dismounted everything cleaned the darn thing, checked for short circuits with the case and the back of the mobo, nothing.
I think I already gave up.
Oh, the night it came in, the computer fell from the back door of the SUV. Don't know if that will help determining if it died.
Please reply.

 

[Inamabilis]

When you try to turn it on does it beep? Do the fans start?

 

[SuperK86]

Your description of the problem is vague.
Is the issue the system/windows won't boot up?
Is the issue nothing will turn on? Do the lights and HDD's turn on?


if your computer turns on and begins the boot process, you can have a number of problems

if your computer REFUSES to turn on, or to stay on, and turns off completely, that's your power supply unit.

 

[hijodeltiger]

Sorry for that.
It turns on, cpu and case fans.
No posting or booting at all. Black screen, that's it.
crappy emachines, in other words, integrated video.
no beeping sounds whatsoever.

 

[SuperK86]

I've had an issue with an IGP mobo before. If the issue is you integrated graphics, and it died somehow, your motherboard is also rendered useless. Not too handy, I must say

Let's rule out the video card.

Since it powers up, lets rule out the PSU.

Faulty IDE devices won't deny bootup information, although it will usually freeze the boot process for a while when booting up, so let's rule out that as well..

Integrated sound as well, so that's ruled out...

So! You've got really 3 choices:

Memory
Processor
Motherboard

It's rare that a processor just randomly bites the dust in a year (unless you're overclocking, which I highly very muchly doubt you are in a emachine)
Death to CPU can come from impact, but it only happened to the Socket A Athlon/AthlonXP/Sempron era, where the die was unprotected. The a jolt or shock would jerk the heatsink up or down, causing physical damage to the die, usually on the corners. That could be one issue, but I think if something like that happened, I severely doubt your computer would randomly work at times.

Do you have more than one stick of memory? try removing one stick, placing it in the first DIMM slot, then try the other. Or try someone else's good memory. Faulty memory can cause instability, and failure to boot.

And last, it can very well, and most likely be your motherboard.

In my most humble opinion, it is your motherboard, but I would recommend you at least test your memory before you spend extra money in purchasing a motherboard.

If you do purchase a mobo, make sure you buy the right type/size for your case! I am not familiar with emachines cases, but there is a good chance you might have a microATX form factor, I could be mistaken.

 

[hijodeltiger]

Thanks a lot for your advise SuperK86. I was suspecting the same thing. Now for the good stuff.
Do you think I should buy a mATX intel mobo, one with IGP and AGP also?
OR
buy an AMD 3200+ and a cheap nforce 6100 mobo, and reuse everything?
Of course this would cost me more than twice the money for just the mobo.
Is overclocking the Celeron D it's equipped with a good idea? In other words, will I notice significant improvements?
If this is the case, then I will go ahead with this plan.

 

[SuperK86]

well, first, are you sure it's mATX? If you can put a normal mobo in there, do it, it's very worth it!

The next question is: What are you using hte computer for?
web browsing/movie watching/word processing is hardly a reason to upgrade anything.

My rig just bit the dust (PSU died) and I've been forced to use my 1.3ghz lappy. I am perfectly happy using this POS for all my daily tasks... although gaming is strictly limited to freecell and some ancient titles. if your current rig did everything you needed it to do, why upgrade?

If you're doing some math-heavy calculations/gaming, I'd say sure, upgrade... but be careful, emachine hardware was built to run emachine hardware. I'd be very careful with your current power supply's 12v amperage, along with your max wattage. The more powerful components you use, the more power you need.

But if you decide to upgrade to something more powerful, it's very worth spending extra money on high quality components. It saves money, time, and headaches when you don't have component failures and have to buy something replacements.
If you need a new PSU, it's worth spending an extra 50 bucks on a case that fits a ATX mobo, gives better airflow, looks nicer, and gives more bays for future use.
Of course, all this costs extra money, depending on your budget, make the decision that's right for you.

 

[hijodeltiger]

three choices, intel, via or sis
SIS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813185078
VIA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813138262
intel
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157090
Any winner among these boards.
OC potential?

 

[440bx]

Here is a simple test that will tell you if your motherboard is dead or not.

Remove all the PCI/AGP cards from the system (yes, including the video card) and *remove* all the memory from the system as well. Follow these simple steps,

1. Turn on the computer.
2. If you do *not* hear any beep, the motherboard is dead (it should detect that the memory is missing and beep as a result)

3. If it beeps, it might still not work properly but it isn't completely dead and further testing is warranted.

HTH.

 

[SuperK86]

hmmm... did you see that biostar 3200+/mobo combo deal?
PCI-e, SATA RAID...

Tigerdirect.com's got it, if you want to spend a bit of moneys for a big difference, that's definitely the way to go. it's an IGP solution, and it's AMD's Athlon64, most likely uses less power than those old Celeron D's, and is very upgradable in the future. I like that idea a lot. haha, not a biostar fan, but that's a very cheap deal!

or, if not, I'd recommend Gigabyte over the other options
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=242663
Gigabyte = very reliable. mine ran with most of the power pins burned to a crisp after a previous PSU failure/shortage/meltdown... pretty amazing.

 

[SuperK86]

Here is a simple test that will tell you if your motherboard is dead or not.

Remove all the PCI/AGP cards from the system (yes, including the video card) and *remove* all the memory from the system as well. Follow these simple steps,

1. Turn on the computer.
2. If you do *not* hear any beep, the motherboard is dead (it should detect that the memory is missing and beep as a result)

3. If it beeps, it might still not work properly but it isn't completely dead and further testing is warranted.

HTH.

hey bro, it's hard to remove IGP video solutions...

 

[hijodeltiger]

Here is a simple test that will tell you if your motherboard is dead or not.

Remove all the PCI/AGP cards from the system (yes, including the video card) and *remove* all the memory from the system as well. Follow these simple steps,

1. Turn on the computer.
2. If you do *not* hear any beep, the motherboard is dead (it should detect that the memory is missing and beep as a result)

3. If it beeps, it might still not work properly but it isn't completely dead and further testing is warranted.

HTH.

Damn you 440bx. I last time checked the mobo. and removed everything. Yes, it beeped. But even after reinstalling RAM, no picture.
Any way to fix that?

 

[hijodeltiger]

OH SHIT
Could my Z680 subwoofer cause this erratic behavior?
And eventually killed my puter?
:tongue:

 

[440bx]

hey bro, it's hard to remove IGP video solutions...

Indeed it is. Nothing a good pair of plyers can't do though :lol:

 

[440bx]

Yes, it beeped. But even after reinstalling RAM, no picture.
Any way to fix that?

If you have a video card you can install in that machine, this would be the time to do it. It is possible that the integrated video controller is shot which would be easily solved by installing a separate video card.

HTH.

 

[SuperK86]

do you know where the bios reset jumper switches are?

if you don't, just pop out the battery on the motherboard, unplug it for a few minutes, then put it all back in... it'll reset the bios to factory, worth trying.

 

[Dave262]

With my experience with some integrated graphics mainboards, sometimes there can be an issue with the onboard graphics halting the entire system. I've experienced similar issues with an asus a7vl-vm in the past, which i solved by plugging in a PCI graphics card. After it booted once, it started working perfectly again. Rather odd fix for it, but the system still works to this day!

 

[hijodeltiger]

I still think that buying a new mobo, one that has AGP, is a better idea than buying a PCI video card.
Do you think the same?
Also, from the 3 mobos listed above, which one do you recommend?