Dead comp, need advice

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
M

Malodium

Distinguished
Aug 31, 2007
12
0
18,510
Have a dead PC here, nothing turns on at all, no power supply, no fans, nothing.
Bought a new power supply, and still no deal. Nothing whatsoever turns on. Power supply seems to test ok.
Removed everything from the motherboard except 1 ram stick and the CPU and still nothing.
Tried shorting out the power switch pins on the mobo (I assume that still works?) and nothing.
Checked different power cables, checked to make sure I was at 115 volts.....
Im guessing the mobo is dead, but what exactly is dying that could make the power supply not even turn on.
 
authoratah

authoratah

Distinguished
Aug 29, 2007
109
0
18,680
Can you even so much as salvage the hard drives?

The silly things:
Power switch hooked up?
Reset switch too?
All internal headers connected?
Motherboard mounted ok?
-- No screws over-tightened
----Take out all the screws and put them back in, counting the number of turns on each screw so they're all the same tightness
Any LEDs showing?

Judging from what you've written I would surmise that you've already changed the CMOS and replaced the battery.

How does it smell btw? Leaky capacitors have a rather distinct subtle odour. Look out for minor smoke damage too. Check the molex power connectors from the old PC

Less silly things:
Any noises coming out at all?
Swap suffering devices into a clean test rig if you can.

A full spec sheet if you will maestro
 
O

onestar

Distinguished
Aug 16, 2007
390
0
18,780
Let start with the small things first. Recently, I have been surprised by power cords not making a good connection in the power supply, so look at that. Secondly make sure the small voltage slide switch on the power supply is seated firmly in your particular voltage range. If these do not solve the PS not turning on, then you must have a dead short in the motherboard, so you could try taking it out of the case and trying it on some insulative matting like styrofoam, or a cardboard box. This will assure there are no case structures causing a short. Check also to make certain the BIOS reset jumper is set to the "normal" pins. If still no go, then you probably have a dead MB. Ram, CPUs, and video cards have not caused the PS not to turn on in my experience.
 
croc

croc

Distinguished
BANNED
Sep 14, 2005
3,038
1
20,810


Styrofoam's not a good idea....

To the OP: Did this pc ever work or is this a new build...? If the latter, did you make sure to use the proper standoffs for your MB type? (ie, three rows of three for an atx....) and are they properly aligned in the correct holes?
 
roadrunner197069

roadrunner197069

Splendid
Sep 3, 2007
4,416
0
22,780





NEVER use Styrofoam!!! Styrofoam produces lots of static.
 
M

Malodium

Distinguished
Aug 31, 2007
12
0
18,510
Yeah it worked fine up until a week ago, and has worked good for a long time. It was in a library, im just helping them out :)
It was pretty dust filled, I vacuumed it out good though.
It just wouldn't turn on one day..
I havn't replaced the cmos or the battery, I didn't think that would prevent the power supply from turning on. At this point I would just be happy if the power supply turned on. I dont know the details of how the motherboard works, but it seems like it would be a fairly simple deal to have a signal go from the pins connected to the power switch, to the power supply, so the point of failure seems like it would be pretty obvious. But, I dont know much like I said. :)

I dunno.... it seems pretty obvious that the motherboard is at fault, I just dont know where the fault would be.

Although maybe it doesnt matter, if I tell them they need a new motherboard they will probably just scrap the whole thing anyway hehe.
 
virtualban

virtualban

Distinguished
Feb 16, 2007
1,232
0
19,280
I had 2 similar systems and could test each component separately on the working system when one of them just stopped working. If you do not, proving that it is motherboard's fault will be difficult. Is it an option to take the computer to a computer repairing facility and talk to them about working together in testing components? Because sometimes you can find cheap rip-offs... Anyway, from what you said, probably motherboard is dead. That is what happened to me anyway, and went through a bit of trouble finding a good replacement as there were only cheap ones for the s478 I was using. I could surely go for cheap, but this time there were replacements available, next time there might not be, cheap stuff breaks you know. :) Anyway, if you could borrow stuff from trusted sources you could do. Or "lend" a friend everything but the motherboard. It's nice to be sure before spending your money on the hardware. Not everybody lives in the US or in the rich part of the world, and care in decision making is something I'm used to.
 
O

onestar

Distinguished
Aug 16, 2007
390
0
18,780



<smile> Ahhh, yes, that is why for years motherboard manufacturers packaged the MBs on a styrofoam pad inside the static bag. To be sure there are styrofoams that are incredible energy producers but the pads I referred to are not.
 
roadrunner197069

roadrunner197069

Splendid
Sep 3, 2007
4,416
0
22,780



You need to learn the difference between styrofoam and reular foam. Styrofoam is way different then the foam MB manufactures use.
 
C

compchipper

Distinguished
Oct 21, 2007
18
0
18,510
Vacuuming off the components could've taken off something small but very important. Should've used one of those high pressure spray cans to blow dust off the innards.
 
J

jackluo923

Distinguished
Mar 12, 2007
453
0
18,780
Does this mean that i have a dead motherboard + cpu

My computer is
mb: ECS k7SOM+ v7.5
ram: 2x 512mb
hdds: 1x80gb, 1x 40 gb, 1x 20gb
graphic cards: integrated SIS740 + Riva TNT2 Pro 16mb
powersupply: generic 250W P4 ready
CPu: 1.3ghz AMD Duron Morgan Core

This computer is already 7 years old. It's been working fine until today, it failed to start. Both of my LCD screens ( i have dual screen setup) displays " no RGB signals. The powersupply has power and has been tested on other machine. All of the harddrives has also been tested and proved to be non-faulty. The dvd-rw is also working. The discret graphic card has been tested on other machine and is also working. I've switched with working DDR ram. I've cleared bios, changed bios battery, reconnected the molex connectors and other power connectors. I've checked that there's no leaked capacitors and visible shorts. There's no funny smell or anything. I've made sure the D-sub cables are securely connected and there're no bent pins. After everything i've done, still i was not able to start the machine. It won't even post.

Does this mean that i have either dead motherboard or CPU? I did not test the cpu because it was soldered directly onto the mobo and i cannot take it off.

Thanks
 
Groveling_Wyrm

Groveling_Wyrm

Distinguished
Dec 11, 2002
1,847
75
20,490
I would expect motherboard failure. Running for seven years is not bad for a cheap board such as that ECS board is.

Even after running perfectly normal, it is normal for the electrical traces to corrode inside the board, due to heat, oxidation, or other issues. Given time, the motherboard will just die. I would say it is time to upgrade anyway.
 
virtualban

virtualban

Distinguished
Feb 16, 2007
1,232
0
19,280
Replacing the motherboard or the cpu at this stage should be useless unless you can get one for free. You ain't using sdram, are you? Probably you can get a cheap motherboard (asrock is the choice if you were in my country) with almost any combination of RAM and graphics port, and just get a cpu for that board, and this is the cheapest replacement scenario I can think about.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom