Frozen (LITERALLY) computer, not working need some help

[ozzie20]

Literally, my computer was frozen. I shipped it via UPS to my house from across the country. I'm thinking that its most likely the motherboard that was damaged, but can't be sure, looking for advice:

First basic specs:
Motherboard: p4M90 M2 Motherboard LGA 775
2 GB DDR2 RAM (one stick)
BFG Geforce 260 GTX Vid Card
Soundblaster Audigy 2 Sound Card
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 ghz cpu

Shipped computer from east coast to midwest. arrived by ups guy who had it on the ground in front of me at front door (its -10F outside the day it arrived). open the box, packed it very very well, still, the thermaltake case was dented (all metal frame). CPU fan (generic intel fan) was somehow dislodged from the motherboard, and is sitting on the video card when I open the computer (thanks UPS!). one of the plastic pins is broken from the cpu fan, and it won't properly reattach itself to the motherboard, but it will stay in its place on motherboard seated over the cpu. Fresh slab of silver paste applied to cpu because the old paste basically dried up being in the cold. reconnect everything:

CPU fan turns on. Video card fan does not turn on. mouse and keyboard do not light up. No beeps from motherboard. "no input" reading on monitor. all other fans operational, HD's spin up, dvd players open and light up.

removed video card from the computer, connected monitor directly to motherboard. same issues as above.

I'm wondering the following: will the motherboard boot up even if the CPU fan is not attached appropriately? If not, it seems as though this is a motherboard failure. The weather was so cold that it warped the plastic fans on the side door of my computer, i'm thinking it probably did the same thing to the motherboard, though not sure considering other parts of the computer (such as the CPU fan which is powered by the motherboard) still work.

any advice???

 

[badge]

Wow. I think just take it apart and bench test with the basics, if the basic parts are not broken off, laying crushed in the bottom of the case or bent. Sounds bad. One typical kick of the shipping box down the UPS dock plus an errant toss of 10 feet when loading will do the trick. Take pictures and make a claim for the insurance money.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNs0Jv7D7Q4

 

[Guest]

You should have inspected the package and at the first sign of serious damage, you should never have accepted the delivery.

Seriously, you should see the way these UPS guys handle the packages, both at the shipping depots and while driving.

The last place I worked, almost on a daily basis the UPS truck would swing around in the courtyard to pull up to more than one business. As the truck is swinging around, you could hear the packages crashing off the shelves to the floor in the truck. Some of the crashes were really loud too.

So if your system was delivered damaged from UPS and it is freezing up, chances are, the hard drive/s was damaged as the heads were most probably slammed into the platters who knows how many times.

Those UPS drivers are worse than a New York City or Boston Cabby.

 

[ozzie20]

you guys are all right. I actually thought of this before shipping, and insured my computer for 2000. I inspected the package before accepting, and there were no signs of damage on the outside of the box itself. the box is still intact, and I will be calling UPS for all of this. In the end, I still gotta figure out whats wrong with the computer itself.

To answer the previous post, there were no obvious cracks/missing parts inside the computer itself.

 

[badge]

open the box, packed it very very well, still, the thermaltake case was dented (all metal frame).

That was hard enough to break/dislodge a lot of parts.

CPU fan (generic intel fan) was somehow dislodged from the motherboard, and is sitting on the video card when I open the computer

So one of the pins on the HSF broke off and the unit was knocked loose from the MB. Hopefully it didn't 'break' the MB in some fashion.

one of the plastic pins is broken from the cpu fan, and it won't properly reattach itself to the motherboard

The HSF is not usable with three pins. You can probably buy a pin for that unit online. Or a similiar cheap socket 775 fan is available on Newegg for small dollars.

but it will stay in its place on motherboard seated over the cpu

.


No don't attempt to reinstall it with a missing lock down pin.

CPU fan turns on. Video card fan does not turn on. mouse and keyboard do not light up. No beeps from motherboard. "no input" reading on monitor. all other fans operational, HD's spin up, dvd players open and light up.

Sounds like a lot of the system parts were at least dislodged if not broke. A bench test using 1 DIMM of RAM, video card, CPU and 'new' heatsink is what I would do. be sure to reseat the RAM and video card plus check every SATA cable and all cables for proper installatioln (SATA cables need to be reinstalled into the sockets, etc.) Unplug the hard drive when bench testing. Be sure to properly reseat the SATA cable when reassembling.

removed video card from the computer, connected monitor directly to motherboard. same issues as above.

Minimally tthe systemn is shorted out. If something is not broken from the hard bashing it took, try reinstalling everything mentioned.

will the motherboard boot up even if the CPU fan is not attached appropriately?

It's not the HSF being installed or not that is preventing power to the MB.

If not, it seems as though this is a motherboard failure.

I would dissamble and bench test checking each component individually. Spare parts woukl be needed to verify a hard drive or video card is wrecked.