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Newbie needs some Tech advice on PSU or HDD

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  • Homebuilt
  • Hard Drives
  • Systems
Last response: in Systems
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March 27, 2012 12:03:55 AM

Hello everyone.

I have a good friend of mine that is selling me a 1 year old gaming tower dirt cheap. In all reality, I would be an idiot to pass it up. He is doing this as a favor to me. There is a catch however.

He says, that either the PSU is dead or the HDD is corrupt. (he is not very tech savvy...NOR will I be able to look at the tower until this Friday)

I myself am not that tech savvy either when it comes to PCs....

So can anyone please give me their input as in what I should do in order to check?

If I hook up a monitor and boot up the machine (provided the PSU actually works) will it fry any hardware etc?
Should I just straight up replace the PSU and HDD before even trying to boot the thing?

BTW there is a catch, another one of our close friends wants this PC as well, however I've known him for longer so he is giving me first dibs, however I don't want to end up with an exspensive brick.

Thank you for your time.
:) 

More about : newbie tech advice psu hdd

a b B Homebuilt system
March 27, 2012 12:18:19 AM

ajtemplar said:
Hello everyone.

I have a good friend of mine that is selling me a 1 year old gaming tower dirt cheap. In all reality, I would be an idiot to pass it up. He is doing this as a favor to me. There is a catch however.

He says, that either the PSU is dead or the HDD is corrupt. (he is not very tech savvy...NOR will I be able to look at the tower until this Friday)

I myself am not that tech savvy either when it comes to PCs....

So can anyone please give me their input as in what I should do in order to check?

If I hook up a monitor and boot up the machine (provided the PSU actually works) will it fry any hardware etc?
Should I just straight up replace the PSU and HDD before even trying to boot the thing?

BTW there is a catch, another one of our close friends wants this PC as well, however I've known him for longer so he is giving me first dibs, however I don't want to end up with an exspensive brick.

Thank you for your time.
:) 


Ah the dilemma. Without knowing exactly what your getting it's hard to help you. If your friend is not tech savvy then I doubt he knows whether the HDD or the PSU is faulty. It could well be the motherboard and or CPU. If he's telling you that it won't boot a non-tech guy may well think that it has to be power or the HDD (which stores the OS) but it could be much worse than that. Sorry to be the "kill-joy" but you have to think of these things if it's going to cost you anything. If it's free - then take it and get back to us and someone will help you. Sorry.:( 
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March 27, 2012 12:22:29 AM

Well, I guess maybe I'll just hook up a monitor and try to boot it up and see what's wrong.

If it doesn't even boot, what are some things I should keep in mind as to what might be wrong?

Secondly, is there some way of testing to see if power is running through w/o frying the board etc etc? Or should I just take the tower to geek squad and ask them to run a diagnostic? (which is way too exspensive IMO)
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a b B Homebuilt system
March 27, 2012 12:30:34 AM

ajtemplar said:
Well, I guess maybe I'll just hook up a monitor and try to boot it up and see what's wrong.

If it doesn't even boot, what are some things I should keep in mind as to what might be wrong?

Secondly, is there some way of testing to see if power is running through w/o frying the board etc etc? Or should I just take the tower to geek squad and ask them to run a diagnostic? (which is way too exspensive IMO)

After you get it on Friday - tell us what's in it and you'll get specific advice. We don't know what it is - let alone whats wrong with it - yet. It could be a minor fix and it could be a major rebuild. The odds are that all the components will not be broken so you'll be able to salvage some parts. The question is - will they be worth it? We don't know yet.
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March 27, 2012 12:33:28 AM

ok thank you for your input. It's some quad core. (dunno which) 8gb RAM ddr3 (dunno what kind) and a GeForce GTX 560 TI. All for $100.

The graphics card alone from my understanding is worth it.

I'll repost this weekend. Thank you Chaz
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March 27, 2012 12:33:41 AM

Best answer selected by ajtemplar.
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a b B Homebuilt system
March 27, 2012 12:41:03 AM

ajtemplar said:
Best answer selected by ajtemplar.

nYou are so right about the GPU! If the ram is good also and I'm assuming it's in a case of some sort - you already doubled your investment! Congratulations and waiting to hear from you this weekend. :D 
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