computer died, need some advice

[merk]

i just put together a new system 3-4 weeks ago. Been working ok ... occasional glitch but nothing too bad.

Today i turned on the system, and after being on for less then 10 minutes, it just turned off. And it wont come back on.

I've unplugged everything except the power cable, and when i turn the power on, i see a small green light on the mobo comes on, the cpu fan twitches for a split second and the case speaker makes a small sound. But thats all that happens.

I at first thought the power supply got blown (its the PS that came with the case, enermax) but if the light on the mobo is coming on, does that mean the power supply is working? In which case, what else could be wrong?

I have an extra power supply so i am going to try swapping that out and see what happens. but i dont have an extra mobo or cpu. I dont think its the cpu since the pc should still come on and beep if its a bad cpu. So the only thing i can think of is the mobo got fried somehow.

Any other suggestions?

 

[mister_e]

and the case speaker makes a small sound. But thats all that happens.

That beeping is probably a POST error code. Check your mobo manual for the specific meaning of the beep you hear. Most likely something has come unseated somehow. Try opening your case and making sure all the memory, PCI, and AGP cards are firmly seated. Also, try checking all the molex plugs and make sure they are firmly plugged in to all of your devices. Lastly, check your IDE and floppy cables and make sure they are attached properly.

 

[merk]

no its definitely not a post beep. Its litterally just a very small little noise. The same type of noise you might hear when you plug your speakers into the sound card.
anyhow, i'm ™ sure its the motherboard. I took everything out of the system, except for memory and cpu. Still nothing. Took the memory out. Now i know the system should come on even with no memory, but i'll get an error. I got nothing. I even took the cpu out and tried and nothing.

tried a new power supply, same thing.

so i'm pretty sure something on the motherboard got fried. The thing that worries me now is what caused it? was it just a defective board? or did something else happen? I'll probably keep the new power supply i got just to be safe. The one that was in there should have been ok (300w) but i picked up a 350w supply.

 

[Jake_Barnes]

Merk - Why don't you PM Crashman - he has lots of experience with these problems. Ask him to look at your thread in the Computer Shops section too - he might have some comments there if he see's the build and the problem threads. Good luck.

But Officer, I wasn't speeding - I was qualifying ...

 

[Crashman]

What did your computer do the first time it started, when you said it ran for 10 minutes?

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[merk]

FYI, i just got done installing the replacement board (same model) and its working fine. So i'm pretty sure it was the motherboard that went bad.

When the computer booted up the last time it didnt do anything unusual in the 10 minutes it was up. I booted up normally, i think i logged onto AIM, and i opened eudora, downloaded some new email and was either typing out a new email or reading one when the power just shut off. No warning or anything. Shut off and it would not come back on. I'd really like to know what caused it though. Unless i just got a defective mobo, my only gueass is a bad PS, since i used the one that came with the case.

i went out and bought a antec 350w supply and put that in there now. Its also quieter then the other one.

Rest of the system consists of:
2.6ghz p4
(2) 256meg pc3200 ram
1 ibm drive
1 wd drive
dvd rom
dvd rw
floppy
radeon 9500pro (the model # is the one that the manual says might not be 0 stable with the system...i assume that means an occasional crash, not a fried mobo)
sb live
hauppauge tv tuner card

aside from a bad PS or defective mobo, only other thing i could think of was a power spike through the hauppauge card, since the cable line goes right into that without any sort of surge protection. Never had any problems with it before, and there wasnt thunderstorms or anything else weird going on at the time.

ian

 

[Crashman]

Most boards die from capacitor failures. You can check those visually (swollen or leaking capacitors).

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[merk]

i just looked it over and i didnt notice any that looked bad. I'll closer look a little later when i have some more time.

 

[rc7237]

That thing happened to me before. I had an Asus motherboard and the light was still on when it stopped. I found a tiny burn on my HD, so I contacted IBM and they sent me a new one. That didn't work either, contacted Asus, they sent out a new MB, that didn't solve the problem. Finally contacted Intel and they sent me a new pros, fan and HS, It finally worked but then, I found out that my SB platinum got fried and damaged my video card, although working got affected too. You might wanna try contact the manufacturers and start with your cpu. Oh , I forgot to tell you that the memory had to be replaced too. I was frustrated bec. I have to go to different companies, but i was lucky too, bec. all the major parts that i have are retail versions and carry the standard warranty that were still in effect. Good Luck!

 

[merk]

well i'm pretty sure it was the mobo. Since i replaced the mobo and everything is working.

Also, when i removed everything from the mobo, including memory and cpu, it still would not power up. Even without a cpu, it should still turn on and beep.