Tom's Hardware > Forum > Motherboards & Memory > General Motherboard > Power surge fried my MOBO...
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freedomverse   04-29-2002 at 08:39:05 AM

We had a storm here in Chicago and though I have a surge protector, I think a battery backup is on the to do list. How can I tell what was fried? What would be the most likely thing to go bad in a power surge... the power supply, the mobo? The computer turns on, but I have a black screen. The fans work and the cd drive can open and close, but the screen is black and no lights on the keyboard come on. Please help. I don't want to go crazy! I need to get this puppy up as soon as possible!

Thanks,
Jared.

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jihiggs   04-29-2002 at 05:50:23 PM
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could still be the power supply, just the 12v rail still working. probly the motherboard though.

you shot who in the what now?

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freedomverse   04-30-2002 at 12:01:24 AM
- 0 +

If the power supply could possibly be the problem, how can I check it? Is there any way to check the mobo?
Not a happy camper,
Jared.

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jihiggs   04-30-2002 at 12:09:15 AM
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only way to check is swap it out. same for the mother board.

you shot who in the what now?

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Anonymous   04-30-2002 at 01:23:36 AM
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If all fans and drives are powering up, it´s more likely its just your mainboard. The PSU usually won´t start at all, if there´s a problem with it. Does your mainboard have a light to show if the RAM is getting power?

Have you tried to clear the bios, and restart? Some mainboards have a feature installed, which tells the mainboard to go into a special state after a surge. Override this by clearing the bios!

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freedomverse   04-30-2002 at 04:37:30 AM
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I hooked up another power supply from my other cpu and I got power to the mobo and stuff showed up on my monitor. Smile! I am about to install a new power supply. I'm thinkin' maybe that will solve the problem. I'll let you guys know. Thanks for all the help today. I also got a battery backup so this is less likely to happen again.

Jared.

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CoOLMaNX   04-30-2002 at 04:41:24 AM
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My friend just fried his motherboard, he thought it was something else because after doing something small, i think he reset he swapped out some part, but after changing it he had the same prob u had..nothing on the monitor so he did another swap and it was the board..just make sure first that its ure psu by trying the psu that u believe is fried on another pc

didnt have one of em electronic pens so ill just type my name,<i>CoOoLMaNX</i>

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freedomverse   04-30-2002 at 05:39:56 PM
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O.K. Swapped out the power supply and everything is just fine. I also picked up a pretty hefty UPS so this is less likely to happen again. I have to admit that I was thinkin' that it might not have been such a bad thing to have to upgrade my mobo. But I'm glad it's all up and running because I really don't have the cash for any upgrades right now.
So, I guess that some of the power supply worked; the 12 volt accessory lines, but the part that hooked to the mobo was fried. How would you figure.
Jared.

Reply to freedomverse
Raist999   04-30-2002 at 08:22:35 PM
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If you are concerned that you may have a bad PSU, Antec has an ATX PSU tester you can pick up for about $15 US. The indicator will let you know the PSU is running, you could also get your hands on a cheap multimeter for $15-20 at Radio Shack and test volts/amps to verify the output is good.

Reply to Raist999
jflongo   04-30-2002 at 09:17:12 PM
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I have begged my friends to use UPS's, but none of them do. I've got my computer and my wifes on an older APC UPS. I've had the power go out a few times, and my computer keeps cruising.

For the rocking computers people can put together these days, spend the extra $70 - $150 on a good UPS. It will last you a long time, and through many upgrades. And when something bad happens like it did to freedomverse, you won't be affected.

I also have a pretty decent entertainment system setup in my house, and that is on a line conditioner, which I also highly recommend. One of my friends went out and dropped about 6 - 7K on a widescreen tv, receiver, and speakers. On a whimpy surge protector for it all, he ignored me telling him to get a line conditioner, hope he's not sorry in the future.

Spending $100 bucks for things like computers and stereo systems is nothing in the long run, I highly recommend it.

<i> If you buy a pre-packaged pc, shame on you </i> :wink:

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