AM2 PC No Longer Boots Up

[tolroe]

MotherBoard: Biostar TForce 550 AM2
http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=178#dl

Power Supply: 430W Thermaltake (TR2-430NP)

I'm looking at my brother-in-law's computer which he's had for years. Recently it stopped booting: the fans start up and power back down in about one second. There is no POST. Here are a few things we have found in testing:

1. We've disconnected and re-connected everything one component at a time to see if maybe something was drawing too much power without luck.

2. We tested the leads on all the power supply outputs with a multimeter and voltage is fine.

3. With everything connected, except for the +12V CPU cable, it appears to power up and stay powered (except there is no PC without a CPU). This cable is outputting 12.25 Volts on both leads.

At this point I'm thinking it is a problem with the motherboard or the CPU has seen its last days.

Does anyone have any other thoughts?

Is there a reliable website where I could still purchase an AM2 processor?

If not, any recommendations for a replacement MB and CPU (supports DDR 800 and is less than $150)? He uses it primarily for email, word processing, and family photos, but does occasionally play some older RTS games.

Thanks

 

[clutchc]

If you've ruled out the PSU (the usual culprit), then my suspicion would be the MB. Not that the CPU can't fail, but they usually last the longest of all the components if not abused. And the MB has the most components on it to fail. And to add to the confusion, I have seen MBs fail and take out the CPU with them. And vice-versa. Hard to determine without parts available to swap out.

I clicked on the link for "cpu support" in the link you sent. But they have nothing there. And the Athlon 64 X2/64/FX/Sempron Processors came is a wide variety of versions. If you remove the cooler form the processor, you can clean the thermal paste off and tell exactly what is in there now, if you don't already know. Ebay would be the only place you might still find aging AMD processors like that.

If you decide to go the new MB/CPU route, you will have to add new memory to the cost too. And do a clean install of the OS. But being that the OS is probably OEM, it is limited to the MB it was installed with. There are ways around that, but it may be time to upgrade the OS as well if it is still using Vista or XP.

 

[scoutgc]

I completely understand your problem, I am experiencing it also (Wednesday before thanksgiving mine died). Since you can not replace just the MB or CPU. I would recommend a major upgrade since none of those parts are available unless you look on ebay. Not to mention your system is probably about 6 years or older. ANCIENT by computer time
Other option just get a cheap Box computer