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  • #2153381

    Need help troubleshooting semi-dead PC…

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    by rbse ·

    I have an older PC that has failed to operate.

    The problem:
    I have no video, the power and HD leds are dim, and the power supply fan is running slow…

    Checked the power supply and it’s good.
    Pulled all the cards and HD and sill have the same problem with the power led and fan.

    I suspect it’s ether the MOBO, CPU, or RAM, but how can I tell which one is the culprit???

    Now the HD is not recognizable in another machine!

    Can a bad HD or MOBO effect each other ???

    Any help is much appreciated.

    Thanks,
    Robert Stretton
    .

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    • #2800540

      Clarifications

      by rbse ·

      In reply to Need help troubleshooting semi-dead PC…

      Clarifications

    • #2800450

      RE: [i]Checked the power supply and it’s good.[/i]

      by oh smeg ·

      In reply to Need help troubleshooting semi-dead PC…

      How did you check the PS?

      In my experience PS’s are the weakest link in the chain and are more likely than not to fail. Particularly if they are a No Name Brand. When this happens all sorts of strange behaviors occur.

      [i]I suspect it’s ether the MOBO, CPU, or RAM, but how can I tell which one is the culprit???[/i]

      Well the easiest way is to remove the RAM & CPU and test these on another Known Good M’Board or computer. If they work OK and fail to work when refitted to the nonworking M’Board after it has been removed from the case and checked visually then the M’Board is shot.

      If the PS will drive another computer and all parts work OK on the tests buy fail to work when refitted together try a Known Good PS with a greater capacity that the one fitted to this computer. Quite often a Power Supply will go off and either have low Current or Voltage available or the Capacitance of the unit will go off over time and cause problems.

      Col

    • #2799307

      STOP testing the components.

      by 1bn0 ·

      In reply to Need help troubleshooting semi-dead PC…

      The symptoms descrtibe a power failure of one or more of the components.

      By re-using the processor or memory in another board, you have 50/50 chance the component is defective and will damage the test motherboard as well.

      Same probabiltiy if you try known good components in the bad motherboard.

      Just consider the whole assembly dead.

      It sounds like it may have already killed the hdd as well.

      ONly test I would consider at this point is a known,good, OLD HDD that I dont care if it blows up. Maybe the HDD was the problem./

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