Storage

Ask something
Question Locked

Broken Computer :(

0 helpful
17 replies

by darryl~

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

This is the story I got regarding what happened to my home computer yesterday.

As my wife & daughter were in our little "computer room" yesterday morning (wife using her computer - daughter using mine) apparently my computer just shut down for no reason (our computers run 24/7). My wife tried to power it back on but nothing happened so she just left it alone. A minute or so later she heard a little "pop" & that lovely smell of a burning power supply we are all familiar with so she turned off the power bar at this point. So I get home....install another power supply I had & power the computer back up. Everything starts up okay, the keyboard flashes the lights, mouse light comes on....then, while going through the POST it stops at the "press Del to enter setup" screen...press Del does nothing...almost like a dead keyboard....so I try another keyboard...still nothing...I unplug the keyboard & mouse then power back up hoping to at least get a "no keyboard" error...same thing....freezes at the "enter setup" screen. It displays the BIOS & version....identifies the CPU correctly...it just won't go past this spot....don't make it to detecting RAM...IDE devices....etc. No "beeps" like bad ram or anything (didn't try pulling the RAM though).

The DVD & CD lights flash on reboot...I can hear the HDD engauge (no light or is too fast to see)....I've tried unplugging all IDE devices except the boot HDD & unplugged everything on the back except the mouse & keyboard.

I'm guessing the IDE controllers or something else on the motherboard is fried....does anyone see something stupid I may have overlooked before I go buy another motherboard?

17 replies

by deadly ernest

I can think of is the PSU, check the the new one is the same or greater wattage than the old one - preferably greater.

I once had a MB that became touchy after a PSU went belly up while running. Original was 300 Watts, new 300 w PSU system didn't boot properly, swapped in a 400 watt PSU and it worked OK for another 12 months before the motherboard finally kicked it.

It seems the PSU did some mild damage to the motherboard as it went, I'd say a cap or something took a light hit. The higher PSU overcame that slight problem. It was a rare oddity, but it worked for me.

by darryl~

everything except the HDD, the power consumption should be very low....that was one of the things I was thinking when I unplugged everything...I even pulled the IDE cable for the DVD & FDD cable from the motherboard in case one of them was causing a problem...I have a bigger power supply in another computer...I'll give it a shot....it's worth a try....it'll only take a couple minutes to change the PSU.

by thumbsup2

Sounds like when it went down it was due to the motherboard and later popped the power supply. You've fixed one problem, but the original remains. I'll bet when you take the motherboard out, you'll see where it was fried or perhaps a bulging capacitor.

by darryl~

at the motherboard last night & nothing stood right out...other than all the dust on it :)...I think you're probably right about the MB going first....it probably shut down because of heat buildup from the dust...the fan on the power supply has been acting up for the past couple weeks....that just added to the problem.

by kenone

Sounds like the PSU took out your mobo. One thing to try, this only works like 5% of the time but it's worth a look. Pull the memory and put in 1 known good stick. If there's no change, then it's time for a new mobo. If it boots then you can try running it with different memory sticks but I'd start saving my nickels for a new mobo anyway.

by darryl~

from my wife's computer...I'll give it a try...sure hope I don't blow her RAM. :)

The worst is it's an old MB...old CPU...DDR RAM...not even DDR2....it's just a 2.4 MHz with 2 GB RAM...I'm going to have to buy everthing new.

by deadly ernest

by some older motherboards down here - recently had to get a replacement motherboard for system with DDR RAM and AGP - got it too.

by oh smeg

Try clearing the BIOS and see if that makes any difference. Sometimes when the PS dies the BIOS gets messed up which prevents the unit from starting after it is repaired. ;)

Replacing the BIOS Battery as well wouldn't go astray here. If it's flat that could cause this problem as well.

Col

by darryl~

maybe I should reset the BIOS....I have a multimeter that will test a battery under load, that's a very good point...it's been in there for 5 years.

Maybe I should clean some of the dust out of it as well :)

by darryl~

It's sometimes hard to find a new MB that will accept a the old stuff....& when you do find one, it seems they want a lot of $$$ for it compared to one of the newer ones.....but that's the way computers have always been....the newest technology is always expensive....the old stuff is always expensive & usually has to be oredered...technology that's been on the market for a couple years is usually the best price.

by darryl~

that I didn't pull the RAM to see if I got the "beeps" telling me no RAM detected. There was another suggestion of trying a different stick of RAM...I would have to pull it out of my wife's computer & am a little nervous of frying it (I don't have much DDR laying around....mostly DDR2)...I might try plugging my RAM in her's to see if it's still any good.

by darryl~

to people when fixing their computer (upgrade their old 128's or 256's to 512's or 1 GB's)...so I have a bunch of 128's & 256's....not much good for a board with only 2 slots....even though 2 X 256 would run XP "okay", it would be too slow for me.....it would make me crazy waiting for apps to open.

by peconet tietokoneet

To me it sounds like your motherboard has collected too much dust and has made contact with the components and short circuited your motherboard so forcing the motherboard to shutdown and blowing the power supply in the process. My advice is to buy another motherboard, but keep the hdd's, scrape the memory as well, just by new stuff. But please clean your computers once every six months to avoid build up of dust. Hope all works out for you. :)

by darryl~

I tried all the suggestions everyone posted & a few more I came up with (thanks for the input everyone) but it came down to the motherboard....I couldn't spot the damage but I could smell it....no shame though as it's a cheap board I bought over 5 years ago & it runs 24/7.

This discussion is closed to new replies.