OT: need computer help

[Akilae]

I wish I didn't have to do this, but I just wanted to get a couple of opinions before I went past the point of no return. I hope the mods are feeling merciful today!

For some reason my keyboard was acting up when I got home from work (the "enter" key was replaced by "o" for some reason...), so I proceeded to reboot the computer. Except it wouldn't. After windows shut itself down, the computer rebooted, and nothing. Screen blank, fans whirring, HD spinning away, both power and HDD activity LEDs on, nothing happening.

I shut down the computer, pull everything out, put everything back in, and still the same thing: Screen blank, fans whirring, HD spinning away, both power and HDD activity LEDs on, nothing happening. The computer wouldn't even POST (no beep, no floppy seek), so I can't access the BIOS. I also tried booting with the windows CD to no avail.

I'm certain it's not any of the peripherals, since I've swapped out my DVD, burner, and HD to test, and the same thing still happens. That leaves mobo, CPU, and mem, which I don't have spares of so I can't test those. The last time this happened I replaced all three (thank goodness for overnight delivery!) and the computer happily POSTed and booted up.

This time I have access to a notebook, so I just wanted to see if I could find any other remedies before I "upgraded" my computer again. Does anybody have any ideas? I'm willing to try any folk remedies, since I really don't want to part with my oh-so-expensive RAMBUS setup

Edited August 3, 2005 by Akilae

[VF-19]

Memory is easy to test, simply remove ALL of your RAM sticks and try and boot. If it boots (and stops, because there isn't enough RAM to load anything), then your RAM is bad.

I only hope that your powersupply hasn't gone partially belly up. You might want to test it before you put new components in your system...

[Zentrandude]

a chi virus? funny last week i had to swap out a fan in my powersupply.

[Duke Togo]

I try to go simple first; is there a CMOS reset button or jumper on your mobo, and have you tried it yet? (I guess you could always pull out the battery for a minute).

Hardware wise, I would think RAM 1, mobo 2, GPU 3, CPU 4.

Edited August 3, 2005 by Duke Togo

[Hurin]

Togo's got it exactly right. Reset the CMOS. If you can't locate the CMOS reset jumper on the motherboard, then unplug the system from power, and then remove the CMOS battery (it looks like a giant watch battery). Leave it out for like 30 seconds (just to be paranoid), then put it back in and power up. If it still doesn't work, go with Togo's list of probabilities.

The last time this happened to one of my users, it turned out to just be RAM that needed to be re-seated. But, of course, that was lucky.

VF-19, if you remove all the RAM, you won't get anything except a dark screen and some odd beeps when you turn it on.

Good Luck!

H

[Akilae]

Thanx for the suggestion!

I pulled the RAM and GPU after I made the post, and no beeps, so I'm guessing either mobo or CPU. I'll try resetting the CMOS when I get home today.

How would I test a faulty power supply though? Plug stuff in to see if it breaks?

[JB0]

How would I test a faulty power supply though?  Plug stuff in to see if it breaks? 

317094[/snapback]

Yes, actually. If you have a known good system that fails to oot when connected to teh tester power supply, it means the PSU is likely bad.

[Gunbuster]

My bet is on the power supply! This happened to me and I thought it was the motherboard. I spent $250 (on a new motherboard and CPU) to find out it was the power supply

How would I test a faulty power supply though?  Plug stuff in to see if it breaks? 

317094[/snapback]

Yes, actually. If you have a known good system that fails to oot when connected to teh tester power supply, it means the PSU is likely bad.

317098[/snapback]

[Hurin]

My bet is on the power supply! This happened to me and I thought it was the motherboard. I spent $250 (on a new motherboard and CPU) to find out it was the power supply 

Hmmm, yeah, I think you guys are right. It's probably the power supply. It's been a few years since I've had one fail outright, but if I recall, the symptoms were very much like this.

If you're to the point of replacing components one-by-one, I'd take these guys' advice and go with the power supply first.

H

[Akilae]

hmm... reset the CMOS, and still nothing. Thank goodness I still have a MIB ATX P4 power supply in storage Guess I'll give it a try before spending mucho dinero. The weekend isn't far away, I can live without my workstation for a few days.

*mutters about Antec and 'quality' power supplies...'

Thanks guys! If the new PS doesn't work then I can upgrade in the knowledge that I did all I could

Edited August 4, 2005 by Akilae

[Die, Alien Scum!]

Apologies to dr vandermeer for "borrowing" his pic, but it fits this thread too well!

[4everNewbie]

Sweet! I'm glad this thread came up. I slapped together a bunch of spare parts so a relative could have a computer on their desk and got the same problem in reverse. Boots fine and runs fine, until shut down. After a few days, the system started to hang after Windows shut down. Fans, HD and the such but now power shut down. Not even "It is now safe to turn off your computer". The damned reset button wouldn't even work. The system works fine except you have to switch to power supply off to power down. I was ready to give up (after a lot of part swapping and googling) but now i'll try the PSU. Thanks gang.

Is it me, or does "Macross Fan" seem to go hand-in-hand with IT professional, expert modeller and photoshop whiz-kid? And how many military/police personnel do we have? A lot of skills i'd like to have seem to be prevalent around here. Kudos to you guys.

[Duke Togo]

Sweet!  I'm glad this thread came up.  I slapped together a bunch of spare parts so a relative could have a computer on their desk and got the same problem in reverse.  Boots fine and runs fine, until shut down.  After a few days, the system started to hang after Windows shut down.  Fans, HD and the such but now power shut down.  Not even "It is now safe to turn off your computer".  The damned reset button wouldn't even work.  The system works fine except you have to switch to power supply off to power down.  I was ready to give up (after a lot of part swapping and googling) but now i'll try the PSU.  Thanks gang.

Doesn't sound like the PSU to me. Check for a BIOS update, and take a look for updated system drivers.

[Zentrandude]

Sweet!  I'm glad this thread came up.  I slapped together a bunch of spare parts so a relative could have a computer on their desk and got the same problem in reverse.  Boots fine and runs fine, until shut down.  After a few days, the system started to hang after Windows shut down.  Fans, HD and the such but now power shut down.  Not even "It is now safe to turn off your computer".  The damned reset button wouldn't even work.  The system works fine except you have to switch to power supply off to power down.  I was ready to give up (after a lot of part swapping and googling) but now i'll try the PSU.  Thanks gang.

Is it me, or does "Macross Fan" seem to go hand-in-hand with IT professional, expert modeller and photoshop whiz-kid?  And how many military/police personnel do we have?  A lot of skills i'd like to have seem to be prevalent around here.  Kudos to you guys.

317253[/snapback]

how old is your computer? sounds like its an at board that or you been playing with the apm settings (you can change it on the same window you can change the screensavers)

With the original problem i had that long b4 but thats when i accdently fried my cpu.

[4everNewbie]

how old is your computer? sounds like its an at board that or you been playing with the apm settings (you can change it on the same window you can change the screensavers)

With the original problem i had that long b4 but thats when i accdently fried my cpu.

317344[/snapback]

The MB and CPU are brand new and while the rest was second-hand, they were like new. I slapped everything together, fed the CDs and everything worked fine. A couple days later, I got a call that it wasn't powering down all the way. I've tried a variety of settings and reassembling, but with no luck. My next step was to wipe the system and reinstall from the BIOS up (I was actually looking forward attempting an updated BIOS as i've never done that before) since there wasn't anything on it to lose. But she decided that she doesn't mind flipping the switch on the PSU after shutting down Windows. Saved me some work I guess, since other than that, everything works fine.

[Vince]

if power is on and CMOS doesn't come up, then it likely your mb is fired. check and see if any cable is connected directly to a outlet. or maybe just a dead battery on the mb.

but my guess is firec mb. if this is the case, yu cpu and memory are probably ok.