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Computer's dead again

MMike

A fowl peckerwood.
Sep 5, 2001
18,207
105
just sittin' here drinkin' scotch
For real it seems too....

Now it just won't power up and the hard drive won't turn. I turned the power supply off an on. The fan will run for anywhere from 1 to 10 seconds and then just stop.

Taking to a PC repair shop after work.

How the HELL did DRB get into my house???
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
Sounds like a bad power supply.

That'll teach you to get sketchy "deals" - shoulda just bought your own :p. At least then you might have a warranty for your troubles... or at least a legitimate Windows license.
 

MMike

A fowl peckerwood.
Sep 5, 2001
18,207
105
just sittin' here drinkin' scotch
Yeah....Ive had powersupplies go out before. But then it was just toally dead. Now if I switch the pwr supp off and on, the little pilot light in my mouse comes on, and like I said, the fan will run for a little while. I guess it's not totally dead....just mostly dead.

Maybe a nice new machine loaded with Vista is in order!

I'm just praying it's not the hardrive itself.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
Yeah....Ive had powersupplies go out before. But then it was just toally dead. Now if I switch the pwr supp off and on, the little pilot light in my mouse comes on, and like I said, the fan will run for a little while. I guess it's not totally dead....just mostly dead.


My last dead power supply had the same symptoms. Cycling the power on the power supply would allow me to get a small jolt of power into the system that allows the fans to spin for a second, but it would cut off really quickly.
 

valve bouncer

Master Dildoist
Feb 11, 2002
7,843
114
Japan
That was hurtful
Mate I just thank Wallace H Christ nothing has gone wrong with any of my computers cos I wouldn't have a bloody clue what to do. I only come to this forum to remind me how dumb I am. I understand about 6.8% of what is written here.
 

MMike

A fowl peckerwood.
Sep 5, 2001
18,207
105
just sittin' here drinkin' scotch
Turns out it's the motherboard.

I watched while he tested everything. Pwr supply was good, CPU was good....pulled all the cards out one at a time, the RAM...everything. But it's the motherboard.

So now 3 questions: Could I have zapped it when I installed my new network adapter? and if so, how come it worked fine for several days before dying?

And lastly, I took the machine to a little place just down the street. He only uses ECS motherboards. Are they decent? He has to get me a special one becuase my grpahics card is AGP, and he only has PCI in stock. I wouldn't mind changing my graphics card actually....but not today.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
ECS makes pretty cheap motherboards (they've been a strictly budget brand until recently), and their quality control is a little sketchy in my experience. I guess if you've got the guy local it's not so bad, since if it dies, you can go bitch at him instead of having to disassemble the computer yourself, send it in, and reassemble it or pay to have it reassembled.
 

MMike

A fowl peckerwood.
Sep 5, 2001
18,207
105
just sittin' here drinkin' scotch
Mmmmm.....should I try to get a different brand?

If you're saying "up until recently", the were low end....how recent? I'm guessing he has to order an older model to accommodate my AGP graphics card.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
Dell.com called and said quit being a cheap bastard and buy a new computer.
:rofl:

Seriously, how much is this guy planning on charging you for a new motherboard? And then to build your system? And then you'll probably end up spending a bunch of time while the operating system whines and complains that you have a whole bunch of new devices recognized (new chipset, all new onboard hardware like ethernet, sound etc.), and it may or may not work properly.

Not to say it might not be worth it to replace the motherboard, but computers are so cheap that they're practically a disposable commodity now. For $450 you could get a really decent new machine from Dell. Just depends on how old the computer is, might be worth thinking about.

The ECS motherboard will probably be fine for the useful life of the computer assuming there are no problems with it out of the box.
 

MMike

A fowl peckerwood.
Sep 5, 2001
18,207
105
just sittin' here drinkin' scotch
Guy just called me....

1) He's getting me an ASUS motherboard
2) It's $105 CDN, installed. (No OS reinstallation)...so as I got the computer for free....I can't complain I guess. It's less than two years old.....or just about 2 years old anyway.

I'm still curious about the failure itself though. I know that there is potential for static build-up and all that. Could I have killed the motherboard when I installed my new network card? And if so, why was it such a gradual demise?

Seems unlikely that this episode happened so close to my other disaster.....
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,232
20,015
Sleazattle
Guy just called me....

1) He's getting me an ASUS motherboard
2) It's $105 CDN, installed. (No OS reinstallation)...so as I got the computer for free....I can't complain I guess. It's less than two years old.....or just about 2 years old anyway.

I'm still curious about the failure itself though. I know that there is potential for static build-up and all that. Could I have killed the motherboard when I installed my new network card? And if so, why was it such a gradual demise?

Seems unlikely that this episode happened so close to my other disaster.....
Tin whiskers. Crystalline structures must also hate you.
 

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
Guy just called me....

1) He's getting me an ASUS motherboard
2) It's $105 CDN, installed. (No OS reinstallation)...so as I got the computer for free....I can't complain I guess. It's less than two years old.....or just about 2 years old anyway.

I'm still curious about the failure itself though. I know that there is potential for static build-up and all that. Could I have killed the motherboard when I installed my new network card? And if so, why was it such a gradual demise?

Seems unlikely that this episode happened so close to my other disaster.....
It's REALLY easy to pop one in yourself. Seriously.

Mobos are dirt cheap.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
I'm going to laugh my butt off if it turns out to be your power supply and not the motherboard at all. I know you said he tested it but it really sounds like a PSU failure, did he try plugging another PSU into the computer and seeing if it boots properly?

Price sounds fine, go for it. I can think of a couple problems that might have caused a failure, but it's probably just a coincidence. Did the guy inspect the motherboard for burned spots or any other apparent physical problems?
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,232
20,015
Sleazattle
I'm going to laugh my butt off if it turns out to be your power supply and not the motherboard at all. I know you said he tested it but it really sounds like a PSU failure, did he try plugging another PSU into the computer and seeing if it boots properly?

Price sounds fine, go for it. I can think of a couple problems that might have caused a failure, but it's probably just a coincidence. Did the guy inspect the motherboard for burned spots or any other apparent physical problems?

It will be even funnier if nothing is wrong and the CPU heat sink just came loose.
 

MMike

A fowl peckerwood.
Sep 5, 2001
18,207
105
just sittin' here drinkin' scotch
I'm going to laugh my butt off if it turns out to be your power supply and not the motherboard at all. I know you said he tested it but it really sounds like a PSU failure, did he try plugging another PSU into the computer and seeing if it boots properly?

Price sounds fine, go for it. I can think of a couple problems that might have caused a failure, but it's probably just a coincidence. Did the guy inspect the motherboard for burned spots or any other apparent physical problems?
Actually he did plug in a brand new PSU and it didn't work. He did it in front of me.

When I left it with him (after he did all of the obvious tests), he said that it was down to one of two things: Either somehow the mobo was grounding out to the casing of the tower...highly unlikely, but possible. Or the mobo was dead. That was not something he could test right away. He called me at home about an hour later and told that it was in fact the mobo.
 

Quo Fan

don't make me kick your ass
Just a coincidence that your mobo died when it did. ASUS make a decent to good mobo. Personally, I like Intel mobo's, but I know others who swear by their ASUS boards. I've used them in the past with no problems.

If you are running XP, you may run into a problem. XP doesn't like changes. I've found, that any more than 2 changes in hardware in a single boot sequence, and the OS freaks. Changing the mobo is a whole lot more than 2. You may be looking at a complete re-install of your OS.
 

MMike

A fowl peckerwood.
Sep 5, 2001
18,207
105
just sittin' here drinkin' scotch
Just a coincidence that your mobo died when it did. ASUS make a decent to good mobo. Personally, I like Intel mobo's, but I know others who swear by their ASUS boards. I've used them in the past with no problems.

If you are running XP, you may run into a problem. XP doesn't like changes. I've found, that any more than 2 changes in hardware in a single boot sequence, and the OS freaks. Changing the mobo is a whole lot more than 2. You may be looking at a complete re-install of your OS.
Yeah I'm sort of counting on that.....(and as we JUST did that last week, I'm pretty sure we can deal with it). Just major pain in the ass because my (legal) copy of XP is pre-SP2...so it took a couple of hours to reload all of the security upgrades.

The guy at the store said that because an ASUS is being swapped for another ASUS, I MIGHT get lucky and not have to reinstall....
 

DRB

unemployed bum
Oct 24, 2002
15,242
0
Watchin' you. Writing it all down.
Yeah I'm sort of counting on that.....(and as we JUST did that last week, I'm pretty sure we can deal with it). Just major pain in the ass because my (legal) copy of XP is pre-SP2...so it took a couple of hours to reload all of the security upgrades.

The guy at the store said that because an ASUS is being swapped for another ASUS, I MIGHT get lucky and not have to reinstall....
You lucky? Does your magic 8 ball have nothing but the "outlook is not good"?
 

Kornphlake

Turbo Monkey
Oct 8, 2002
2,632
1
Portland, OR
Yeah I'm sort of counting on that.....(and as we JUST did that last week, I'm pretty sure we can deal with it). Just major pain in the ass because my (legal) copy of XP is pre-SP2...so it took a couple of hours to reload all of the security upgrades.

The guy at the store said that because an ASUS is being swapped for another ASUS, I MIGHT get lucky and not have to reinstall....
It's more important that the chipset is the same than the brand name on the motherboard. All the integrated perhiperials are related to the chipset more so than the mobo and that is what plays havoc with XP. Things change so fast you might have a hard time finding the same chipset as the one you got 2 years ago.
 

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
BTW - my rule of thumb:

New mobo, clean install of the OS. Always.


Less headaches and that fresh install smell.