Serious need of help

[Tower]

My pc broke down.

I did a restart and when it was powering up the screen remained blank.

Checked the v-card - nothing

No comp beeps when it starts up.

took out memory one at a time

removed other hardware one at a time. nothing

Deduced it was the motherboard and bought a new one. nothing

Currently I'm a poor as fata student and can't get a new pc - anyone with comp experience that is willing to help?

Thanks guys/gals

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Tower

My pc broke down.

I did a restart and when it was powering up the screen remained blank.

Checked the v-card - nothing

No comp beeps when it starts up.

took out memory one at a time

removed other hardware one at a time. nothing

Deduced it was the motherboard and bought a new one. nothing

Currently I'm a poor as fata student and can't get a new pc - anyone with comp experience that is willing to help?

Thanks guys/gals

if it doesn't even post and you're sure the video card is good, it's likely the power supply. do the fans kick in when you power it up (especially the vid card fan)? or do you see an LED on your motherboard light up when the power is on? regardless with those symptoms and the steps you've said you've taken, i'm almost positive it's the PSU. luckily you can get a base end one for around $40-50, so replacing it isn't that big of a deal

i had 2 separate power supplies literally blow up on me (loud crack, blue flame, smoke) before i figured out that my power bar was causing them to go. luckily the ones that went were a little more high end than your standard PSU so when they went they didn't take anything else with them. if you get a cheapy that blows up it can bring the whole system down with it, like my buddy who unfortunately had a bad encounter with a lightning surge last year

[Hack&Lube]

Sounds more like a dead CPU to me but it could be a PSU. Symptoms sound like a dead CPU...

Describe in greater detail the powerup sequence including fans, lights, etc.

[McG]

i concur with the power supply suggestion. i too have burned two on this pc i am using...i decided to go over the top with power supply on the one that i have as i suspected that with all of the stuff that gets plugged in via USB it was having an impact (however small) on energy supply.

the worst thing though is that the power supply can take other things down with it.

while you are at it...you will want to check your fans too as today's PCs run hot.

[Tower]

Thanks guys. I'd like a quieter pc any way so a power supply would be the shizy! I'll take a look at the power up sequence of lights and fans too. not home right now so it will be later.

[GoinAllTheWay]

I've had blown psu's produce a rather wide range of symptoms. One case nothing would happen pressing the button except for the case fans flickering slightly, new psu solved the problem.

Another case where all the fans and drives would fire up but no POST, new psu solved the problem.


Seems with PSU's you can blow the whole thing or only certain rails. For the price they are, they are a good place to start problem solving.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Sounds more like a dead CPU to me but it could be a PSU. Symptoms sound like a dead CPU...

Describe in greater detail the powerup sequence including fans, lights, etc.

when a PC starts up and goes through it's POST sequence (power on self test), the motherboard checks all the basics of the system. cpu, video card, and memory. if one of those are missing or bad, the motherboard will give a very loud beep, different depending on what component is causing the problem. if you power on a computer and nothing at all happens, it's either a bad power supply or a bad motherboard. also if it was the CPU, depending on the type of motherboard you should also still get video and an error message on the screen saying that the CPU is bad

hell, with some of the newer motherboards out you can even boot into the BIOS without a CPU, mainly if someone needs to update the BIOS to allow the motherboard to support a newer model CPU

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

hell, with some of the newer motherboards out you can even boot into the BIOS without a CPU, mainly if someone needs to update the BIOS to allow the motherboard to support a newer model CPU

Doubtful that any motherboard is going to boot without a CPU. The BIOS is nothing more than another program running x86 instructions. How you gonna run that program without an x86 compatible CPU installed in the system?

-Scott

[cSpooge]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

Doubtful that any motherboard is going to boot without a CPU. The BIOS is nothing more than another program running x86 instructions. How you gonna run that program without an x86 compatible CPU installed in the system?

-Scott

some of the stock BIOSes don't support dual-core chips so you have to flash them to a newer version to get it to work.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by cSpooge

some of the stock BIOSes don't support dual-core chips so you have to flash them to a newer version to get it to work.

Yes, but you can't flash them without a CPU installed.

[ricosuave]

Ive got a generic power supply that you can check it with/have

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

Doubtful that any motherboard is going to boot without a CPU. The BIOS is nothing more than another program running x86 instructions. How you gonna run that program without an x86 compatible CPU installed in the system?

-Scott

i was actually referring to the new motherboards that use the BIOS replacement EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface). i seem to recall hearing about the possibility of boards having simplified integrated processors and memory to allow booting into the EFI interface with nothing else installed, but now i can't find anything related to that so i'm probably just talking out of my ass. i may have took the term "hardware independent environment" too literally

[Tower]

Originally Posted by ricosuave

Ive got a generic power supply that you can check it with/have

That would be sweet! I'll buy you some beers for the help. Perhaps a precurser to a Play-off Summit!!! (For us poor saps who don't have play-off tickets.)

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

i was actually referring to the new motherboards that use the BIOS replacement EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface). i seem to recall hearing about the possibility of boards having simplified integrated processors and memory to allow booting into the EFI interface with nothing else installed, but now i can't find anything related to that so i'm probably just talking out of my ass. i may have took the term "hardware independent environment" too literally

Some servers have technology like that. Remote management cards, service processors, they come under different names, but essentially do what you are referring to. I don't think it's trickled down into the consumer market, mostly because of cost.