need immediate help

C

cam

Guest
i was on my machine..

was working in explorer moving files. i selected some files and was going to drag them, i noticed my winamp icon was missing in the bottom corner so i hit my preassigned macro to turn it on.. hourglass came on. music was still playing.. everything froze. i attempted to control alt delete, control x, control escape etc etc to attempt to get out. nothing worked, last ditch effort as always, shut down.

i shut down and tried to come back up, and nothing. monitor isnt even coming on so im assuming the worst. it sounds like its booting up normally. i hear the fan, the hds starting to spin, then the cdroms initializing.. and my camera (which usually turns on for a second or two during bootup process) turned on and stayed on. then it just idles.

i get nothing on screen..

anyone know what this is.. what i can do.. anything

cam
 
Has to be hardware failure.

take all your cards out (sound, modem, network etc except graphics)

disconnect all drives from the motherboard

Try booting now, if it boots put it all back in one by one until you find the faulty component.

If it doesn't then your'e only left with motherboard,chip, memory and graphics card.

If you have more than 1 dimm, remove one and try again, if that doesn't work, try the other.

If it still doesn't work really provoke it by leaving the memory out altogether, it should beep plaintively, this would prove the motherboard and chip works.

If this still doesn't work, put the memory back in and try taking the graphics card out, if it beeps now then it the grahics card faulty.

If it still doesn't boot, then your'e just left with chip and board.

Only way to test these is with another working processor. put the working one in and if it boots then it;s the chip, if it doesn't its the board.
 
a friend suggested it was a fried motherboard, i removed the ram and booted.. no beeping.

sigh.

cam
 
Just one point I forgot to put, make sure your case speakers plugged in to the board :)

I take it you followed all the steps, because a dead modem for example can cause this fault.
 
It is possible that some of your hardware overheated and burnt out. Check to see that the fans are moving properly.
 
i did as you said.. removed all except ram/video/motherboard/proc/ etc..

disconnected all drives.

booted, nothing.

nothing on screen, nothing heh.

it could be the processor.. because my mb controls the power switch to the power supply, and the supply is coming on. what do you think?

cam
 
forgot to mention:

i have an extra video card which i tried and it failed too.

im getting more and more convinced its the processor =p

cam
 
Actually I would suspect the board more, I take it you don't happen to have a spare processor to try ?
 
unfortunately i dont have a spare processor to try...

so you're sure its the motherboard or what. i have a limited budget for this sort of stuff (high school student w/ no job) so i have to do it right the first time rather than do it wrong then have to pay what seems to be the average 15%+ restocking fee for a processor or motherboard i dont need.

cam
 
No,unfortunately I cannot be certain, however from lots of experience of dead machines ( its my job ) I would have to say a dead processor is a very rare beast indeed. Far more likely to be the board.

Have you got a local friendly computer shop who could use a POST card to diagnose the fault and then sell you a new part ?
 
we do, but i hate going to computer shops if i can avoid it. most of them jack up the price for something i can do myself..

economically speaking, it would probably be cheaper to buy the part, try the part, and if it doesnt work return it and get the other.

if you're pretty sure its the board then hey, only maybe a 20% chance ill have to return it and get the proc.

cam
 
One thing I didn't ask, was the processor fan working ?

If it failed then the processor may be blown, if it didn't then Its damned unlikely.

We've got a 50/50 chance of being right here not bad odds :D
 
proc fan still works when i opened up the box.


i think i would have noticed because its somewhat soothing to me.. i have two pcs in my room, the one in question and a quieter 350. when i went to sleep that night i had a little trouble without my background noise of that fan ;)

i think im going to go to a local shop and buy the board. i usually buy my hardware online because its massively cheaper but, in this case i think a local outlet is key.. shipping back and forth can be tedious.

cam
 
Cam,

I just went through the same thing...... Identical symptoms. Did all the same stuff.

Turned out to be the CPU. Just Died....... period.

if you don't believe me, go buy a very cheap (slow) cpu that will fit your socket. Stick it in and see what happens. Much cheaper in the long run than buying a board you don't need and then still having to buy a CPU.
 
Weeeeeeeelllllllllllll,,,,,,,,,

Experience tells me its more than likely the board, but of course there is the outside chance of the processor.

I would dearly love you to put another chip in and see what happens, is there no other machine ( what are you on the forums with ) that you could "borrow" the processor from to test this ?
 
that's exactly what I did bytes........ used a cpu from another system and it worked great. Problem all gone. My sources tell me this is a fairly common thing with AMD CPU's, although it was my first failure ever.

I don't think cam has said what CPU he's using, but if he's running AMD you can pick up a slow one really cheap. Nice to have on hand for testing anyway.

here's some local prices

Thunderbird 900MHz 200MHz FSB $65.99
Thunderbird 950MHz 200MHz FSB $75.99
Thunderbird 1.1 GHz 200MHz FSB $89.99
Thunderbird 1.0 GHz 200MHz FSB $89.99
Thunderbird 1.0 GHz 266MHz FSB $94.99
Thunderbird 1.3 GHz 200MHz FSB $99.99
Thunderbird 1.33 GHz 266MHz FSB $101.99
Thunderbird 1.4 GHz 266MHz FSB $112.99


Duron 800MHz $45.99
Duron 850MHz $49.99
Duron 900MHz $50.99
Duron 1.0GHz $62.99
Duron 1.1GHz $74.99
Duron 1.2GHz $82.99
Duron 1.3GHz $104.99
 
my cpu is an amd athlon 1ghz tbird.

the friend i got the system from said it may be the processor overheating on bootup and to check the heatsink, it appears to be firmly attached, nearly impossible to get off with that clasp on.


so what do you guys think? go with a new processor?

i guess i could just ask them what their return policy is, perhaps get my cash back if im wrong on which is broken.

cam
 
I know it may be a stupid question but, did you put a thermal compound between the CPU and the heatsink. I only ask this because as embarassing as it may be, I made that mistake once.:eek:
 
not embarrassing at all...... I remember when I built my first system....... had all the parts but was practicly scared sh*tless that I'd screwup and damage something. Took me 3 days of putting stuff in and reading befire I had the guts to turn on the power switch.

Now I can put together a top rate box in and hour.....
 

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