HELP: PC not working

[Deepak]

My home PC has suddenly stopped functioning. I switch it ON, LED indicators turn ON, HDD LED which is blinking, is constantly ON but nothing happens. Monitor shows orange light which means no signal. Even CD/DVD drives don't pop out when I press Eject.

I tried opening the case, removed everything and connected. Still no response. Someone told me that may be my RAM has gone bad. What is your guess? Someone please help me, I have to submit my project this saturday.

 

[Karma Police]

Motherboard died. Get a new one & a new PSU.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Try clearing your CMOS using the jumper first, sometimes they go a little wonky.

 

[Crusher]

Hrmm... doesn't even start to post eh? If resetting the CMOS doesn't work, Strip it down to the bare minimum (video card, cpu, ram, mobo). If it still doesn't work, start swapping hardware. I've never known ram to up and die and cause it to not even post, and I've never seen a processor die, so I would start by swapping out the video card, then the PSU. PSU's fail more often than video cards, but it's much easier to swap video cards out

 

[Deepak]

I spoke to another person, he says its most probably PSU problem, as DVD/CD drives must pop out when I press eject.....

 

[maaoouud]

Most probably a psu problem. Roughly the same happened to my parents computer which had 3 leaking capacitors on the motherboard. That put too much stress on the cheap psu in the case and it blew. HDD drive led being constantly on can be caused by a bad ide cable. But since the rest of the problems seems to indicate that it dies when trying to post, it's most likely PSU/mobo related. I suggest you do the following;

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Checking for dead hardware
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1. Check mobo for bad capacitors.   [URL="http://www.badcaps.net/ident/"]http://www.badcaps.net/ident/[/URL]
   If you find leaking ones you might check if you can get it repairs cheap locally (caps are pretty cheap)
   Or replace the mobo if you can't get it repaired cheap.
2. Try replacing the psu.
   If this works, don't put another crappy psu in there, try to find a cheap but good psu.
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Checking why it won't post properly
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3. Check the mobo manual for it's error codes and check what the error is.
   Most likely it's stuck on the first error code (no cpu installed or something like that).
   If so try reseating the cpu, if that don't work try it in a different mobo (mobo probably dead).
   If there's a different error, try reseating/replacing that part.
   If there's no error at all, disconnect all components (including cpu, but on some boards you need it mounted), this must give you an error code or the mobo is dead or the bios corrupt.
4. Reseat the videocard.
5. Reseat the memory modules (if more than one, try them one at a time if mobo allows it).
6. Replace ide cable and check the devices by connecting them one at a time.
7. Boot with the bare minimum needed, and then add things one at a time and try to boot.

If you find the error and don't know how to fix it, just post here and I'll tell you what to do

Also, you could try the components in a different computer and check that they're working separately.

 

[Deepak]

Thanks everyone for answers. Today, I'll use my Brother-in-law's PSU and find put whether my PSU is the "problem". In case I need to buy a new PSU, I would rather buy a new Case+PSU. Which case+PSU would you recommend? I have XP1700+/A7N266VM/DVDCombo/CDROM/256MB DDR/80GB HDD. Should I get 400W PSU?

Thanks.

 

[Vadi]

According to a recent review the Seasonic S12-380 is very good.

Antec's P180 looks very good as a case. I have a case wthout screws and I'm not very happy with it because most video- and soundcards can't be firmly installed.

 

[Karma Police]

Thanks everyone for answers. Today, I'll use my Brother-in-law's PSU and find put whether my PSU is the "problem". In case I need to buy a new PSU, I would rather buy a new Case+PSU. Which case+PSU would you recommend? I have XP1700+/A7N266VM/DVDCombo/CDROM/256MB DDR/80GB HDD. Should I get 400W PSU?

Thanks.

Unless your Case sucks, just buy a new PSU.

The best place to get information about PSU's for a high-end system is HardOCPs PSU Forum:

HardOCP's Power Supplies for Today's & Tomorrow's Computers:

Since you are not going to have an SLI system, I highly recommend the Fortron BlueStorm 500W. I cannot say enough good things about this PSU. It is a fully compliant ATX 2.0, with dual rails, low dB noise, high amps per 12v1 & 12v2 lines (15amps), very high efficiency (~80%), high regulation (+/- 4% under load), sleeved cables, and runs for ~$91.00 at NewEgg:

FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX500-A ATX12V 500W

If you want something cheaper I'd suggest the FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX450-PN ATX12V 450W:

FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX450-PN 450W Power Supply

BTW, before you start thinking that you have to have a 500W PSU just because, I would suggest calculating exactly how much power you really need first, adding up the CPU, video card, Optical drives, hard drives, case fans, sound cards, etc, using this:

takaman's Power Supply Calculator
HOW TO BUY A PSU (or how to determine if your old one is up to it)

If you have any questions, ask away! g/l!

 

[Deepak]

Thanks Karma, but I won't spend more than $30 (~ Rs.1400) on a case/PSU. Any suggestion in that range?

 

[Geo]

No beeps even? You've got your internal speaker hooked up? Or have mobos given up on beeping their complaints?

 

[digitalwanderer]

Thanks Karma, but I won't spend more than $30 (~ Rs.1400) on a case/PSU. Any suggestion in that range?

Bad, bad, bad plan!

I used to be the same way, and for cases I guess I still am; but power supplies are way too important to go cheap on. It's alright to go for value on them, but never go for cheap!

Expect to pay around $50us for a good power supply, and SPEND IT ON ONE! You won't regret it, and your system will love you for it.

 

[Crusher]

Since you didn't list a separate graphics card, I assume you're using the on board video. Your system really shouldn't need 400W, a quality 300W supply should be fine.

 

[Deepak]

Hurrah! "PSU" was the problem. I used another PSU and it worked. I am so happy now. I'll get a new PSU asap, and this time atleast 400W. Any idea why did my old PSU fail? It was a 300W piece, could it be that the total load was more than 300W?

Anyway guys, thanks a million for promptly helping me, I don't have words to thank you. :smile:

 

[digitalwanderer]

PSU die, it just happens. Lord knows I've been thru my fair share of 'em.

My worst actually exploded in a blue flash with lots of smoke and nasty smells, fried the mobo too.

Doesn't matter if they're ultra-cheapies or top-o-the-line, PSU units die just like everything else.

The best way to keep 'em alive longer is to blow 'em out every now and again, (every couple of months usually), to get the dust off 'em...it helps them run cooler and last longer.

 

[Geo]

PSU die, it just happens. Lord knows I've been thru my fair share of 'em.

My worst actually exploded in a blue flash with lots of smoke and nasty smells, fried the mobo too.

Doesn't matter if they're ultra-cheapies or top-o-the-line, PSU units die just like everything else.

The best way to keep 'em alive longer is to blow 'em out every now and again, (every couple of months usually), to get the dust off 'em...it helps them run cooler and last longer.

We had a whole office worth (over 100) of them go over a few month period in that fashion --blue puff of flame, grind grind, smoke, kaput. They were all the same age, more or less, so it was quite a visual lesson in seeing something you usually only get to understand intellectually about a given model of something having a given lifetime.

I was looking right at more than one when it did it too, which was interesting. Fairly luckly we didn't burn the office down, actually.

Typically over the years, my experience is its the bearings that go, with many weeks of increasingly loud warning.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Typically over the years, my experience is its the bearings that go, with many weeks of increasingly loud warning.

Truth! Noticing the sound of my machine change is a sure sign of trouble that is about to happen and too many people ignore those warnings.

Be glad it's only your PSU that is bad, a lot of times when they go bad they fry out a lot of other PC components.

HEXUS had a killer PSU comparison a while back, well worth checking out.

 

[Karma Police]

Hurrah! "PSU" was the problem. I used another PSU and it worked. I am so happy now. I'll get a new PSU asap, and this time atleast 400W. Any idea why did my old PSU fail? It was a 300W piece, could it be that the total load was more than 300W?

Anyway guys, thanks a million for promptly helping me, I don't have words to thank you. :smile:

It's much more likely that your original PSU was a POS, with low efficiency and high operating temperature, ending up only providing around 200-250W of real power at load.

Just lay out your entire system specs & I'll give you specific suggestions (other than the ones I've already mentioned).

 

[Deepak]

Just lay out your entire system specs & I'll give you specific suggestions (other than the ones I've already mentioned).

Asus A7N266-VM (integrated GF2MX)
Athlon XP 1700+
256 MB DDR DRAM (PC2100)
80GB HDD (7200RPM)
Sony DVD+CDRW Combo
LG CD 52X



Anything else you would like to know?

 

[Crusher]

Like I said when I read your specs the first time you posted them, a quality 300W like the one I linked to should be plenty for your current system. Of course, if you go a little beefier you'll have room to upgrade. However, if you do upgrade, I'm guessing you'd be buying a completely new system (even if you build it yourself), so instead of resuing the case + psu you have here, I'd just keep this computer whole as a second machine (or sell it for a few bucks).