What did I blow?

[MadMike]

This just happened a few minutes ago, and I am unbelievable pissed.

I was on my computer, and it locked up. So I went to press the reset button, and got a nice static electricity shock. Damn dry winter air.

I turned it on, and not much happened. I could hear the fans running, but I got no picture on the monitor, and no hard drive activity.

I unhooked each drive and card one by one, and still nothing happened. No hard drive activity (well, not when it was still connected), no beeps of any kind, nothing. Just the fans. All the fans came on -- power supply, video card, processor, and case fans. But nothing else comes up.

I guess I'm going to have to get some new parts now, but I want to make sure which ones before I go running out to the shop.

[Broomjockey]

Oddly, my computer does that if I turn it off, and then don't turn it on properly. Have you tried holding the power button for a few extra seconds while turning it on? The only other suggestion I'd had was to turn the power off on the switch at the back and let it sit, but if you've unhooked everything and then reattached it, that would have covered that.

Assuming it's not fixed by holding the power button a bit extra, then if it's not beeping or anything, it's probably your motherboard. Anything else and it should at least POST.

[MadMike]

I actually had to hold the power button in to get it to shut off. I've tried turning it off at the power supply, unplugging it, and even turning off the power strip. And of course, pulling out every card, drive, and peripheral.

I was thinking the motherboard too. It's a socket 939 that I've had for a couple years, so I might as well get something newer. Of course, that means a new processor and memory as well. Time to spend my tax refund before I even get it...

[Lingering Grin]

It shocked at the button?

Unfortunately the only thing I can think of would be a shorted out wire or connector on the mother board... or...

Might sound stupid, but could you try replacing the wire that goes from the power/reset button(s) to the motherboard? It might not work, but it's a whole lot cheaper than a new motherboard.

EDIT: Or try replacing the button itself? I'm thinking that since JUST the fans are coming on, maybe it only blew out part of the prongs on the wire or connector for the buttons, causing it to power up incorrectly.

[lordlundar]

first thing to check is for scorch marks next to the power plug array. If you don't find anything, give LG's suggestion a try.

Personally, I think the BIOS is fried myself. The fans aren't usually connected through the BIOS, so they run irregardless of the BIOS state. If the POST isn't running though, the BIOS is the first step to check.

[rvdammit]

Assuming it's not fixed by holding the power button a bit extra, then if it's not beeping or anything, it's probably your motherboard. Anything else and it should at least POST.

I'm thinking along the same lines. Have you tried resetting the BIOS, it's a longshot option.

[Lingering Grin]

Personally, I think the BIOS is fried myself. The fans aren't usually connected through the BIOS, so they run irregardless of the BIOS state. If the POST isn't running though, the BIOS is the first step to check.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, unfortunately :(, either that, or it fried one of the tiny cables on the motherboard itself... which unless you have a really good microscope and soldering robot, is completely irreparable. :p

I was just giving the cheap ideas first lol.

I always replace wires/cables/fans before boards/chips/drives... worse case scenario: it doesn't work, and you're out what? five bucks? big deal...
(Plus, if it doesn't work, you now have some extra cables or fans at your disposal , which are ALWAYS handy :) )


If it does work, you just saved yourself a LOT of money, and the headache of having to disassemble and reassemble the entire computer.

[Mr. Rager!]

My guess is the motherboard is fried. Try resetting your BIOS first. Also, check for scorched wires or anything of the sort.

[MadMike]

OK, I'm late getting back on here. I tried taking the power switch out of the equation by disconnecting it from the board, and shorting the pins with a screwdriver. Same result -- fans came on but nothing else. So I think that rules out the switch or wires going to it.

I'm pretty sure it's the board. Might as well upgrade anyway. And I might also pick up a case that doesn't have metal buttons (whose stupid idea was that?) so this doesn't happen again.

[Der Cute]

Hugs Mike.

I remember one time long ago I was putting a chip into a board...n00b me....I somehow fried the CPU. I think the board was still connected to the PSU. This was in class, so, we had...uh, disposable...computers..

And don't ask about the time I erased the whole IOS from the Cisco switch in class....


Well, mobos are easy to get. One idea- before you buy the new board, take old CPU out and to a buddy's house with same board/ chip...swap and see if CPU works?
Otherwise you'll have to buy a new board AND chip..and that WILL suck.

Cutenoob

[MadMike]

Well, mobos are easy to get. One idea- before you buy the new board, take old CPU out and to a buddy's house with same board/ chip...swap and see if CPU works?
Otherwise you'll have to buy a new board AND chip..and that WILL suck.


I'm a little late getting back to this, and everything else on the board, actually. I've been rebuilding my machine.

Maybe the processor still works, maybe it doesn't. I don't know, because I figured since I have to get a new board, I might as well get something nicer than the socket 939 board I had. So I got an AM2 board, which meant a new processor and memory as well. I had a 4600, I bought a nice new 6000.

As usual, I tried switching out the board without wiping the hard drive, which almost never works, even with a repair install. I thought I got lucky this time, because everything seemed to work, until I went to run Live Update (it's an MSI board), and the damn thing bluescreened. So I spent hours backing everything up, and more hours copying it all back, only to find that it's MSI's software that's fucked. It still bluescreened even after a fresh install.

I'm finally almost done. Just reinstalling the last few games. If anything else goes wrong in the near future, I'm really going to be pissed. :pissed:

[F&R Computer Man]

I think it is the motherboard my self but I would take the battery out and unpluge the power cords and push the power buttions a couple times to get the power out of it and let it set over night.

[Rapscallion]

Is it only me who gets a fit of giggles at the title of this thread?

Rapscallion

[The Gatekeeper]

Yes Raps it's just you.
:D

[lordlundar]

Is it only me who gets a fit of giggles at the title of this thread?

Rapscallion

I think it's just you. My BOFH senses start tingling, trying to deduce the item that released it's mysterious smoke of manegerium.:devil:

[crazylegs]

Is it only me who gets a fit of giggles at the title of this thread?

Rapscallion

I keep on thinking '0.5, your nicked'.

But I'm sad like that! :lol:

[MadMike]

I knew it was a mistake as soon as I posted it with that title. Yeah, I could have gone back and changed it, but I was curious as to how long it would take for someone to comment on it. I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed. I didn't think it would take as long as it did. :p

[lordlundar]

Well you did post in the tech geeks help area, so it's more likely to get us taking bets on fried components than lewd comments.:p

[Rapscallion]

I was holding back early on, thinking that someone else would get it. *sigh* I've got to do everything around here!

Rapscallion

[Depot Denizen]

Late getting into the game, but it's probably a blown chip on the board. You can pull the board out and sniff around for that lovely ozone smell. Luckily good boards are really cheap these days.