Dead PC... please help!!

[Golio]

Hi,
one of my friends got a really big problem with his PC.
He got a Pentium III 733MHz cpu, with a supermarket motherboard
(intel i suppose, but nothing could say it). He got 256 MB (ram),
GeForce AGP video card and SoundBlaster Live PCI.

Here are the events, in chronological order:

1. First day: the computer runs good for 1 hour, and crashes.
The display is freezed. Nothing happens when we move the mouse
or press a key. Even the ctrl-alt-del combination doesn't work.
The only solution: the reset button...

2. Second day: the computer stops during the boot, not always
at the same time. Sometimes its during the ram check, sometimes
during the floppy and ide check, sometimes before the bios
display itself!

3. Third day: we try another time and the computer makes
a strange noise (electrical noise i think..). Since,
nothing happens when pressing the start button.

After observations of the cards, we have seen (between
events 2 and 3) that the the pb comes with the CPU fan
stop...
Between 2 and 3, we tryed to:
- unplug every peripheral cards (only video card left)
- exchange RAM with other from a good PC
- unplug CDROM IDE and floppy. Try to boot with hard disk
- plug only CDROM on Primary IDE, and try to boot on it
- unplug all IDE. Try to see at least bios running
- unplug video card and look at the cpu fan on start. Cpu
fan stop, so we concluded there was the pb.

We concluded that the motherboard or the CPU is the pb.
But now, how to see which is the pb? We don't have any
one of these in spare :-(.

What are u thinking about this problem? Are u agree with
my opinion or have u some other ideas?

Thanks
Nico

 

[Rkonster]

Well, you seem to have tried everything I would have recommended. I would think that the only way to further find out would be to swap out the CPU or motherboard. I really don't think there would be a way to troubleshoot otherwise.

 

[cholley]

just for kicks, try another power supply

 

[nihil]

test the power supply to make sure it's not the problem. is it possible that the cpu is overheating?

 

[bradley10]

Hello Golio, I have a spare 300Watt Power Supply you can test your Mainboard with...............Or you can send the Main Board and CPU to me. I can give you my home address and phone number. I build computers on the side, and know how expensive things can get. The only draw back i need power supply back pretty soon.


Later Bradley

 

[pamf]

yea, while youre at it, anyone got any athlon xp or p4 mobos or cpus they wanna send me? id like to fix them too..

Golio, if it was heat, it should get partway through booting before locking up .. if the fan on the heatsink isnt moving, and it runs through the motherboard, then most likely the board is dead. from the sounds of it, it was a cheap board, so you may consider taking it back .. I'd find a better one anyhow, maybe something newer, since a p3 733 isnt exactly top of the line anymore.. you could pick up a socket A board and a duron or athlon for next to nothing.

if it was the board, take it out, take it back to where you bought it, and get an exchange or refund. when you put the new one in there, make sure its grounded properly, isnt making contact with any stray screws or anything, etc.. you may have got a bad board, or you may have accidentally killed it..

 

[dexmanone]

If you think it's heat related, due to the fan (which I think could be cause of the PSU) try opening it up and use a room fan on the thing for a few min. You can try a wet towel (damp, no water!) over the fan for COOL air.

I'd try the PSU b4 trying the cpu or mb.

 

[Golio]

Thanks for replys and answers,
but now, after the electrical sound, nothing happens when trying
to start. Even the power supply fan does not start!! So i cant
see the voltage and intensity delivered by the power supply.
How could i start the power supply without any card plugged
on it? What are the pins i have to connect together?

Thanks

 

[nihil]

it sounds like you have a dead psu on your hands. there is also a very very rare chance that the switch on the case is dead.