Did a bad power outlet just kill one of my PC's?

[Nvidiaguy07]

Had an extra PC that I no longer use, so I dusted it off, and gave it to my cousin.

We set it up in his room and at first everything seemed to be going fine. One thing we had to temporarily do was use one of these guys http://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mc-5xkgwsFhKkfEWr9wXq0g.jpg (only three plugs though) just to make sure everything was working. I was gonna grab him a power strip from my house that night.

Like I said at first everything was fine. Took a few mins to show him a few things, and then started to download a game on steam. After about 10 mins of downloading, his powerline adapter in his room starts to flash red, and the internet cuts out. So we kinda reset everything, and then plug it in and try to turn the PC back on. Once we do this, the PC gets to the boot screen, and then video cuts out. No matter what I do now, I cant get any video to come out on the screen.

Tried turning it on and off. On with no DVI plugged in, and then with DVI. Tried removing the video card, turning on and then turning off and then putting the card back in. No matter what I do I cannot get any video at all from this PC.

theres no case speaker attached to the motherboard, so maybe thats what I should try to get set up.

Any idea what else it could be though??

If any other info is needed let me know!

 

[alzan]

Does a known working device (lamp, fan, etc.) work in the wall outlet without the three-outlet brick? If so plug the three-outlet brick back in and test a lamp or fan in each of the receptacles. IMO those three- or six-outlet bricks are of poor construction and should only be used for low power draw devices.

Is it possible to take the PC back to your place and see if it works there?

For the PC my first suspicion would be the RAM. Try taking out the DIMMs and plug them back in one at a time; if one is bad that could knock out the video. Also, the RAM may have become unseated while moving the PC.

 

[mfenn]

It's possible than an electrical problem killed the PSU. However, it's also quite possible that the PC had some marginal components that died after being used for a little while. Definitely try reseating everything as alzan suggested.

 

[piasabird]

Sometimes you have to tare down a computer to bare components and start with motherboard, RAM, CPU and turn it on and check to see if you get beep codes and connect one device at a time to see what is wrong. Power supplies have been known to die at the most inconvenient times. No time is convenient for a computer to die.

The problem is on a computer so many things can go wrong. Bad RAM, CPU, DRIVE, etc. I have had computers just go bad because you move them once then take it apart and put it back together and find nothing wrong. A video card can just move a little and ground out or some odd thing like a flex in the motherboard causing the system to ground to the case. Loose Screw or whatever can just be the Jinx or a hard drive quit working.