Help a brother out - dead P67 Extreme4 ?? What is my best path?

[Hogan773]

Came home yesterday to find the PC dead. Power switch does nothing. Nobody in the house (kids) "did anything" to it.

Tried the paperclip trick on the PSU 24 pin connector and the PSU fan ran, and also started to run the DVD I think. Mobo has no LED light at all. What happened? I still have a 12 yr old Dell tower in the basement that I don't use much but it still works. Was hoping my Sandybridge system would work longer than 4yrs.

Here is my system:

i7 2600k mild o/c to 42x, 4 years old
AsRock P67 Extreme4, 4 yrs old
Antec Earthwatts 380 PSU
Radeon 5670 graphics

WHAT ARE MY NEXT STEPS?

1) should I go out tonight and buy some new PSU from BestBuy and try it? I want to make sure I can return it. If I need to get a new mobo etc can I reuse the 4yr old Antec 380w if it is still working? What is longevity of PSUs? If the mobo has no LED debug light at all, is it likely that the Mobo died or are there other tricks I should look at? I removed the battery and replaced it, and also moved the jumper on "clear cmos" over to do that and then returned it to the original place.

2) If my mobo is toast, should I get a new mobo/CPU combo and Ebay the 2600K, or should I get a LGA1155 mobo and just reuse the 2600K? I am NOT A GAMER and while I am a male human and therefore always intrigued by the "best option", in reality the 2600K was plenty fast for whatever we were doing, mostly web surfing and light usage. Occasional Sony Vegas video editing and DVD copying.

3) While I'm happy to spend money on some new components if that is what it takes, IS THERE ANY WAY I CAN REBOOT FROM MY CURRENT HDD AND PRESERVE MY WINDOWS INSTALL? I'd really prefer not to start from scratch, esp since I have an OEM Win7 NON-SP1 DVD, which means I need to reload from NON-SP1....can that even get updated through Windows Update anymore? The funny thing was I was just reading about "SYSPREP" stuff a week ago, thinking about the time when I'd need to update mobo or CPU, and then I decided that my system was fine for my needs and it would be a needless pain to reinstall everything.

If I got some version of an AsRock LGA1155 board on Ebay or elsewhere do I have a fighting chance that my current Windows install would boot up? Or does it have to be an exact P67 Extreme4? i.e. are there newer LGA1155s that would work with my 2600K and be close enough that the Windows wouldn't choke on it? Or am I stupid for trying to stick with 4 year old tech?

Thanks guys. The family has a laptop that can substitute for now, but I'm hoping I can get educated quickly and get moving on this "project" that has arisen.

 

[Hogan773]

In addition to the above, perhaps a more focused question re: sticking with my current hardware and swapping in a new mobo silently...P67 vs z68 vs Z77....

What is best mobo to get where I can 1) re-use all existing components (2600K, Ripjaws DDR3 ram, Radeon 5670, Antec 380W PSU AND 2) have a fighting chance that my current Win7 installation can boot successfully without having to reload everything. I have a pre-SP1 OEM disc and would really prefer not to have to go down the path of starting from scratch on a Win7 install and reloading all of my programs.

Seems P67 mobos are hard to find. Will a Z68 board be similar enough that the Win7 install can just run immediately? Any reason to get Z77? (I am assuming LGA1155 here so to avoid having to spend another 200-300 on a new CPU, too....) If I found a different mfr P67 board does that increase chances that Windows boots or is it more important to stick with AsRock (i.e. does windows just see "p67" or does the manufacturer matter?)

I am not a gamer, just a home user. Ideally want path of least resistance and cost at this point as my 2600K was serving me well, and I don't think I really care about an extra 15% theoretical speed in some benchmark if it means I need to start over from scratch with Windows and also shell out hundreds more for a Haswell.

Thanks in advance

 

[Puffnstuff]

Jumping a ps and making a fan turn doesn't mean that all is well. You should measure the rails with a digital multimeter and see if the power output is nominal. If that ps let go there's a chance that it surged everything attached to it. I've had it happen before and it took out everything on the mb. I'm not saying that has happened here so systematically search for the problem. I would begin by installing a new ps first just to be able to rule power out as a problem.

What you should do is entirely up to you and your budget. Corsair has several decent units in the 500w range that should serve your needs well and provide good overhead should you decide to upgrade in the future. If you do upgrade your motherboard and cpu I would definitely do a clean install of windows. Windows update will take care of getting everything back to current so don't worry about that. I would just start with the power and go from there. If you have a TigerDirect or Microcenter where you live I would go there and look at parts and use bb only if that isn't possible.

 

[Hogan773]

Jumping a ps and making a fan turn doesn't mean that all is well. You should measure the rails with a digital multimeter and see if the power output is nominal. If that ps let go there's a chance that it surged everything attached to it. I've had it happen before and it took out everything on the mb. I'm not saying that has happened here so systematically search for the problem. I would begin by installing a new ps first just to be able to rule power out as a problem.

What you should do is entirely up to you and your budget. Corsair has several decent units in the 500w range that should serve your needs well and provide good overhead should you decide to upgrade in the future. If you do upgrade your motherboard and cpu I would definitely do a clean install of windows. Windows update will take care of getting everything back to current so don't worry about that. I would just start with the power and go from there. If you have a TigerDirect or Microcenter where you live I would go there and look at parts and use bb only if that isn't possible.

Ok thanks. I'll try a new PSU. Maybe should also take the mobo out of the case just to make sure nothing shorted.

I noticed that my son mangled the front USB port on the case such that both of these sockets are not working. I wonder if that could have something to do with this (could the USB header short anything out?.....seems unlikely to me but who knows)

Maybe I'll get lucky and the PSU will be the problem. I really wanted to avoid re-loading all of my programs if possible.

 

[Puffnstuff]

If the usb port is grounding out yes it would have an adverse affect on your motherboard and power. I would disconnect them from the mb header. How long has it been running in that condition? They could very well be the root cause of what has happened.

 

[Hogan773]

If the usb port is grounding out yes it would have an adverse affect on your motherboard and power. I would disconnect them from the mb header. How long has it been running in that condition? They could very well be the root cause of what has happened.

I noticed that the front USB ports didn't work about a week ago. Unfortunately I was [lazy/busy/whatever] and so I just hooked up a little Logitech USB extender from the back USB port so I could hook up my digital camera, but I didn't go inside the PC to unplug that front panel USB/Esata/audio jacks thingy from the mobo header.

Looks like I have some detective work to do

 

[XMan]

If you end up needing a motherboard I just replaced my BioStar TZ68A+. Nothing wrong with it, I changed to something that did Crossfire.

 

[P4spooky]

Solid board, PWM is a little weak (4 phase I think) but will handle that 2600K with ease.

If you end up needing a motherboard I just replaced my BioStar TZ68A+. Nothing wrong with it, I changed to something that did Crossfire.

 

[Hogan773]

If you end up needing a motherboard I just replaced my BioStar TZ68A+. Nothing wrong with it, I changed to something that did Crossfire.

Thanks - I'll let you know

 

[Hogan773]

Ok so I am super happy and also super embarrassed that I spent the better part of a day at work worrying and researching new Mobos and CPUs etc.

Went on the way home from work and got a new PSU from BB. After I got the kids to bed I pulled out the PC onto my table and got to work. First thing I did was check connections and then DISCONNECT THAT FRONT PANEL USB HEADER from the mobo. And wouldn't you know it, but the board came to life when I pressed the power button!

Sheeeeeettttt.

Everything seems to be working again (except for the front panel USBs that my son and his friend somehow mashed in while trying to insert lord-knows-what kind of game pad into my poor PC. Isn't that why they have PS3 AND Wii AND I-fugging-Pad??????

Anyway.....many thanks for the advice and I'm super happy that I don't need to do anything, now.

But this got me thinking....beyond backing up my data to several other places, is there anything I can do to the C: operating system partition to ease a future transition where I need to replace mobo and/or CPU? Or just hope that the windows partition can do a safe boot onto the new hardware and then I call Microsoft and get them to reactivate?

Thanks guys

 

[schmuckley]

Used Asus p67 pro.
If you have a spare hard drive you could image it with Acronis.

 

[XMan]

I upgraded from a Z68 to a Z77 with no issues following this guide:

http://scottiestech.info/2010/03/17/upgrade-your-motherboard-without-reinstalling-your-os/

Good deal on getting it fixed . . . kids will kill you . . . mine sprayed gold spray paint on my truck's tires, the side of our house, the deck, and drew a shiny gold smiley face in the driveway.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Went on the way home from work and got a new PSU from BB. After I got the kids to bed I pulled out the PC onto my table and got to work. First thing I did was check connections and then DISCONNECT THAT FRONT PANEL USB HEADER from the mobo. And wouldn't you know it, but the board came to life when I pressed the power button!

If you have a spare 5.25" bay, front panel USB is easy and cheap to fix.

Generally, if there is kids involved I tend to recommend one of those anyway. Makes life a lot simpler if they unintentionally break something...

But this got me thinking....beyond backing up my data to several other places, is there anything I can do to the C: operating system partition to ease a future transition where I need to replace mobo and/or CPU? Or just hope that the windows partition can do a safe boot onto the new hardware and then I call Microsoft and get them to reactivate?

There is a way to reset windows to out-of-box state. I just can't remember how to. I'd still recommend doing a fresh install on new hardware, (re-)activating windows has never been an issue for me. You just need to do it by phone.

 

[Hogan773]

If you have a spare 5.25" bay, front panel USB is easy and cheap to fix.

Generally, if there is kids involved I tend to recommend one of those anyway. Makes life a lot simpler if they unintentionally break something...



There is a way to reset windows to out-of-box state. I just can't remember how to. I'd still recommend doing a fresh install on new hardware, (re-)activating windows has never been an issue for me. You just need to do it by phone.

Opened up my ASROCK box last night while fixing this and lo and behold I found a 3.5inch front panel with two USB 3.0 ports that they included in the package. At the time I now recall that I didn't bother installing this because the Rosewill Challenger had the USB 2.0 front panel already, and I didn't think I needed to ruin the "clean-ness" of the case and didn't need 4 USB ports for the limited amount of use I give them. So bonus! Now am just deciding whether I still keep that clean or maybe even Ebay it, and use the little Logitech thingy that I had stuck on top of the PC last week.....