Help Dying PC?

[jrphoenix]

I built a computer for my family a while back and they just called to tell me it won't work now (after several months). I picked up the computer today and it is showing some odd symptoms. When you press the power button sometimes the system will shut off immediately and sometimes it will run through the bootup screen and then just shut off???

Nothing was downloaded (they said) they have NAV & personal firewall and their firewall on the motherboard is enabled (NF3-250). I don't think they could have downloaded a virus. The capacitors on the motherboard seemed to look good to me too? Any ideas, is this a power supply problem..... here is the break down (newegg.com):

Thank you!

CASE THERMALTAKE TSUNAMI $129.50
SOLTEK K8AN2E-GR NFORCE3 250 $99.00
XFX GEFORCE 6800 128MB $278.00
POWER SUPPLY ANTEC TRUEBLUE 480 $87.50
CPU AMD 64 3400+ ATHLON 64 $287.00
DDRAM 512M| PC3200 EL OCZ (2 STICKS) $216.00
SEAGATE 160 GB 7200.7 8mb $115.50
SAMSUNG 19"LCD 910T Silver $559.00
DVD+/-RW NEC ND-2510A $72.00

 

[rasczak]

what kind of psu is it running? sound like a psu probelm to me.

 

[jrphoenix]

Antec 480 watt true blue....... I think I have a spare from my old PC (after hearing some more ideas I'll try it out). I have always had good luck with my Antec power supplies???

 

[jrphoenix]

Any other suggestions about what might be wrong? I am going to work on the computer tonight when I get home. What are the signs of a bad PSU? Is there anything else that could cause this? It almost acts like there is a short somewhere???

 

[rasczak]

well the freezing at the windows startup screen is one. what kind of optical drives do you have in it? i recently was having a similar problem with my pc at startup, i had a benQ 16 dvd rw drive installed and wheni powered up it would freeze and give me a bsod error then restart and freeze up again. turned out that i had a disc in the drive at startup and it didn't like that. so now i boot up without a disk in any drive and boots up fine. maybe your getting that or maybe some sort of irq conflict.

 

[CowGoesMoo]

Could be several things:

It could be over heating. Is the inside all dusty. CLean out the heatsink and fans etc.

Memory could be bad. Check with one stick only see if you can get it to boot.

PSU could be bad. Switch in another one.

Maybe some wires are loose.

Some component could have gone bad. Mobo, ram ,cpu... You just have to try things one at a time

 

[jrphoenix]

Originally posted by: jpbelauskas
well the freezing at the windows startup screen is one. what kind of optical drives do you have in it? i recently was having a similar problem with my pc at startup, i had a benQ 16 dvd rw drive installed and wheni powered up it would freeze and give me a bsod error then restart and freeze up again. turned out that i had a disc in the drive at startup and it didn't like that. so now i boot up without a disk in any drive and boots up fine. maybe your getting that or maybe some sort of irq conflict.

Hi JP,

I edited my first message so you can more easily read the list of components. They have a dual layer NEC DVD +-. I don't think the disc drive would be the culprit because the system twice booted all the way to the desktop before shutting off. I will be checking a new power supply this evening (I just wanted to get other suggestions on possibilities). Most of the time the system will not even post, the lights come on and then it turns off.

 

[jrphoenix]

Originally posted by: CowGoesMoo
Could be several things:

It could be over heating. Is the inside all dusty. CLean out the heatsink and fans etc.

Memory could be bad. Check with one stick only see if you can get it to boot.

PSU could be bad. Switch in another one.

Maybe some wires are loose.

Some component could have gone bad. Mobo, ram ,cpu... You just have to try things one at a time

Wow... I didn't know all those items would cause a system to crash, but I guess so? I will start with the RAM (easiest) and move on to check wires, PSU... Antec should be reliable, you would think? Thank you for the suggestions.

 

[akugami]

It's kinda funny how many things can cause a computer to crash. Are there post error codes that beep? Try to look in your motherboard manual to see what it says.

First thing I'd do is to unseat and reseat everything. That includes, CPU, HSF, all power connectors, memory and graphics card.

Next I'd definitely try to use a different PSU to see if it's a bad PSU that's causing these problems. Not being able to post from a cold boot is indicative of something being loose or a bad PSU. Just because you have a name brand PSU doesn't mean it can't be a dud.

I'd then run memtest86 to see if your RAM is ok. If you wanted to test your RAM first before messing with the wiring I'd at least reseat the RAM. That way you can rule out a loose connection right at the beginning for your RAM.

 

[bocamojo]

Sounds like a classic case of overheating. I would open up the case and keep it opened, then try to boot-up. If you can boot up into Windows, install motherboard monitor and find out what the CPU temps are.

 

[jrphoenix]

OK I switched the ram modules and nothing happened (tried one at at time).
I had a fan blowing in the system and nothing happend.
Sometimes when I power the system on it will stay "on" (lights but, no post) for several minutes and other times it powers off immediately????

A few days ago at my parents house I could get the system to bootup through the (windows xp) screen before it would power off.... now I get no video signal at all????

Does this sound like a power supply, motherboard, video or CPU problem?

I checked all the power connections inside and they seem tight? I would think that if it were a powersupply it wouldn't stay on at all?

Thank you for your help!

 

[jrphoenix]

Oh yeah........ sometimes when I have it powered on (wihtout a post) it will not turn off until it's ready? I have to turn off the powersupply as the reset and power button do nothing? It makes a very faint "beep" when I do this.

 

[imported_Kensai]

Now it really sounds like the PSU.

 

[jrphoenix]

Originally posted by: Kensai
Now it really sounds like the PSU.

Really? Those are the symptoms? I have a spare one here (still new) that came with my raidmax case. I will try and hook it up to see if that solves the problem. Which symptom is the sign that it is PSU?

 

[jrphoenix]

Ok... I hooked up a new power supply and the same thing..... no post or video? They system beeped at me horribly when I hadn't hooked up the power supply to the XFX 6800 What else other than the ram, heat, power supply could make this happen? It's up and running now but nothing is posting.

A couple days ago and for several months before it started just dying the system would display video? Just two days ago I almost had the system boot to the desktop so I wouldn't think it was the video card???? Please help.

 

[UptheMiddle]

do you have onboard video that you could try using (removing the card, of course). Perhaps its one of the other components......I'd try removing stuff like the network card and sound card.

Is the fan turning on the CPU cooler?

Did you reset the Bios settings back to Default to eliminate the "tampering" element?

Have you tried to startup in Safe Mode without Networking?

 

[jrphoenix]

Originally posted by: UptheMiddle
do you have onboard video that you could try using (removing the card, of course). Perhaps its one of the other components......I'd try removing stuff like the network card and sound card.

Is the fan turning on the CPU cooler?

Did you reset the Bios settings back to Default to eliminate the "tampering" element?

Have you tried to startup in Safe Mode without Networking?

Hi up the middle. I am getting ready to take off for a few hours but, will try that when I get back. There is no onboard video (there is onboard audio). I do have an old ATI 8500 that works that I will try swapping. There is no external audio card as my parents really didn't need one.

The fan was spinning on the CPU cooling unit (stock one that came with the retail cpu).

The network is the built in Nvidia lan solution that came with the motherboard, there is no add in card. Maybe it is the video card???

I have not reset the cmos and will try that as well.

Thank you,

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: akugami
It's kinda funny how many things can cause a computer to crash. Are there post error codes that beep? Try to look in your motherboard manual to see what it says.

First thing I'd do is to unseat and reseat everything. That includes, CPU, HSF, all power connectors, memory and graphics card.

Next I'd definitely try to use a different PSU to see if it's a bad PSU that's causing these problems. Not being able to post from a cold boot is indicative of something being loose or a bad PSU. Just because you have a name brand PSU doesn't mean it can't be a dud.

I'd then run memtest86 to see if your RAM is ok. If you wanted to test your RAM first before messing with the wiring I'd at least reseat the RAM. That way you can rule out a loose connection right at the beginning for your RAM.

Very true... I have two Antec TruePower 430's die on me. The symptom was that it wouldn't boot from a cold start. The 5V rail was dropping down to about 4.2 volts. It would start to power on, then I'd heard the hard drives spin down and it wouldn't do anything. I'd have to leave it on for a few minutes for things to get warmer, then it would boot. Other than that there weren't any problems... played games just fine. But a cold boot puts the most strain on the power supply cause EVERYTHING is drawing power, and hard drives specifically, draw more power while starting up than they do during normal operation.

If you have a DMM, hook it up to a molex connector when you turn the computer on. You'll be able to check the 5V and 12V rails that way. The PSU should be able to compensate for the increased load during a cold boot faster than a DMM can sample the voltages... so if you see the voltages drop out of spec even for a split second, the PSU isn't working as it should.

 

[UptheMiddle]

Good info to know, Jeff7181.....thanks.

 

[jrphoenix]

Bump for this update..... Ok here is what I have tried....

Cleared CMOS (nothing power on but no video output/post)
Changed video card out with my old ATI card (nothing)
Plugged in new powersupply (just plugged in 12v, 4 pin thing, video card power, no post)
Switched out ram modules (nothing)
Cleaned out all dust (nothing)
Checked mobo for bad capacitors (nothing)
Made sure parents & sister did not dowload anything (sister was in the middle of sims2 game on initial death)


The only things I haven't swapped out (because I don't have anything to test them with is the mobo & processor???

Just a few freaking days ago I could get a video feed but the system would power off after a few seconds???????

What could cause this? Please help.... I feel responsible because after building my first PC a while back my parents asked me to build them one to replace their dell...... now it's dead???????

 

[mechBgon]

I see you live in Florida. Any lightning strikes in that area at the time, maybe? Have you tried a different surge supressor, because I saw one weird, weird case where that was the deal.

Also check the 115-volt / 230-volt slide switch on the PSU, because if they happened to grab the system just right while scooting it around on the floor, they could budge that switch... seen that one too, and it had me thinking "PSU failure" until I noticed the switch was halfway between positions.

Beyond that, it could be outright CPU or mobo failure. I'd take the mobo out of the case to eliminate short-circuit possibilities, and give it only the absolute essentials that would make it POST: your Radeon 8500 video card, memory, CPU, power supply. No drives, no other cards, no case wiring except your Power button. Don't plug the Antec PSU's fan-monitoring wire into the mobo either, since low-RPM fans can a mobo sometimes (my A7N8X-Deluxe and 8RDA+ were like that).

If it won't stay running like that, strip the mobo of absolutely everything as if you were going to send it back. Dangle it menacingly by its ATX cable over a bathtub full of water to show it you mean business :evil: Then try powering it up bare like that. The PSU should start and stay running, or else I'd swing my suspicions on the motherboard being bad.

A PSU failure could precipitate failures in other components too, so if you're brave you could try that Antec PSU in a different rig and see if it powers other systems ok or not.

Anyway, hope that gives you some ideas