Help!! I think I killed my PC!! Help!!

[WildViper]

I would really appreciate any help. I just finished upgrading my old P3/450 to a new AMD 64 2800+/Chaintech VNF3-250 board with 512MB DDR400(2x256).

It is turning on from what I hear...the CPU fan is turning. However, nothing else is happening. The Video is not showing up so I can't even see if it is doing a POST.

Here are the things that I carried forward from my old PC
- PSU - Don't know the output but I would think it should be ok right?? I think it is 250W..it is not written anywhere that I can read.
- Old AGP Video Card - S3 Savage 4
- Old 12 Gig Harddrive that had WinXP Pro installed
- Old CD-RW and another 48X CDRW Sony.
- Old Floppy

I have tried a few things to see if it changes things:

- Disconnected the CD ROMs - Same Result
- Changed the IDE Cable for HD to the one that came with Board - No Change
- Disconnected the power to the CDROMs thinking to save power if the PSU is not enough. - No CHange

I only have the keyboard/mouse and monitor connected...the monitor doesn't even come out of "Standby" mode.

I can't hear the hard drive going...maybe it is, but it may be quiet??

Please help...I need this thing to work otherwise I will be screwed.

Thanx

 

[Spikesoldier]

new power supply, yours is not going to cut it

new video card its probably 2x and you need a 4x/8x card. it might even have fried your boards if its the same as the intel boards when you try to put a 3.3v 2x card into a 4x/8x slot.

you need those two at least

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Spikesoldier
new power supply, yours is not going to cut it

new video card its probably 2x and you need a 4x/8x card. it might even have fried your boards if its the same as the intel boards when you try to put a 3.3v 2x card into a 4x/8x slot.

you need those two at least

^^ what he said, and also realize you're going to have to reinstall WindowsXP. If you need the computer operational in the near future, back out of this situation for now and put it back together as it was before.

 

[Painman]

What Spikesoldier said. Some boards can detect when an older, higher voltage AGP card is plugged into the slot and protect themselves, but that PSU... if it's P3-450 vintage, it doesn't have the auxiliary 12 volt power cord that modern P4/A64 motherboards require.

 

[davidjaii]

try n cough up the extra cash for at least an brand name 350w or 400w psu.
a new hard drive with a video card would work so much better, you'll just holding back the processor with those old parts

 

[oldman420]

Originally posted by: davidjaii
try n cough up the extra cash for at least an brand name 350w or 400w psu.
a new hard drive with a video card would work so much better, you'll just holding back the processor with those old parts

I agree completely

 

[Rike]

You should be able to hear if it POSTs plus . . .

Possible problems (simple):

1. PSU doesn't have the four pin +12v aux connector so you can't plug it in to the mobo so it can't boot. (Note: get new PSU anyways, old one is POS if it came with the P3. Many hardware problems can be traced to the PSU).

2. Vid card is dead. If true, this is a good thing. It will force you to buy a new one. If you don't game, any super cheap ATI or Nvidia card is fine.


Problems you haven't found yet:

1. WinXP doesn?t like major hardware changes. Quite possible your old install of WinXP won't boot.

2. 12Gigs of hard drive won't go very far. It is likely that you will fill it up fast and WinXP will start having fits because it will start to run out of room for the page file. Besides that old drive has to be 5400RPM drive. Move up to at least a 7200 RPM drive with a 8MB buffer. A WD Raptor would put you in heaven.


Edit: Must learn to post faster. Everone above is dead on.

 

[Mik3y]

well wildviper, it seems like you havent completed upgrading yet.

 

[WildViper]

Ok...I just went and bought a new PSU and a new VideoCard. Will try that way.

My old PSU definately didn't have that extra power cord that I saw on the mobo. Will try this way and post my results.

Hopefully I didn't fry the mobo already. From the info about the Old Vid card I have, it can go upto 4X AGP.

Anyways...will post here with my update.


THANX THANX THANX for the quick replies.

 

[WildViper]

And the culprit was the PSU.

The wierd thing is that the CPU Fan under the old PSU was making loud noises. I thought that was normal cause under my P3 it made the same noises.

With the new 350W Power Supply..it is very very queit.

Thanx again all.

 

[magomago]

You also might want to consider getting a new HDD anyways....the one you have is probably VERY old, and will hold back your system and make it seem much more sluggish than it really is

 

[WildViper]

Actually I have a new 200Gig External HD.

The 12gig HD is just going to be used to hold WinXP Pro and other software. All data will be on the 200gig HD.

I am only going to use this PC for Internet and PVR/DVD Backup purpose.

When a good price (under $20 HD ) comes around, I will upgrade the primary drive.

Thanx though.