Need help in figuring out if my computer is toast

[NevilleSequeira]

On arriving home in the evening the other day I found my computer was continuously beeping (loudly) and the power LED on the front panel and the keyboard LEDs were continuously flashing. I have since tried a few trouble-shooting steps, but I have not been able to boot the machine. The only thing that happens when I power it up is the continuous flashing of power LED and keyboard LEDs. I am sure I had turned the computer off before I left home on the said day. I know there were thunderstorms and lightning in the area that day. From my trouble-shooting I realized that the TV tuner (specifically the WinTV PVR USB2) connected to the machine through USB now does not function - tried it on other machine(s) to make that conclusion. And I am guessing therefore that the root cause of the problem is that I had the radio (FM) areial/antenna connected to the WinTV. The lightning seems to have therefore affected the computer through the WinTV device which is connected to the computer using USB.

I am wondering if the above mentioned symptoms surely indicate that the computer is fried. Or are there any specific things I can try out to figure it out. Also, is it safe to salvage any components from this machine and try using them in another machine? I have quite a few upgrades performed on this machine since I bought it couple of years back.

Thanks in advance.

 

[FlyingPenguin]

You need to do some patient troubleshooting.

Your first step would be to take a digital multimeter ($12 at Radio Shack) and test the 5 volt (red and black wires) and 12 volt (yellow and black) busses at any spare hard drive power connector. Voltages need to be within 5% otherwise toss the PSU.

Pull ALL cards except the video card and disconnect ALL ribbons and cables from the mobo except the PSU and power switch (and device might be damaged and shorting out the bus or holding the reset line down). See if it POSTs. If not, try another known good video card and if that doesn't help, swap out the RAM for known good ram.

If it still doesn't work then you're down to the CPU or mobo. It's MUCH easier to damage the mobo than the CPU, so I'd bet on the mobo. Try the CPU in another known good system (it's far likelier you'd damage a good CPU in a fried mobo than vice a versa).

How safe is it to test the suspect devices in another system? Relatively safe but FIRST visually inspect EVERYTHING before testing it. Anything with obvious burn marks on it could be shorted out and could damage a good system.

It's going to be safer testing the individual components in another known good system. I would do that first.

Chances are your mobo is toast, and possibly anything else connected to the USB port, but there's an excellent chance that your memory, CPU and cards are okay.

Good luck.