Power Outage crashes XP1800+ System

[Smoke]

A few hours ago my neighborhood had a momentary power outage that lasted only for a couple of seconds. My daughter who lives right down the street called me a little later to report that her computer wouldn't come on.

System
Epok 8k7a Mb
1800+ XP Processor
128 MB DDR 2100
Matrox G400 Dual Video

She has brought the computer to me and this is what I have found.

Upon bootup, all fans are spinning [Power Supply, CPU Cooler, Onboard Chipset, and case fan].
The monitor never flashes or shows a cursor...nothing appears on the monitor [have tried different monitors]
After it runs for a few seconds a noticeable electrical burn smell that seems to be coming from the the CPU area.
The motherboard displays a "3C" POST CODE. I looked at the CPU and it did not appear to be burned up but I must say I'm not really sure what it would look like if it did. It is definitely not burned up like the pictures I've seen when an AMD is allowed to run without a Heat Sink and Fan. There may be a little darkness to one side of the chip that runs the whole length of that side. I would need to get my digital camera back from a friend who borrowed it to let you see a picture of it.

Since I had one available, I changed the Power Supply out for a known good one.

Next attempt to bootup gave the same results. I allowed it to run for almost a minute to see if I could see smoke or detect anything else that might be the problem when the motherboard turned itself off...probably a safety shutdown of some sort.

I have again removed the CPU and it appears to be the same as before.

I looked up the "3C" POST CODE and the manual says, "Set flag to allow users to enter CMOS Setup Utility." I didn't understand how that could have anything to do with the problem unless it is just the point of the bootup where the process halted. I cleared the CMOS and tried once again and again got the same results.

Does this sound like my CPU may have been damaged during the power outage (fluctuation?)?

I do have a 1900+ XP system with the same motherboard. If I was going to try parts from one to the other, in what order should I proceed? I would certainly hate to lose my perfectly operating 1900+ XP system.

[edit] A little update. I have opened up my 1900+ XP system and the CPU has the same dark area that I described on the 1800+ XP ... they look identical in that regard.

I would apprecate your help.

 

[Eltano1]

I will start to checking your video card, since there is no video on the monitor to beging with, and then try swapping the memory chips and last th ecpu. I hope everythings turns out ok for you. I do have a new set up going from PIII to an AMD XP 1500+ and I love it.

Best regards

Eltano

 

[Smoke]

Thanks Elanto1,

Well, it is not the CPU! I just put the 1800+ XP chip in the other system and it has booted right up. So now I guess I'll start trying other components.

 

[Crazee]

Smokeball,

Disconnect all the drive cables from the motherboard and remove all PCI cards. Leave just the video card in. See if it will boot.

If it won't, change the video card out and see what happens.

If that doesn't work check to see if you have a CMOS reset jumper and clear your CMOS.

IF that doesn't work you most likely have a bad motherboard.

If removing the cables and PCI cards gets it to boot put them back in one by one and boot until you find the culprit.

Hope this helps.

 

[Freewolf]

Did you unplug the power cord when you reset the cmos? If not try it again unpluged. If that doesn't work try reseating the video card or try with a pci video card if you have one around. Also try either reseating the ram or using different ram. You have already tried changing power suppliescso you know that's not the problem.If all else fails remove the mb from the case and try booting it with just the ram and video card on the mb. Last thing to try is the cmos battery. If nome of the above works try different mb.

 

[Smoke]

Now I am getting suspicious that it IS the motherboard. The video card would not work at all in my good system, the 1900+ XP. So I do believe it suffer a fatal blow.

I have robbed an old PCI video card out of a Dell Pentium 200 MHz. It is a Diamond S3 ViRGE 4MB but enough to at least light up the monitor I would suppose.

Replace the 1800+ XP back in the troubled computer with the above mentioned video card and now I can't get any response. When I unplug it and turn the toggle Power Switch on the Power Supply off and then back on........and then plug in the power cord, I get a momentary attempt of the CPU fan to spin and then all is silent.

I will now remove all cards except the PCI video card and see if anything happens.

 

[Maggotry]

The computer only needs the cpu, memory, and a vid card to POST. If it boots like this (of course you'll get errors while it looks for a 3.5", maybe the keyboard, etc.) then you'll know your mobo is most likely fine. I think in the DC forum you made a comment about the fans making a little twitch when you turn on the power supply (not the computer). That's normal for a lot of mobo's and shouldn't be seen as a fault. I think I read once that is caused by the 5VSB.

 

[narzy]

ya know...I prolly should read the entire thread before opening my big mouth... BRB. check ram and Vid Card. thats my best guess, but from what it sounds like the vid card is dead...

 

[pamf]

not sure if this'll help, but my kt7a's have problems with older pci video cards.. they all refuse to post with my ati 4mb pci .. but they work fine with my tnt 16mb pci .. so testing the video card by replacing it with an older pci one might not be the best idea.. id try the one from your 1900 and see how that works.. sounds like the videos dead, but the board may just be refusing to work with the older card rather than being defective.. my kt7as just sat there with no post, fans turning, no beeps, etc.. the card itself works great in some of my older systems though (a shame cuz i was gonna steal the tnt for dual monitors... )

 

[JustStarting]

My friend at work just lost 2 systems due to power outage/surge. Toasted both MB's, RAM, and Video cards. The only useful thing out of one computer was the floppy. He got an estimate written up and Insurance Company paid it. He now uses a Belkin Surge protector instead of his old power strip. It's cheap insurance.

Smokeball- You'll get it sorted out in a very methodical manner. It's probably the Mobo I'd guess from the symptoms. I wouldn't try too many parts in the toasted one- voltages may be Fubar'd due to spike it saw. Best approach is to test components in another box one by one to find the culprit. Like someone else said try posting with just CPU (you know it works), video, RAM and floppy in the fried unit.

Good luck!

 

[Evadman]

Without beep codes, It would point to either bad memory or bad Mobo. Have you tried the memory in another system? If so, looks like a fried Mobo

 

[DaiShan]

I agree, if you aren't getting beep codes it is probably a motherboard issue.

 

[WaltC]

<< Did you unplug the power cord when you reset the cmos? If not try it again unpluged. >>




Let's try that again: Did you unplug the power cord when you reset the cmos? If not try it again unpluged.

When resetting the CMOS you must unplug the power cord from the back of the computer and give the process 30 seconds, at least. I know it sounds silly, but when you understand why, it's not silly at all. When the power cord is plugged in it always generates a "reserve" voltage, one of the functions of which is to refresh your CMOS continuously, even in a powered off state. If you try and reset the CMOS with power supply plugged in, nothing happens.

I speak from experience--I had a similar situation to yours arise once, and kept trying to reset the CMOS. I thought for sure that I had lost the motherboard, since obviously resetting the CMOS didn't work--ergo, the bios chip at least was fried, I thought. But then I picked up the tip about unplugging the power supply. So I unplugged the power supply, set the CMOS jumper to the CLEAR position, waited 30 seconds (you wait to allow the CMOS power to bleed off), set the CMOS jumper to the normal position, plugged the power supply back in, and hit the power switch--thinking all the while nothing would come of it.

Next thing you know the machine booted up perfectly fine and I was able to re-enter the CMOS, make my standard changes, and things continued on just fine from that point forward. Amazing how things work if you just understand the principles behind them. I was so grateful for that single tip that saved me from disposing of a perfectly fine motherboard. As I saw someone had already given you that advice here but saw no response from you, I felt you were ignoring it and decided to repeat it and emphasize it. Many pardons if you did not ignore it--but this is one of those great tips everyone should be aware of.

Best to you!