Author Topic: Hellllp! need a quick answer to a computer problem (Read 873 times)

DREDIOCK · « **Reply #15 on:** May 18, 2006, 09:52:43 PM »

question. if it were the PS. Why would all the fans spin noproblem? wouldnt they be effected too?

Unfortunately I dont know when it happened.
Set up Adaware to do a scan when I left. came back 8 hours later and saw a light on on the case but nothing running. thinking it had powered itself down I moved the mouse around tapped on the keyboard, and finally tried rebooting.

Nothing. the fans would spin for a few second then it would power down.
opened the case and saw the CPU fan was off.
Reset it. theral paste and all and the powered up. fans started running. but no beeps. no tick tick tick of the HD. nothing.

Monitor said it was getting no signal from the computer so I swapped out the Vid card with one I know works.
Nada. same thing.

But why do the fans spin fine?

Or is that like asking someone whose car wont start if the lights work?
enough power to light the lights but not enough to turn the car over

Brenjen · « **Reply #16 on:** May 18, 2006, 09:59:20 PM »

Quote

Or is that like asking someone whose car wont start if the lights work?

that's pretty accurate.

what you described probably (not absolutely) fried the CPU, that's expensive yes indeed.

count the pins on the PS mobo connector, if you have a 20 pin mobo & a 20 pin PS it will work the same, just zip tie the PS in place or lay it on the bottom of the case, if you have a 24 pin mobo & a 20 pin ps go ahead & give it a try, they sometimes work, if it's a 24 pin PS & a 20 pin mobo your out of luck.

Sandman · « **Reply #17 on:** May 18, 2006, 10:00:59 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by DREDIOCK
question. if it were the PS. Why would all the fans spin noproblem? wouldnt they be effected too?

Unfortunately I dont know when it happened.
Set up Adaware to do a scan when I left. came back 8 hours later and saw a light on on the case but nothing running. thinking it had powered itself down I moved the mouse around tapped on the keyboard, and finally tried rebooting.

Nothing. the fans would spin for a few second then it would power down.
opened the case and saw the CPU fan was off.
Reset it. theral paste and all and the powered up. fans started running. but no beeps. no tick tick tick of the HD. nothing.

Monitor said it was getting no signal from the computer so I swapped out the Vid card with one I know works.
Nada. same thing.

But why do the fans spin fine?

Or is that like asking someone whose car wont start if the lights work?
enough power to light the lights but not enough to turn the car over

Because there are more than just one voltage rail. IIRC, the fans are on a 12 volt rail. The CPU doesn't use that one.

Chairboy · « **Reply #18 on:** May 18, 2006, 10:02:53 PM »

Let me repeat: I had the exact same symptoms last year with a busted power supply.

Please just try the old power supply before you start sticking pins in things and getting yourself shocked. If you leave the HDs, floppy, CD-ROM, etc unplugged, it'll have more than enough juice to at least show you a POST screen.

DREDIOCK · « **Reply #19 on:** May 18, 2006, 10:03:35 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Chairboy
Doesn't matter if it's big enough, try that other power supply. Don't plug in the hard drives and accessories, just look for a video signal. It'll be more than enough power to determine if the other PSU is the problem.

Nope.
Same as before.
Fans power up fine.
nothing else.

Well now this certainly bites.

what next.
Anyone wanna swap lives for a while till this one picks up again? lol

DREDIOCK · « **Reply #20 on:** May 18, 2006, 10:10:47 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Brenjen
that's pretty accurate.

what you described probably (not absolutely) fried the CPU, that's expensive yes indeed.

count the pins on the PS mobo connector, if you have a 20 pin mobo & a 20 pin PS it will work the same, just zip tie the PS in place or lay it on the bottom of the case, if you have a 24 pin mobo & a 20 pin ps go ahead & give it a try, they sometimes work, if it's a 24 pin PS & a 20 pin mobo your out of luck.

Ps fit fine. just didnt work lol
Well at least we ruled out the Ps as the problem

Heh good thing Im a packrat with old computers. (much to my wifes dismay)
I still have my old P100 laying around too.

the old Asus I found and used the memory on my other old machine to triple the amound of memory onthe P500 for my son to use for Homework and AIM till I got him the laptop.

was holding onto it cause I was planning for chits & giggles on rebuilding a machine out of scraps to run some old Dos and Win 3.1 stuff

DREDIOCK · « **Reply #21 on:** May 18, 2006, 10:49:24 PM »

ok so it looks like here is where I stand.

Its not the PS. we ruled that out. which means its either the CPU or both the CPU and motherboard.

Now I cant afford to build an entire new machine right now.
extra computer funds already went into the kids laptop.

So I'd like and am going to be forced to cannablise as much of the old system as humanly possible.
I figure as I mentioned before to just give myself a bump in the CPU and MB
to an anthlon 64

The Case. is still usable but it is butt ugly. I can fix that with a can of spray paint lol.

I figure to be able to use the vid, sound,ethernet cards, CD drives. no problem.
My main concerns are the memory and hard drive.

old motherboard is a socket A ASUS A7V333

Questions.
Will the memory from my old system work in the newer motherboards?

What will happen when I boot up with the old hard drive on a new motherboard? orr would I be better off with a new HD too?

And if so, ....well I'll ask when I actually get to that part lol

Roscoroo · « **Reply #22 on:** May 18, 2006, 10:54:33 PM »

if its an amd it may be fried ... cpu / mb

they burn under the cpu also into the mb and damage it too

now if ya lived around the corner from me id loan ya one...

Most smaller pc shops will test your pc for free ... exspecially if its hurt .. its good bizness for them ... sometimes they have a few parts laying around to get ya running fast again too ...

Now Can i intrest you in a misc box of Slot A pent 2's ... 233mhz slow junk

ps ... check http://seattle.craigslist.org/ for pc's ... oops change it to your city ..

Shamus · « **Reply #23 on:** May 19, 2006, 12:32:00 AM »

Got a 2100 Tbred I can send you if you want it.

A7V333 is a ddr board, should work in the new systems.

shamus

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #24 on:** May 19, 2006, 02:52:42 AM »

As long as you dont go buying an Intel board that uses DDR2 RAM you should be fine with the memory you have. Assume your video card you have now is a AGP card?

Now, if you need to replace that motherboard, you'd be surprised. Lots of places online still have Socket A motherboards and they are dirt cheap. The problem is the CPU. Its almost as expensive as buying a low end newer one. I'd shop around a bit if I were you and see what kind of prices I could find on each before deciding. I'd also be deciding on my upgrade strategy and how soon you are going to be looking at wanting to upgrade everything anyway.

beet1e · « **Reply #25 on:** May 19, 2006, 04:24:22 AM »

AMD CPUs only take about 5 seconds to fry if the fan comes off. It was a common problem about 6+ years ago because it was extremely difficult to fit the fan in place, and if incorrectly fitted the fan would ping off.

The current AMD CPU fans are much easier to fit.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #26 on:** May 19, 2006, 07:05:02 AM »

I thought AMD finally implemented thermal protection in thier CPU.

Mighty1 · « **Reply #27 on:** May 19, 2006, 07:38:11 AM »

We had this happen just a week ago (except it was a retarded teacher who let a kid play with her computer. GRRRRR!) and it was the CPU. We were lucky nothing else fried.

DREDIOCK · « **Reply #28 on:** May 19, 2006, 07:52:01 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by StarOfAfrica2
As long as you dont go buying an Intel board that uses DDR2 RAM you should be fine with the memory you have. Assume your video card you have now is a AGP card?

Now, if you need to replace that motherboard, you'd be surprised. Lots of places online still have Socket A motherboards and they are dirt cheap. The problem is the CPU. Its almost as expensive as buying a low end newer one. I'd shop around a bit if I were you and see what kind of prices I could find on each before deciding. I'd also be deciding on my upgrade strategy and how soon you are going to be looking at wanting to upgrade everything anyway.

Yup Vid card is AGP

just doing a quick scan..real quick
this board any good?
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=332173&pfp=SEARCH

If memory serves correct. the 939 boards are the way to go

probably wont get it at compusa but a mom & pop shop
(there are a ton of em around here)

future upgrades are something Im taking into consideration

DREDIOCK · « **Reply #29 on:** May 19, 2006, 08:24:02 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by beet1e
It was a common problem about 6+ years ago because it was extremely difficult to fit the fan in place,

Understatment.
Particularly if your using the bigger better thermaltake CPU fans.
and that was the case with this one.

Had picked up a quieter one because the sound the Tt makes was driving me batty which was tons easier to conncect but tended to collect dust faster around the heatsink and I had to take the fan & heatsink completely off everytime I cleaned out the inside.
so I switched back and just wore my heaphones so I couldnt here it but it drove anyone else who happened to be in the room batty (screw em;) )

Thingis I havent had the fan off of this one in about 5 months. and I've opened this thing to clean it 3-4 times since with no prob.

I tried not to take it off unless I had to simply because its such a PIA to put back on.

damn engineers. As is usually the case I could, off the top of my head think of probably 3-4 easier was to accomplish the same task then that fubarred design lol