total shutdown help

[tatertot]

OK all you comp guys.I have a Real problem i have a hp m480n CPU.My daughter was on line playing some kind of game.She /We heard a pop and the thing shutdown.I have a green light on on the power supply have done all the troubleshooter type things from there websight.
      Does this sound like a power supply issue or motherboard problem.I have disconnected each powered unit one at a time,and tried to boot still same issue.i hold the power button and it lights up the CPU tries to start up then button goes out and nothing happens.Any help is help thanks

[Ghosth]

Sounds like a mother board blew to me.

[tatertot]

ty ghosth just have to figure whats next i have a motherboard but i have no idea if it will work..

[AirFlyer]

Do you still get a POST screen? If you do I'm pretty sure that rules out the motherboard.

[tatertot]

i get nothing wont power up at all

[Getback]

Do you have a different power supply to put in? Check your video card as well. May have fried your video card. Take a peak inside and see if you see anything burnt.

[TilDeath]

Power Supply tester is a great investment $10 to $35.  Will show the voltages.   This is the one I use http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16899887004

[Fulmar]

I use a cheapy tester.  Very similar to this one.  Downsides are it just lights LEDs and doesn't have an SATA connecter, plus its only a 20 pin so I have to carry an SATA molex adapater and a 24 to 20 pin adapter.  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16899705001

Worked well in every applications I've used it for.

[Nwbie]

HP's have a redundant power surge protection built in
try unplugging all the connections from the power supply and then plug back in
have a friend who has to do that once in awhile
he found info about it in his users manual - worth a shot first before you spend any cash.

[humble]

As a general rule the "pop" is an arc of some kind. Even to much dust in the box can cause this. Normally you can see/smell the source on examination. Since you pulled the parts and saw smelled nothing I'd disconnect the 20/24 pin PS feed and examine for arcing. As per above many XP's have a surge protection built in as well. If you have another computer you can take the VC from the damaged one and try it in a working box to see (dont put any working VC in "damaged" box). I'd also pull the MB and flip it over to check for a short/arc on bottom. Most OEM boards are only 4 layer lamination and they will pop easily on older machines after even a few years...

[Fulmar]

Depending on the degree and loudness of the pop, it could be blown capacitors.  I had that happen to me once.  A cheap PSU scared the crap out of me when it almost sounded like a gun shot.  Little smoke out the back of the PSU.  Open up the PSU housing and a decent size capacitor had blown its top.

[Denholm]

I was about to mention that...

[Darkish]

Don't discount the PSU - I have had a fail where to all accounts and purposes the PSU was ok just not powering everything else.

Bear in mind it is an HP - would look here first.

[Bino]

Depending on the degree and loudness of the pop, it could be blown capacitors.  I had that happen to me once.  A cheap PSU scared the crap out of me when it almost sounded like a gun shot.  Little smoke out the back of the PSU.  Open up the PSU housing and a decent size capacitor had blown its top.

Whoa! 

The only two things I've seen get fried are a) power supplies, and b) network cards, but never in such a dramatic way!  Although PSUs do seem to die suddenly, I've seen NICs go flakey for a little while before they expire.

EDIT:
Almost forgot: when the Sun 6000 series was still new (circa 2000) I worked for a place that had a big E-Commerce web site (up to 10,000 simultaneous users) all based on Sun machines... until the servers started frying CPUs at the rate of one or two EVERY WEEK! Shortly after that, the site went Big Blue.

[chewiex]

Had same issue a few months back. Did my usual 2 month dusting of the internals of my PC, (old house, dusty environment, leaks in my A/C ducts etc) needless to say, I had quite a bit of dust built up inside the power supply and tower, it popped and crackled one time. It all looked fine when I went to reboot and nothing happened. Lights came on and fans worked, just no boot up or anything else. Thought MB may have fried seeing as how the lights and fan came on with the PS. Took out the PS and had it tested at a local PC repair shop, they said it was fine and tested ok. Not trusting them, I bought an aftermarket PS of same wattage and amps, just in case. Put old one back in...nothing. Put new one in ....ITS A MIRACLE!!! Amazingly, the new one works.

Point of the story, it may be the PS, MB or just about anything. My money is its the PS. Try replacing it first. Its easy to do, its cheap and if it doesn't fix the issue, take it back.