Dumpster Computer

[chaser]

Title pretty much says it all. I was driving through an alley today and found a brand new looking Gateway fx6800-01e gaming computer. I knew it must not work or it would be propped up against

a trash dumpster. But I couldn't help but pick itup and bring it home and at least try it. I opened it up and all the components are there, and nothing smells "burnt" like somthing burnt up in it.

So I plugged it in and much to my suprise the PSU starting humming and lights came on on the mother board and the power switch started a slow fade in and out kind of thing. So I pressed

the power button for the moment of truth and......... nothing. Absolutely nothing happens when the power button is pushed. I talked to tildeath earlier and he told me to check the power supply,

and to plug in speakers and see if it gives any beeps. I tried the speakers and no beeps. All good there. I took the PSU to Best Buy to be tested (I know I know.. not the best place but they were

the only place open at the time I went.) Anyways they said the PSU was all good and it was putting out power. So once I got it home I took the power switch off of my computer and put it on the

dumpster computer. Plugged it in and..... Nothing again. So I put my computer back together and now I'm here. Anyone else know what might be wrong with it. Hard drive maybe? But would that

keep it from at least turning on? Lets here your suggestions. I have several pictures of it's internals if anyone wants to see them to.




BTW sorry if this is the wrong section skuzzy, couldn't decide between this and the hardware and software section.

[ToeTag]

I'm sure 100% that if you put it back next to the dumpster that it works there!

[chaser]

LOL! It beats sitting around doing nothing after work. It's to cold to go out and work on the Jeep so I gotta have something to do! My expectations for this computer are pretty low 

[captain1ma]

sounds like the motherboard is shot.

[Ripley]

sounds like the motherboard is shot.

This. If you had the PSU tested and its working fine your options on what could be wrong with it are limited to a bad ground between the case and the motherboard or the motherboard itself is dead. if it were any other component in the case the computer would at least power on.

I would say try taking the motherboard and power supply out of the case and hooking them up together right on your desk and try to power it on.  If it powers on outside the case it is a grounding problem.

Sounds like you found out why this was a dumpster computer

[Bizman]

the PSU starting humming and lights came on on the mother board and the power switch started a slow fade in and out kind of thing.

That sounds just like it were in the hibernate state, but since you took the whole PSU away to be tested, I can't figure there'd be any electricity stored anywhere to maintain that state. If there were, the solution would be simply to press the power button for about five seconds, until the computer would shut down. Then restart. If the starting problem were due to a locked hibernation, the rig should start normally. I've helped many customers on the phone with that simple trick...

Trying the above doesn't cost you more than five seconds of your precious life, so go for it. At least, the computer should shut down in five seconds and if it doesn't, the culprit usually is the motherboard.

Now, if you can turn it off in five seconds, Captain1ma's suggestion is worth trying. You can try a few tricks while preparing for that, in the following order. Remember to unplug the mains before detaching any component.

• Unplug every USB/Firewire/sound/card reader wires that are connected to the case. Plug in mains and try to boot.
• Unplug the hdd, both data and power, try to boot
• Unplug the optical drive, both data and power, try to boot
• Detach RAM, try to boot. Most computers would beep several times.
• Attach one RAM stick, try to boot. Repeat with other sticks, also with a known good one.
• Leave a known good RAM stick in, detach the video card. Try to boot, beeping expected.
• Try with another video card. Try to boot,
• If the new video card works, test the original RAM one at a time

If the above doesn't give any results, you already have done most of the preparations to take the motherboard and PSU out of the case.

Oh, and yet one thing to check: See if the CPU fan is in the right connector. If it is, try with another fan. Also, if there are any case fans, try with another. I've got an elderly HP mobo here which won't boot without a case fan.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

If a computer fails to boot the first thing to try is always clear the CMOS. Remove the battery, use the jumper to clear the CMOS, insert the battery back and then try to reboot. More often than not this is all that's needed to restore function.

One must wonder how many working computers have been trashed simply because the CMOS had a corrupt setting. My uncle was ready to trash his after his 'computer expert' friend had rebuilt his computer and figured it was unfixable. One CMOS reset later it was humming like new again...

[Bizman]

If a computer fails to boot the first thing to try is always clear the CMOS. Remove the battery, use the jumper to clear the CMOS, insert the battery back and then try to reboot. More often than not this is all that's needed to restore function.

Correct, that should be the first thing on the list. I should make a list, the old memory isn't as good as I'd like to believe. 

[chaser]

Thanks for all the replies. I just got home from work and can finally start trying some of this.

quick question though. I found a button battery on the motherboard in my computer, but I can't find one on the motherboard in the dumpster computer. Is it some other type of battery maybe? Could it be built into the motherboard?

[chaser]

Disregard the part about not being able to find it. The CMOS battery was under the video card and I had to pull it out to acces that battery.

[chaser]

I finally tried all the suggestions in this thread.. Absolutely nothing made any difference at all unfortunately. I'm pretty convinced it is indeed the motherboard as mentioned before.


That leads me to another question. Would it be worth it to buy a motherboard to put in it? I mean I got it for free, so I figure $150-$200 (honestly have no idea) for a motherboard wouldn't be to bad considering this computer went for around $1200-$1300 brand new.

[titanic3]

What parts are in it?

[guncrasher]

even if you throw away that puter get the windows validation code.  it maybe on the back of the case.


midway

[SilverZ06]

Take the hard drive out and plug it into your good computer. you may get lucky and stumble onto a bunch of amateur p0rn!

[Bizman]

That leads me to another question. Would it be worth it to buy a motherboard to put in it? I mean I got it for free, so I figure $150-$200 (honestly have no idea) for a motherboard wouldn't be to bad considering this computer went for around $1200-$1300 brand new.

Before you buy a new mobo, you should test all the other components in another system. Also, look for second hand spare parts. You might get a good mobo for about $50. There's always someone who wants to have all the latest gear, having a pile of perfectly usable quality components occupying his valuable space.