Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: midnight Target on January 19, 2007, 08:55:41 AM
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My computer at home...
its ded jim.
Anyway, tech support on the phone says it's probably my motherboard. It is an AMD 64 3500 or something like that. Of course the warranty ran out 6 months ago.
They will fix it for $250 to $400.
I've never changed a mobo myself. Suggestions?
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Does it not come on at all? Or give an error code, or beep code?
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No signal sent to monitor, Fan comes on, can't hear any HD activity, light on main switch works. I don't think it's the power supply.
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Actually, it sounds like it could be a bad power supply. You could try replacing it for a lot less than $400...
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First thing I'd try would be a bios reset, should be a jump on the motherboard. If not, unplug the pc, and carefully remove the battery..let it sit for awhile (30 seconds) and then put the battery back in and power it up.
Then try the power supply if you have one handy.
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no signal sent to monitor... sounds like the vid card has shat itsself....
Did you move it recently,
I say this because I had a video card come loose once, It was after I moved the PC. After I reseated the video card (took it out and put it back in) it was fine.
Check Your monitor cable, it may be loose or the video card may have moved in its slot.
If you have a spare Video card about try putting that in and booting the PC...
Its worth a shot.
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Mussie has a good point... I've had more than one computer that I "fixed" by simply taking it apart and carefully re-assembling it.
That said, check your motherboard for blown capacitors. The little tube or beercan looking thingies. If the tops are bulged or have crusty stuff on top of them, they're blown and you need a new mobo.
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whoops... I missed read your post thought you said you could hear HD activity...
As a side note: If you pc speaker (the one that only beeps) was not attached, you wont hear the error code beeps from you BIOS. do you know if it was attached..?
Could be RAM that needs reseating
What happened before it stopped working?
Did any of the following happen/occour
1- PC was Moved
2- PC Upgraded in anyway
3- PC was cleaned
4- was there a storm recently
5- do you have small children who like to put stuff in small holes that are usually found on the case of a PC (trust me I have found paint brush's inside my case)
6- Has it been very hot recently....
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Negative on any changes, and my youngest is 19.
It has been VERY cold for California.
I came home yesterday and my screen saver (the fish swimming) was frozen. I couldn't reboot from the keyboard so I shut it down and restarted it.
ded.
Actually there is a fan running full blast when I start it up.
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There are many things that can cause a machine to not post. Do you hear any beeps when you turn it on? It's really a process of elimination. I usually start by unplugging all the drives (turn it off first of course) both from the power supply and the ribbon cables connecting them to the motherboard. Turn it on, any change? If not plug 'em back in. If you have two sticks of memory take one out (all changes must be done with power off). No change? Put it back in and take the other out. No change? That narrows it down to the cpu, motherboard, or video card. Access to replacements is the only way to narrow it down further.
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Mt, if you don't have the spare time... don't you have a local shop that can sort it out for you? Taking them things apart and putting them all back together takes time.
If you have the spare time, refer to the posts above :)
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Thanks all.
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MT.. believe it or not, it might be as simple as your IDE(hard drive) connect or a loose power supply wire on the HD. It's not unheard of for these to come loose. Heck, even a stick of ram can come loose(rarely)
Check out all your connections before you give up on it or put any money into having it repaired.
It's a long shot but it's free and easy to check. :)
Edit: cjhances are it's not your HD though because you would still get a P.O.S.T.
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1) Did it say "beep" on boot-up before it died? If it did and now it doesn't - then it MAY be a motherboard.
2) If it didn't - then check a PC speaker attached. If you hear HDD activity and HDD light blinks on and off - then it may be a monitor. Do you hear a Windows "Tadaam!" boot-up sound in your speakers? Do you have any other box with VGA 15-pin D-SUB outlet? Like another PC, laptop, or a modern DVD player? When you attach a monitor to this box - does it work? (In case of a laptop you need to turn an external display on, like [F]+[F3]).
I have seen so many PCs assembled by brainless people, "frankenstine" or brand-names, that I wouldn't be surprised if PC speaker isn't attached.
$250-400 for changing a MB?! I wish I could live like that!
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Originally posted by midnight Target
It has been VERY cold for California.
I came home yesterday and my screen saver (the fish swimming) was frozen.
ded.
Actually there is a fan running full blast when I start it up.
Damn Bubba! Water in fish screen saver frozen? Get a heater in your house..
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Originally posted by midnight Target
...It has been VERY cold for California.
I came home yesterday and my screen saver (the fish swimming) was frozen.....
OMG LOL:aok :aok :aok :aok :aok :aok :rofl :rofl
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Heya Mt
Before you touch anything inside make sure and walk around the house in socks dragging your feet! :D
IF it is thew Mobo, changing one out is pretty easy. Fry's or newegg will have good deals on motherboard CPU combos, make sure you get the type that will take your video card (AGP versus PCIE) and will take your ram.
New MOBO and proc combo can be had for 250 or less. Install is some screws and cables. Not a big deal.
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If I change a mobo what are the chances I might have to re-install windows?
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Originally posted by midnight Target
If I change a mobo what are the chances I might have to re-install windows?
Unless you get the exact same motherboard you should definitely reinstall Windows even on the off chance it works without doing so.
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pour some prestone in ur screen saver lolololol
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Originally posted by midnight Target
If I change a mobo what are the chances I might have to re-install windows?
Man dont change anything until youve ruled out nearly everything else. Search and Download memtest86 from somewhere and run it on youre bad puter. See if you blew out a stick of RAM. You should let memtest run for 4 hours or so. That is what it sounds like, and you need to move this to the hardware and software section. Some of those guys are aces at computers.
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open it up ,, do some dust bunny control ...if its really clogged it may have over heated and fried something ... also sniff the power supply .if it smells like burnt electronics it may be the culprit .
Does it make any kind of "Beeps" when you try to start it ??
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Rosc was closest. dirty fan and fried vid card. I'm baaaack.