Yeeooooooouch! Computer got hit by a double surge

[Getback]

mbailey, it's the easiest thing in the world.. once you do it, you'll wonder why you've been afraid to all of this time.

It's nearly impossible to plug the wrong thing into the wrong place.  It's simply.. you pop in the motherboard panel and screw the motherboard in place.  You mount the processor, and then it's heatsink/fan.  You install the memory, vid card, sound card (if applicable), and any other add on cards.  You install the power supply (4 screws).  You then install the CD/DVD/BR, and hard drive(s), (and floppy if you must).  You plug in the wires from the power supply.  Put the side covers on.  Plug in keyboard, mouse, monitor.  Turn it on.. install windows disk.. reboot and done!

And fun!

[mbailey]

Well im gonna give it a shot!! Ill start ordering componants on Monday. I have nothing to reuse accept the incedentals monitor keyboard etc. My old puter is gonna go to the kids.

 ( I almost fear to ask this   ) Any suggestions? Im looking at about $1000.00 and really only use the puter for AH and surfing the net. Although i would like it to be upgradable in the future.

I dont want to hijack your thread Getback, my appologies. I Could start another one if you want

[cattb]

  My preference for a motherboard is gigabyte or asus. For your intent of use of your computer a newer dual core Intel, like the I-5 series. Skuzzy recommends the seasonic brand for power supply. Video card would be a nvidia 260 or better model or a ATI 5770 or better model. You'll need a case, people here will tell you to get the Tempest.

[Getback]

Well im gonna give it a shot!! Ill start ordering componants on Monday. I have nothing to reuse accept the incedentals monitor keyboard etc. My old puter is gonna go to the kids.

 ( I almost fear to ask this   ) Any suggestions? Im looking at about $1000.00 and really only use the puter for AH and surfing the net. Although i would like it to be upgradable in the future.

I dont want to hijack your thread Getback, my appologies. I Could start another one if you want

Welp, starting a new thread is not up to me. However, if you want the best advice from seasoned builders that would be the way to go. Most of us love this kind of stuff.

[Getback]

Okay, decided not to rebuild the crashed machine. What I am wanting to do is take the data from the old machine and put it on my gaming rig. I've loaded all the programs. So this is my question, Can I do a back up of the hard drive from the old machine and then restore it to the gaming rig with out causing any problems. The hard drive from the crashed machine is good. I'm using it as an external drive currently.

[Chalenge]

Using Acronis True Image I have in the past installed the OS fresh and then restored all the files (Program Files and other files outside of C:\Windows and subfolders) and it was just like the previous installation when finished.

[Ghastly]

Using Acronis True Image I have in the past installed the OS fresh and then restored all the files (Program Files and other files outside of C:\Windows and subfolders) and it was just like the previous installation when finished.

Because of how deeply embedded some of the subsystems are in the OS, restoring "Program Files" can sometimes reintroduce corruption that makes Windows non-startable.  It's one of those sometimes you can get away with it, some times you can't.

Just in case ...

<S>
 

[Tigger29]

Yes.. what Ghastly said.  There's about a 15-20% chance that it will even boot properly moving one hard drive to a different computer, and of those that do.. maybe a 10% chance of it working without problems.  However, you can do a repair install of windows that will usually get it working... but I would only use it long enough to back up whatever you want to keep, and then wipe and reformat because it seems that once you do this sort of thing, things are never right from then on out.  Kind of like repairing a flooded car... it's just going to be problems no matter what you do aside from a frame-up restoration.

If your drive is a Western Digital, you can get a free version of Acronis HERE.  It's not supposed to work with other brands, but I haven't yet tried.  It's good software.

[Getback]

I put a new PSU in and it booted. However the CPU fan didn't work. Going to try another stock fan I have. I just don't like the looks of this.

[Getback]

Not to be rude, but that is FLAT OUT NOT TRUE.  While many computers come equipped with onboard video AND audio, this is done quite often regardless of manufacturer.  Likewise, there ARE some Dells that have separate sound cards and/or separate video cards.  While I'm not necessarily defending the engineering or fabrication practices of Dell, I believe that you should do some research before making a broad statement like that.

Getback, most likely you have a bad power supply.  It may have taken the motherboard with it, but you really need to plug in a known-good power supply and see if it boots up... or purchase a power supply tester.  And yes a power supply can be bad and still supply power to the fans, etc... but not the motherboard itself.

Welp, it was the Power Supply only. Put in a new power supply and the rascal booted up very fast. It had been booting really slow. It also called my attention to another issue. The CPU fan wasn't working. I put a spare in I had from building my gaming rig.

I honestly almost skipped testing the PSU and went straight to replacing the Motherboard. Then I thought hey why not just give a new PS a shot with the old mainboard.  That turned out to be a good thing.

Solid advice there. Thanks!

Addendum: Almost forgot to mention the new surge protector.

[Dragon]

Good to hear it Getback.  Glad your up and running again.

[OOZ662]

The problem with electrical surge damage is how much non-fatal damage it tends to do. A surge powerful enough to knock out the PSU will generally have a cascading effect on the other components. They still work initially, but have been heavily damaged. It's common for zapped computers to have components continue to fail one after another until the whole system ends up replaced.

To whoever was planning on building a new computer:
One easy mistake to make is not installing the motherboard spacers. It's one of those things everyone thinks is so obvious that nobody (including a lot of manuals) mentions it. Some cases come with spacers already incorporated into the motherboard tray. Others require (generally brass-colored) pegs to be screwed into the tray. They look like the screw holders on each side of a video card output, but longer. They keep the soldered connections on the back of the motherboard from grounding on the case and tray.

I remember back when I built my first in Middle School and didn't realize what they were...poke it too hard and the sound card PCI slot shorted. But, she's still running BOINC in the other room to this day.

[Getback]

The problem with electrical surge damage is how much non-fatal damage it tends to do. A surge powerful enough to knock out the PSU will generally have a cascading effect on the other components. They still work initially, but have been heavily damaged. It's common for zapped computers to have components continue to fail one after another until the whole system ends up replaced.

To whoever was planning on building a new computer:
One easy mistake to make is not installing the motherboard spacers. It's one of those things everyone thinks is so obvious that nobody (including a lot of manuals) mentions it. Some cases come with spacers already incorporated into the motherboard tray. Others require (generally brass-colored) pegs to be screwed into the tray. They look like the screw holders on each side of a video card output, but longer. They keep the soldered connections on the back of the motherboard from grounding on the case and tray.

I remember back when I built my first in Middle School and didn't realize what they were...poke it too hard and the sound card PCI slot shorted. But, she's still running BOINC in the other room to this day.

So true! Seems my joy was short lived. Rascal died on me by the end of the day. And I was so very happy until..........

Welp, throwing in a new MB today.

[Getback]

I took a big chance. I used my old hard drive just the way it was for the new motherboard. The new MB was the same brand so I thought it might work. So far so good. I am getting an unknown device though. Also, I'm not sure how to disable onboard video.

[Tigger29]

I took a big chance. I used my old hard drive just the way it was for the new motherboard. The new MB was the same brand so I thought it might work. So far so good. I am getting an unknown device though. Also, I'm not sure how to disable onboard video.

If you can't disable onboard video from BIOS, then really the only thing you can do is right click on it in the device manager, and select DISABLE DEVICE.  You might also look in the M/B manual to see if there is a jumper for it, but I doubt it.