My computer died and I can't figure out why

FishMist

Here are the specs of the recently deceased (I got these from an old Everest report plus from my memory):

Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2
Intel Pentium 4, 2400 MHz (18 x 133)
Gigabyte GA-8S648FX(-L) (5 PCI, 1 AGP, 3 DDR DIMM, Audio)
1024 MB RAM (PC2100 DDR SDRAM, 2 Modules)
NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 (128 MB)
Acer AC901 [19" CRT]
Creative SB Live! Sound Card
Seagate Barracuda Hard Drive ATA V 80023 80 GB
SONY DVD-ROM DDU1612 (16x/40x DVD-ROM)
ASUS DVD Burner
Standard PS/2 Keyboard
Logitech MX1000 Cordless Mouse
300W Power Supply

My wife was the using the computer last night when it died. She had a few IE and Outlook message windows open when she went to go to another web site. Apparently the computer made a series of rapid beeps and the monitor went black. I had a look at it and found that the reset button wasn’t doing anything, had to switch it off by holding the power switch in for a few seconds. Now when I try to turn the computer on I get nothing on the monitor and no beeps from the motherboard. All the fans start up, the green power led and the amber HD led on the case light up and stay lit and the leds on my two DVD drives seem to take turns lighting up for a few seconds each.

I don’t have a lot of options for testing out components in the non-functioning system because I don’t have access to replacement components I can swap around. All I have is an old Pentium 2 system; the video card (TNT2) doesn’t fit in the AGP slot of the non-functioning system and it only has a 105W power supply. Things I’ve tried so far that don’t appear to have an effect:

* Disconnecting the DVD drives and trying to start up.
* Disconnecting the hard drive and trying to start up.
* Disconnecting the DVD drives plus the hard drive and trying to start up.
* Re-seating the video card.
* Re-seating the RAM modules and trying them in different slots (but I don’t think I’ve tried every possible combination).

I’ve also connected my old system to the monitor and it works fine. Now I don’t know how to continue; can anyone tell me any other things I could do to try to find out which/if any component is broken? Let me know if I should provide anymore info.

DrFrylock

With no POST beeps at all I'm guessing your motherboard went kaput, but it could be the RAM, the processor, or the powersupply too.

Disconnect everything else and try booting. If that doesn't give you some sort of POST beeps, try removing the RAM. (Some motherboards will give a POST beep code without RAM, some won't).

At that point you have to start swapping out components.

yotes

DrFrylock wrote:

With no POST beeps at all I'm guessing your motherboard went kaput, but it could be the RAM, the processor, or the powersupply too.

Disconnect everything else and try booting. If that doesn't give you some sort of POST beeps, try removing the RAM. (Some motherboards will give a POST beep code without RAM, some won't).

Yep, do that. If the plain motherboard & CPU won't boot either, try it with the old PSU if they're compatible (they should be).

The way your computer is behaving when you turn the power on sounds exactly like the time my PSU got fried. Then again, I've never had motherboard/RAM/CPU failures, so I can't say what they'd look like.

redimpulse

Third opinion - do as Frylock suggests. Pull everything out to a base configuration (mobo, PSU and processor) and see if you get anything. IIRC most Gigabyte mobos will beep at POST if no RAM is inserted - long, short short short.

I'm going to take a shot and say the PSU for your P2 system is not compatible. For one, I don't see a 105w unit powering your system properly, and also it probably doesn't have the 4-pin processor power input. You pretty much need that when running a P4 system.

robaal

Well, can you connect the 300W PSU to the old system? Pentium II is a bit old, but I think some motherboards could monitor the voltages even then...

You could also most likely get some old used PCI video card cheaply.

You could try reseating the CPU, which would also let you check for any obvious signs of burning on it; get thermal paste before you do this though (the cheapest silicone-based stuff will be good enough) - it probably needs changing anyway.


Did you have any problems with the system before that?

FishMist

Hey all thanks for the advice, I got it working again last night! Here's what I did: first I tried start up with everything removed except the RAM and CPU - no change. Then I removed the RAM and tried starting up - no chnage. Then I tried connecting the old P2 PSU - redimpulse I think you're right when you say it isn't compatible, it didn't have that 4-pin cable like you say, anyway all I got was the green power led on the case when I tried to start up.

So I put all components and cables back on the motherboard and was just about to give up for the night when I decided what the hell, I'll take the fan and the heatsink off the CPU and take a look. Did that, didn't see anything out of the ordinary except a small clump of dust next to the CPU which I removed and put it back together. I wasn't even going to bother trying to start up again but my wife said I should. And hey pesto! This time I got one post beep out of it. Turned it off, plugged all the peripherals back in, turned it back on and it started up perfectly like nothing was ever wrong.

Wierd eh? Do you think that clump of dust may have caused the problem (it was between the CPU heatsink and the CPU socket and wedged up against the side of the CPU itself)? I haven't got a clue otherwise, maybe the computer gods just got bored of tormenting me or something.

robaal wrote:

Well, can you connect the 300W PSU to the old system? Pentium II is a bit old, but I think some motherboards could monitor the voltages even then...

You could also most likely get some old used PCI video card cheaply.

You could try reseating the CPU, which would also let you check for any obvious signs of burning on it; get thermal paste before you do this though (the cheapest silicone-based stuff will be good enough) - it probably needs changing anyway.

Did you have any problems with the system before that?

Hey robaal I left work last night before I got to read your advice so unfortunately I didn't have the benifit of it before I started working on my computer again. But to answer your last question yeah I have been having a few problems lately. The main ones I can think of are:

*Sound sometimes gets stuck looping continuously (like a broken record) during games, sometimes the whole computer locks up as well, can only fix with a restart.
*Sometimes in the middle of a game my mouse and keyboard will stop working, can only fix with a restart.
*About a month or so ago occasionally whilst doing any random task my monitor would blank out and not respond to keyboard or mouse, could only fix with a restart.

lunarwulf

Crap... That's pretty much what happened to my other computer, too. Unfortunately I don't know how to do any of that, so in another paycheck, it's off to the techies I go. F**K me running.

I couldn't get it to boot or anything, couldn't access advanced startup options, nothing.

God I hate spending money.

DrFrylock

Weird stuff. It could be the CPU; I'm not sure how a dustball would cause the problem but stranger things have happened. Did you physically disconnect the CPU from the heatsink, and then reconnect them? It could have been that they somehow got separated and your problems are a result of CPU overheating because the heat wouldn't transfer well to the heatsink.

It could have also been reseating the CPU that did it.

If you did separate the two, there was probably a thin layer of thermal grease between the two to facilitate heat conduction. It might be worth cleaning and reapplying some.

stigweard

You did apply fresh thermal paste, right? You could be risking things a bit by just using what was on it before.

FishMist

heh heh, you guys are going to yell at me, but when I put this computer together over 3 years ago I didn't use any thermal paste. I've since learned that's a bad thing but until now I've been getting away without any catastrophic failures so I haven't been too worried. However I think it may be best to get some soon and slap it on.

fightinfilipino

FishMist wrote:

heh heh, you guys are going to yell at me, but when I put this computer together over 3 years ago I didn't use any thermal paste. I've since learned that's a bad thing but until now I've been getting away without any catastrophic failures so I haven't been too worried. However I think it may be best to get some soon and slap it on.

i...you what!?

damned right we're going to yell at you! thermal paste/grease helps with the transfer of heat from the CPU core to the heatsink. without anything there, the interface between the heatsink and the CPU is horribly inefficient due to microscopic gaps in the surface of the heatsink and the air in those spaces. your CPU was overheating. i'm surprised your system was booting at all before.

buy some Arctic Silver 5 or 6 and apply some to your CPU and heatsink. follow the instructions from Arctic Silver's website to apply the grease (in short, you only need a thin layer). good lord man, do this now before you boot this system up again!

and while you're at it, pick up an Enermax or Antec PSU that'll support your system!