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Computer fixing thread!
contraband
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
My friend's computer has died. He said he was playing a game on it, and the screen apparently became strange looking and then froze so stubbornly it couldn't be turned off with the power button (?), so as a last resort he flipped switch on the back of the PSU. That worked, but now the computer won't turn on normally. The fan on the video card (only) and and the running light on the motherboard kick on, but the power LED on the front does not, and the screen gets no video signal. His speakers, which get power via USB, come on. What could be the case? I offered to help but I don't really know where to go from here.
contraband on
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Does the computer post? I.E. you hear all the normal sounds that you hear when it turns on? You hear the *click whirrr* of the hard drive?
On the back of the computer you might have an on-board video plug-in. Try switching the the monitor plug to the on-board plug and see if you get a picture.
If you get a picture, it's obviously the video card that has died. This could be caused by a heat-sink failure on the card, causing it to overheat and eventually die.
Let us know if you're getting picture with the on-board video. If it has been on-board video that was being used than you're probably looking at a mobo failure.
Okay, it's probably a memory issue of some sort then. If you have means to try the on-board video or have a second video card on hand, thats probably a good place to start testing. Otherwise remove all the RAM from the machine, pop one back in, and try to power it on with one stick. If that doesn't work, switch it for the next, and so on.