Diagnose my dead PC?

Euphoriac

So my PC died last week.

It died after one of my many random crashes I'd been experiencing these last few weeks.

Up until right now, I assumed it was because of the PSU (fairly old) and bought a new one.

This hasn't solved the problem.

Here's what I get when I turn it on; The hard-drive indicator light stays on, but nothing else happens. Power is obviously on, but the monitor is unresponsive. No BIOS noises etc.

So I assume the problem is now/was the CPU or Hard-drive?

curly haired boy

probably hard drive. i had one go a while ago, fortunately it was part of a RAID 1 array.

still, check your cables, etc.

GnomeTank

It's either your motherboard or your video card. Your system isn't posting, which means it's never turning video on. This is either because your motherboard, or your video card, has decided to shit itself.

e: A bad HDD will not cause these symptoms. A bad HDD will either not report itself at all to the BIOS (this happens well beyond post), or will cause other, more insidious, errors, like bad data on the HDD. Usually if you have S.M.A.R.T. enabled, a bad HDD will also cause warnings at boot up time. It will, on the other hand, not cause the symptoms Euphoriac is describing.

Roland_tHTG

Try connecting to onboard video if you have one to rule out the video card part, and if nothing changes connect your monitor to another pc to rule that out.

Iconoclysm

If you do have onboard video to test with, you're probably going to need to reset your BIOS settings to default in order to re-enable it after you've removed your current vid card, so remove that little flat battery from your motherboard. Sometimes boards have a 'reset cmos' jumper that accomplishes the same thing too, so check the boards manual(probably available online if, like me, you've lost the orginal paper copy)

Euphoriac

I've been using an older PC since the other went boom, using the same monitor so I know that's not the issue.

I just tried using its original graphics card from that other PC and still no change. Whatever it is, it's way beyond my ability and budget to solve right now...

Mugsley

Check for loose RAM sticks. If you can get to that point, check that all the necessary fans are spinning when you power up.


My guess is it's likely your processor, however depending on your motherboard, you may be able to get a replacement proc for fairly cheap (let us know its model no.).


Can you access your hard drive when you pop it into the older computer? Since you have another working setup, you can swap parts out piecemeal until you get close to making a diagnosis. It sucks, but that's sort of what you've got to do. I had an old computer with an Abit IS7 board that would randomly shutdown/restart. I began slowly upgrading/changing out parts until it turned out the board was crap. It just took me forever and I had basically built a new computer by the end.

If you want ideas for a new build and you have a budget, let us know.

Euphoriac

Ok thanks for the advice guys, I really appreciate it.

I checked the RAM, but that's not it either.

I'll check the HDD idea tomorrow when I get home from work. If it works I'll report back.

If not, then it's most likely the processor/motherboard, and I can't find replacements for them at all, and I've looked. Alot.

In that case, I'll be back here or in the main build thread asking for advice on a new PC. I'd probably have to take a loan out, but I can afford that at least.

Lykouragh

It's either the processor or motherboard. With a bad HDD it would still post, with a bad PSU you wouldn't get the ready lights, RAM problems you would get at least beeping out of it.

You might turn it on with the case open and see if the system fan spins or not, but either way it's probably going to be an expensive fix. I guess "processor" is my vote, but it's pretty hard to tell between processor or motherboard failure without opening it up and swapping components.

Euphoriac

Actually, I forgot to mention that yes, all the fans are running, so definitely motherboard/cpu.

Shit.

EDIT: And the only cpu I found which vaguely looks like it'd fit is £50. And if it's the motherboard, I'd have wasted the money.

Meh, I was making plans to buy a new PC, might as well move them forward.

Roland_tHTG

if you were planning on upgrading anyway it's likely not worth your time and trouble but I'd be willing to bet you a great heaping pile of cash that you could find a cheap replacement used pc and/or mobo if you hit up some of the popular computer enthusiast forums that have buy/sell/trade sections.

Edit: Just noticed you quoted a price in that weird not dollars currency so I'd only be willing to bet a modest pile of cash.

Mugsley

What make/model board do you have?

Euphoriac

It's a Microstar motherboard, can't remember the model number but as an example of how old it all is, it only had AGP slots...

I'm still considering a cheap for-internet-mostly PC, but only if the loan doesn't work out (might as well try to work on my as-yet non-existent credit rating anyway). I'll be [strike]begging[/strike] asking for the loan on Saturday, so wish me luck!

Ryokaze

All motherboards will beep at you in various patterns if something other than the motherboard is preventing it from hitting POST. Do you have your speaker properly plugged in to the motherboard? It's usually a red/black cable that leads from your case to the board, it'll plug into a set of pins where your power/reset/HDD cables lead to, it should be four pins wide.

If you make sure that it's plugged in right, then try to boot, and you still get no beeps, you should then rip out your RAM, and try booting again, you will most definitely get a beep code. If you still don't get a beep code, it's pretty safe to assume that your motherboard is fail.

Euphoriac

Ok I just checked and all those cables are connected. I'd try the rip-out-RAM idea now, but like yesterday it's too late by now. I'll try it first thing when I get back from work tomorrow.

Thanks for the idea, hope it works.

Torque Monkey

If you haven't already, try the simplest approach; remove all additional components(or unhook them, in the case of HDD/DVD-rom, etc) and try to power it. Pop your CMOS battery and let it sit for ~20 minutes. Remove memory except for 1DIMM(or all, as above poster mentioned, to see if you get an error code), remove video card if you have onboard video, etc.

If you have onboard video, leave 1 DIMM in and remove everything else, try another DIMM and if you have the same result chances are good your board is hosed. Chances your CPU is shot if there isn't a fantastic amount of uncleaned dust sitting in your HSF is minimal, and it really sounds like a motherboard issue to begin with here.

nexuscrawler

I have had plenty of instances where a dead PSU still lights up the mobo light

Try a different one from your other comp for a test.

Ryokaze

This handy page may help

It describes the specific beeps you should hear and what kind of situations you would hear them in. The basic gist of it is that you'll get a beep code for everything (including missing/bad CPU) except a bad motherboard or bad power supply.

Euphoriac

Ok so the RAM isn't the problem. Took them out, still no beeps. Put one in, still no beeps.

Having tried all the other suggestions, and still no beeps I think it's safe to assume it's the motherboard/cpu.

Since we've pretty much now diagnosed the problem, I pronounce the PC dead. Time of death was 21:00 Wednesday 31st. Please inform the loved ones.

It led a long fruitful life, where it played many games and witnessed many nerd-rages. It shall be missed, but in these times of loss and grief it's always important to remember that he wouldn't want us to wallow in misery. He would want us to forge on, and get a replacement, for such is life, the cycle must complete.

Thanks for the help guys you've been a great help. At this point, the PC is just too old to warrant buying a replacement motherboard, as everything else is just as dated (7600GS graphics card, 2GB DDR1 RAM etc etc) so I may as well buy a whole new tower.

I'll look around just as soon as I get the money.