Motherboard short/wha?

  • Thread starter Thread starter chrisF
  • Start date Start date
C

chrisF

Hi,
I've been reading about board short circuits and a few other reasons my
power supply will not start.
The scenario: I moved my PC to another room. that morning it was on.
That evening after the move, it wouldn't "post" (?)No fan, absolutely
nothing.
The PC was given to me and worked great up until I (carefully) moved
it.
I havn't tried taking the MB out yet and before I do (I'm not sure I
know how) I wanted to ask anyone if they knew any signs of me possibly
frying it? Like power spikes or anything of the like? Are there any
signsthat I could see of a fried MB?
This isn't a built PC so I don't know what could be causing it. At
least, one would think that the MB would not be shorting?

Any help would be great

Regards

Chris
 
sorry, I may note that I checked the power SW, and the soundbalster
audigy as well. Not that it was causing any problems before.

Just to note.
 
chrisF said:
Hi,
I've been reading about board short circuits and a few other reasons my
power supply will not start.
The scenario: I moved my PC to another room. that morning it was on.
That evening after the move, it wouldn't "post" (?)No fan, absolutely
nothing.
The PC was given to me and worked great up until I (carefully) moved
it.
I havn't tried taking the MB out yet and before I do (I'm not sure I
know how) I wanted to ask anyone if they knew any signs of me possibly
frying it? Like power spikes or anything of the like? Are there any
signsthat I could see of a fried MB?
This isn't a built PC so I don't know what could be causing it. At
least, one would think that the MB would not be shorting?

Any help would be great
Click to expand...

Start with the obvious. Check to see if the power supply is powering up
(look at or listen for the fans). Next, check all the power cable
connections to the mobo. Also, is there a funny smell coming off the mobo?
Like something has fried? That's always a sure sign of problems. Check to
make sure the processor is firmly seated in it's socket and that the heat
sink it well attached. It only takes about 30 secs for a processor to fry
itself to death without a heat sink. Make sure the RAM is properly installed
and still seated in their sockets as well. Check all the PCI cards you have
installed, making sure they haven't wiggled loose from the move. Check to
make sure the mobo isn't 'sagging' and making contact with the sides of the
case. That can cause all kinds of trouble.

If there's nothing obvious remove everything except the essentials, power
supply, CPU and RAM. You can even disconnect the hard drives and any
floppies. See if the unit will power up. If it makes it past this point,
carefully add one item at a time until you find the suspect component.

If you can't get it to power up with CPU and RAM try and determine if the
Power Supply is coming on. If not, replace it and try again. If the PS comes
on but the unit doesn't boot to the BIOS then try replacing the RAM or the
CPU. My guess would be CPU before RAM but you never know. You can try with
one stick of RAM if you have more than one.

Good luck
TC
 
Just ttake the cover off and have a good look around.
If you have never tinkered with the internals of a PC before, then I would:
1. google "anti static" (without the quotes) and have a good read on anti
static procedures & what kind of damage you can cause if you are liberal
touching things internally without taking precautions. Do not wear
synthetics (jeans an cotton T shirt are fine). Avoid doing this work on a
synthetic carpet. Get an anti static wrist strap if you can.

2. Get all the manuals that came with the PC - particularly the motherboard
manual and while having a look inside identify the major components & leanr
their names.
3. Look for things that are obviously wrong (I have seen all of these):
- missing motherbaord screws,
- lose motherboard,
- missing PCI card screws,
- AGP and PCI cards that are not seated properly,
- plugs that do not look seated into their sockets correctly,
- crapp in the bottom of the case (and elsewhere) incuding screws and
washers, insects, paper clips & rubbish.
- check the CPU cooler fan is clear of fluff & crap. Use a straw (without
any spit) to blow out any fluff that may be their - if it is minor.
- check the CPU cooler has not come adrift - give it a gentle wiggle - this
can cause systems to either burn up or shut down in around 4 seconds.

Do *NOT* vacuum clean the inside of the case under any circumstances -
vacuum cleaners spit static and will likely kill your computer.

The procedure would be to Have a good Look then Reseat every suspect
component. To reset a PCI card, unscrew it, pull it out and put it back in
paying attention to the correct insertion of the card - do an eyeball check
of how well each card is inserted before pulling out. PCI cards should come
out easily and go back in easily. Give yourself plenty of room, and only
touch the edges of cards, not the surface nor the edge connector, nor the
pins that come out of IC's...

If the CPU heatsink is well and truly gummed up, consider removing it,
cleaning it thoroughly, removing the olde thermal compound, applying new and
remounting the heatsink - again note its orientation and clearances etc
before you start.

You sound a tad shy on doing this, so having good look first and posting
back can't hurt.

- Tim
 
Thanks or getting back to me with all the great suggestions. I am a
little shy of ripping this thing apart only because it was together
when I got it. I have always said I wanted to build my own PC and
learn...here's my chance.
again, I appreciate it. I'm at work at the moment and tonight when I
get home I'm going to strip it down. I tried the screwdriver thing,
but , either I did it wrong or it truly is dead.
I will fill you in on my progress as I larn what is happening.
 
It sounds like either the power supply unit or the motherboard has failed.
The easiest diagnostic to run first is to install a known working PSU of
adequate output power and see if that fixes it.
 
Well, I've got it going! I really do appreciate the input. I don't
think I would have had the guff to take things apart and try without a
little help from you guys.
I went and borrowed a power supply from a friend. Which happend to
work.
silly eh? Sometimes the simplest of things make it.
Damn, I really do thank you for the feedback. I learned more about
hardware this way ... and as a result of this I am going to buy every
component to make my own from scratch! Or pretty close.

cheers!
 
Well, I've got it going! I really do appreciate the input. I don't
think I would have had the guff to take things apart and try without a
little help from you guys.
I went and borrowed a power supply from a friend. Which happend to
work.
silly eh? Sometimes the simplest of things make it.
Damn, I really do thank you for the feedback. I learned more about
hardware this way ... and as a result of this I am going to buy every
component to make my own from scratch! Or pretty close.
Click to expand...

It's odd that a power supply would fail at the specific time you move the computer, but
the same thing happened with my grand daughter's computer. Swapped out the PS and had her
back up and running in about 15 minutes.

Note: before you trash the PS, open it up and check the fuse.



--

Packrat©

Est.1943

Need Help?????
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http://www.timdoc.com/
http://www.warezfaq.com/Index.htm
 
It's odd that a power supply would fail at the specific time you move the computer
Click to expand...
Yes, extremely coincidental, indeed. I presume that ChrisF reseated
the motherboard power connector very carefully before swapping the
PSU.
, but
the same thing happened with my grand daughter's computer. Swapped out the PS and had her
back up and running in about 15 minutes.

Note: before you trash the PS, open it up and check the fuse.
Click to expand...

Ron
 
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