totally dead pc - whats blown up?

[guydewdney]

my MEGA has gone POP.. I think..

symptoms:-

running v v v v slow - HDD making interesting searching noises. thought HDD was on its way out.

removed HDD and ran tests on it - inc hitachis own. nothing wrong with it. works fine in other PC (ok - not running the OS in the other machine - mounted as primary slave). no searching noises (bzzzzt........bzzzzt.... in 5 - 8 second intervals when in the mega machine).

re-loaded win 2K and re-service packed it.

no change.

removed HDD again, and checked with more s/w that ive used before. no errors worth talking about ( a couple of 'orphaned files' were found and fixed)

plugged hdd back in.... plugged power back in. nothing. well - the led for the power button comes on. no fans spin. power button does nothing. PC is supposed to play cds with pc off - cd drawer doesnt open, let alone play a cd.

i must be getting power - as the LED comes on. a generic fan plugged into the power lines spins. so power supply is (sort of) working.

unplugged and re plugged hdd, power cable, main processor fan, memory. thumped it.

nothing.

so - how do i work out if its mobo, processor, or power supply? The plug for the power supply is different to my other PCs (being micro ATX) - so i cant do a swap test....


help

 

[splang]

can you try a different HD - perhaps one from your other pc(s) which will have an operating system on it?

Just a guess?

 

[guydewdney]

i dont think its the hdd - as it doesnt even try to boot - the system will boot the bios first, then boot the OS...

 

[NormanB]

..could it be the wee battery on the motherboard?

 

[guydewdney]

ok - but why would that stop it booting? it might lose its bios settings - and i find that unlikely as its connected to a UPS, thus being charged constantly...


my question is - is there any way of working out if its the processor or mobo thats died, without doing a swap test?

Thanks for the thoughts anyway.

Guy

 

[Nightrider]

That sounds very much like a cable (IDE / ATA) from the HDD or CD/DVD player to the motherboard may have come loose. These multi-threat cables are only "pressed" into the plugs and I have seen some of these plastic pieces falling apart, a cable worth 95p ....what to expect.
Check they sit tidy and !!!!!! the press the plug on the cable into the socket....
If that does not help, an old trick was always to remove all cards etc from the motherboard and see if it starts up....add card by card and see what happens...also...is there dust on the card sockets?
Good luck

 

[guydewdney]

weirdly i took it round to my GFs house to play with it whilst shes at school (well - college - mature student) - and it fired up ok.... a couple of re-boots later and its running sweet.

must have been a loose cable.

there are no cards in the mobo its all on board.