-=PCTechTalk=- Re: puzzling problem
- From: "Jo Ann Weaver" <bookworm54@xxxxxxx>
- To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2008 20:09:44 -0400
GMan,
The switch on the power supply was the first thing I thought of. Had him to
check it, then checked it myself as
soon as I got it back. I made one mistake and I hope it wasn't a bad one.
Sometime after I talked to him by
phone and told him to check the switch and whichever way it was to flip it
the other way and try it, I remembered
the red switch under it that sets for 110 or 220 AC. When I got it back it
was set for 220. If he set for 220 and plugged it into his 110
outlet, would it have harmed it? Of course I set it back before I plugged it
in.
Ok, I reset the ATX plug, reseated the RAM and disconnectd and or removed
all cards. Fired it up, and hear nothing but the fans.
Had my hubby to listen for beeps and he didn't hear any either. Is there
anything else to try before I deduce the mainboard is
dead?
What makes me feel bad is, it was working ( albeit not too greatly ) when I
got it. Makes it look like I killed it. I
know it was working good when, I sent it back to them, but I don't know if
they believe it.
Jo Ann
> Jo Ann,
> After a full reinstall, you can be pretty certain it's not the
> software.
> Not entirely certain, but pretty sure. If it never came on for them, then
> there a decent chance that something happened during its travels. The
> simplest of things are the first things to check. It could be that the
> switch on the back of the power supply was thrown the wrong way. You've
> already replaced that, so that's not it. Inside the case, a memory module
> may have popped out of its slot. It could even be caused by them plugging
> it into a wall socket that isn't supplying any power because the breaker
> had
> tripped. On the other hand, this could be as serious as a mainboard
> failure.
>
> With the case open, locate and carefully reseat the main power source
> to
> the mainboard. It's the 20 or more prong connector that attaches
> somewhere
> relatively close to the CPU. Since you are getting power to the extras
> (hard drive, optical drive, floppy, fans, etc.), this is the most likely
> place for a mainboard problem like this. Next, scan the rest of the
> mainboard to make sure there isn't one of those 4 pin ports that requires
> an
> additional 4 prong power supply line from the PS. Most modern boards
> require this extra power. If it needs one and doesn't have one, this will
> also cause this problem. You may find that the PS you used to replace the
> original doesn't have the cable. If that's the case, reinstall the
> original. Finally, turn on the system to see if the problem is gone.
>
> If all is good with the PS to the mainboard but it still doesn't work,
> disconnect everything except for the bare necessities (power supply,
> mainboard, CPU, RAM) and fire it up. If you don't hear any beeps, the
> mainboard may have seen its final days. If the board beeps (the pattern
> doesn't matter), turn it off again by holding in the power button for 4
> seconds. So far so good. Hook up the hard drive & monitor and fire it up
> again. Can you hear the drive spin up? If not, the drive is probably
> bad.
> Install it into another system as a Slave and see if the OS can see any of
> it in Windows Explorer or My Computer to test it. If it does spin up, do
> you get anything on the monitor? If not, the video card or its port are
> suspect. If you can see it POST on the monitor, so far, so good again.
> Connect the optical &/or floppy drives and test it again. you may find
> that
> after running through these tests, it goes completely together and works
> just fine. That will indicate that something wasn't kosher in the
> original
> plugging in of the various devices. Many floppy drives have ports where
> you
> can easily plug in the cable backwards (no key notch to guide you). If
> the
> cable is in wrong, the drive LED will stay lit up constantly, but the
> drive
> itself will not function.
>
> Peace,
> G
>
> http://tinyurl.com/ypbuue
>
> "The only dumb questions are the ones we fail to ask!"
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jo Ann Weaver" <bookworm54@xxxxxxx>
> To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2008 5:56 PM
> Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- puzzling problem
>
>
>> This computer I'm working on has me bamboozled. Here's the story. Custom
>> built box, running XP Pro, 2 gig Intel CPU,
>> single stick of RAM 512 MB. It was brought to me because it was slow and
>> they kept getting
>> kicked off the internet on their dial-up connection. Had recently got
>> broadband, but couldn't get it to install the software.
>> It had no active virus software. I installed AVG and Spybot S&D . Found a
>> few things and they deleted them, then started
>> having Windows errors. Talked to the owners, Formatted and re-installed
>> XP. Got everything working, installed AVG for them,
>> tested it a while and sent it home, working fine. They said it wouldn't
>> come on or do anything. Got it back, nothing worked,
>> no fans, no lights, nothing. Checked all connections, nothing. Changed
>> power supply. Now all fans work, hard drive light and
>> light on CD drive light up red and that's it. Getting nothing on the
>> monitor. Any ideas?
>> Jo Ann
>
>
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