dead computer...help needed

[{EB}NuTSymPToM{EB}]

ok...so ive had this computer for almost a year, and its been flawless, never had a single problem....until last night

i was playing ground control 2 and it just shut off....circuit didnt go cuz speakers, monitor and other assorted crap was all still on

when i flick the power off on my psu in the back, then flip it back on, then press the power button, the fan leds turn on and they give a little kick, then everything goes off and sits still

my assumption is that the power supply shit itself and ill need a new one...my reasoning is that its a 350watt, generic psu that came w/ my case, and my computer gets relatively hot and is relatively dusty

my only concern is that i still get a kick and lights on with it connected, which makes me scared that the psu is fine and my a7n8x deluxe mobo may have died

im going out to buy a new psu tonight and ill try that, im just looking for opinions as to whether it could be, or is the motherboard, if its the ram or cpu or watever....id like to know wat u all think, becuz this i the group i trust

 

[Major_A]

It sounds like the PS, but it could be the motherboard. I had a system go out like that and it turned out to be the board. Simple was to just check to see if it's the board is open the case and look at the capacitors. On the one I had go out all the capacitors were swollen and busted. Hope this helps.

 

[Ignad]

(Im on cold medicine so hopefully Im not skipping anything here!)

General No-boot testing....

1. Open the case up, clean out the dust bunnes out of everywhere. Look for anyting obvious (like the capacitors mentioned above) or burnt traces and smell to see if you can smell anything toasty.

2. Check for loose power connections... things can vibrate loose. Check your HSF to make sure it didnt come loose from the cpu! Remove and re-seat cables and connections to be sure you've got good connections. Make sure pci and especially AGP cards are straight in thier slots in every direction, even a little off can make the contacts short out in the socket. Ive seen re-seating an AGP card revive more than one "dead" computer.

3. ANY part may have died to the point where the motherboard is deciding to not power up because its protecting itself: Diagnose: Start pulling out non-essential parts, one at a time and see if it'll boot (e.g. floppy, modem, cd-rom, nic, sound card). Note that if its a borderline power supply, taking parts out might allow it to boot, so dont automatically blame your hard drive if pulling it makes your motherboard spring to life.

4 If you get all the way down to the core of the system (motherboard, ram, cpu, hsf, and power supply) and its still wont boot then start trading parts till you find the bad one. Pull out ram sticks one at a time and stir em around. Swap in a new power supply. Take off the HSF and examine the core for damage or general toastedness (in the case of Athlon XP or other unprotected core cpus). Make sure you didnt leave extra standoffs in the case that have shorted against the back of the motherboard.


Um I think thats it. If I f'd up somewhere due to the Benadryl, hopefully someone will jump in and correct me.

 

[Carnival Forces]

i think it's your PSU.

also, shame on you for the Dust. You shouldn't let that happen to your case. that's cruelty to hardware

 

[{EB}NuTSymPToM{EB}]

yea its the psu....i tried jumping it w/ the green/black wires and got nothing so i swapped out the 350 generic for a 400 watt antec from best buy....all is well...thanks for the help

 

[wayne]

i guessed psu too

let us know how your system runs after the swap

you shouldnt have bought it at best buy, its a ripoff... you could get better and cheaper ones at newegg