My computer died need help!

R

Randominal

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 14, 2007
Messages
239
Well after trying to transplant my old dell dimension into a new case i found my computer stopped working. Now when i try to switch on the computer the power and HDD LEDs switch on and the power LED on the mother board also switches on however nothing else does and the motherboard does not even post i have looked at the diagnosis LEDs at the back panel and the manual says that this means a pre bios error has occured. I am not sure which component is causing the problem however as it may be the PSU, the mobo or even perhaps the CPU (i very much doubt this is the problem - but its still possible).

During the moving of components from one case to the other i did drop the psu and now it seems to make a bit more noise than it used to. However like i said the power LEDs come on so i am not sure whether it is in fact broken. Also i am pretty much sure all the power cables are plugged in correctly.

so how which do you think is causing the roblem and does it need to be replaced?
 
I have no idea of your level of experience so please dont be insulted by some of the questions that seem simple. I am trying to think of all the "gotcha's" that could happen.

Did the new case come with small motherboard standoffs or did it have "bumps" in the metal on which to mount the motherboard ?

I am concerned that there may be a short if the new case used bumps. If so remove the motherboard and place it on a piece of wood or cardboard and see if it will power up. Screws holding the motherboard should be snug but not overly tight and you should look to make sure no screwhead is outside of the little ground circle made into the board where the screws go. If a screwhead is touching a motherboard trace it could cause an issue. Unscrewing the motherboard, removing all mounting screws and then slipping a piece of cardboard under the entire board as mentioned above, and testing it will tell if there is a motherboard to case/screw short.

Are you certain your memory is seated firmly in the sockets ?

Are the plug in cards seated evenly ?

Look along the bottom of the video card (if equipped) where it plugs into the motherboard and see if it is seated evenly and completely by looking at how much of the "gold fingers" are visible along the connector. It should be fairly evenly inserted with the same amount of insertion depth along the entire length of the connector. If one end seems higher or lower than the other, loosen the screw holding the bracket to the case and reseat the card and leave the screw loose until we can get the board going. Inexpensive cases will cause the card to not seat well.

Do/check all plug in cards like the video card above or remove the extra cards (sound card, modem card etc) that are not absolutely required to power up the machine.

If the fans are turning freely, please check this, the power supply probally is not damaged, but we will reserve judgement till we check the above.

When you swaped over the motherboard did you remove the memory and cpu from the board or just unscrew the motherboard and move the entire assembly over as a whole unit ?

Remove the reset and power switch wiring from the front panel to the motherboard. After placing the cardboard under the motherboard, and checking everything you can think of, leave all drives unplugged and using a small screwdriver or other metal tool, short the "PWR" pins by touching both at the same time with the tool for just a second to signal the board to power up. There is no chance of shock here. All the power switch on the front panel does is to short those two pins, there are not any high voltages present on the "PWR" pins, no worries. But make sure you have the correct pins. If it powers up good, but either way then put the wires back.
 
OK still no improvements just the same thing happening as before, here is what i did:

First i unscrewed the mobo from the case and due to the annoying way the heatsink is mounted (socket 478 mobo) it has to be removed aswell in order to take out the mobo. Due to the thermal paste when taking off the heatsink the cpu comes out aswell. When i took it off this time i noticed that a few of the pins on the cpu were bent and i also noticed the dents in the plastic cpu socket where the bent pins had been. I therefr with a very thin knife carefully bent the pins back so that they were aligned properly again. I then took the heatsink off the cpu so i could put the cpu in carefully without the heatsink and mounting mechanism interfering. i then removed all the thermal paste and applied some new paste. and reseated the heatsink. (tbh i also drilled a couple of holes in the case so now i dont have to take off the heatsink when i take out the mobo)

I then put the mobo on cardboard and wired it all up and switched it on - again same as before so i do not think it is the mobo being grounded which is the issue. also the fans seem to spin freely so as you say not a psu problem.

At the moment i have just taken the cpu and heatsink out again and rechecked the pins. now none of them are bent except for one which is bent in a way hard to make it completely straight again - although i think it should still be making cotact with the socket.

also finally the one pci gfx card is correctly seated
 
OUCH, that bent cpu pin has to be fixed, somehow it needs to get down inside the hole in the socket to make contact. If it breaks you are pretty much screwed although sometimes you can put a strand of wire in the hole and hope it makes contact if the pin does break off.
 
I wouldn't bother trying to fix it. You could probably get the same processor very cheaply and save yourself a lot of headache.
SoulMan901
 
ok thanks for all the help do far and i just wanted to know whilst i try to fix that pin is it possible to damge the chip in any way with statis or whatnot if i directly handle the pins. so far i have been avoiding touching them and only manipulating them with a knife. also if it does break is t possible to solder a piece of wire or would the soldering harm the cpu

also because of the pins being bent the first time a couple of the plastic holes have been a bit deformed i have tried to use the knife to keep the holes nice and open so it will make contact. If this fails however is there a possibility of simply being able to replace the plastic socket or will a whole new mobo have to be bought

ok dont worry bout the last part as i figured out that pushing a needle into the pin holes cleared up the problem
 
dell computers are different. some dell computers have certain grounds, meaning their mobo attaches or is groundded to particular area in the case. so moving it to a new comoputer sometimes would not work.
fix the bent cpu pin.
nevermind about the palstic, it's just plastic, all it does is guide the cpu pin to its socket.
put back all components to the old dimension case.
and boot from there.
 
Thanks for the help guys (escpecially from BillParrish ;))
i managed to fix the bent pin and now its all up and running in the new case:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top