Possible Motherboard Problem?

[n_laplaca]

I'm trying to diagnose a friends computer. His machine has been behaving
erratic and now no longer boots. It started a few days ago when his computer
would not boot up. When I went to investigate it started up no problem. What
he told me was that he would turn the computer on and it seemed like it
would start up then immediately shut off after 2-3 seconds. After I looked
at it, it was fine for a couple days. Now the problem is back except now
when you turn the power on you get nothing.

I opened the case to have a look and it smelled like possible something may
have burned up. My thought was that it was most likely the power supply. So
we got a new power supply to replace the one he had. There was a 250 watt
that the computer came with and I replaced it with a 350 watt. This machine
has an AMD 2200, 512 mb DDR 1 HD and 2 optical drives. I thought 250 watts
was a bit low. Anyway after installing the new power supply and turning the
power on the computer's fans all run including the heatsink fan but the
computer will not boot. The motherboard doesn't even post. So at this point
I am thinking that in addition to the power supply being faulty maybe the
motherboard has had it as well. The light on the board does light with the new supply where it did not with the old one. So I am sure the old ps was faulty. Another strange thing is that the new power
supply fan doesn't run either. It is an antec true power so it is a quality
supply.

I have built my share of computers but the only hardware problems I have
ever had were 2 graphics cards and a hard drive. I have never had a
motherboard or power supply fail. Is it possible that a failed power supply
could take the motherboard along with it? I am not sure what make board it
is. It is an e-machine that he got from best buy. The warranty has expired
and he most likely will get a new one. Just thought I would post here first
to see if anyone had any other ideas?

Nick

 

[GGtW]

Yeah sounds like the motherboard has blown...
I've had problems where a power supply would blow and motherboard would mess up as well..
I dont think the light on the motherboard can always reassure whether the board is working or not, had a few few blown out ones that the light still stays on.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[Standpoint]

It is difficult to tell whether the mobo went out w/ the power supply, or whether it took out something else with it. The only way would be parts swapping. I would look into a new mobo, but be aware that other parts could now be bad, too. I would also be concerned about why the new power supplys fan is not spinning as that would lead to damage of the supply.