Is it dead
sprouts-car - 21/3/12 at 08:52 PM
Evening all,
My desktop PC has stopped working.
The symptoms are:
As soon at it has power the fans start going (all three, psu. cpu and case)
The usb based lights (ie mouse laser and keyboard indicator) lights flash once.
Nothing else happens. monitor never leaves standby.
the cd drive wont open
the power and reset buttons don't do anything even if held for 10 seconds.
the only thing i can then do it turn is off on the psu.
So what do you think the problem is?
PSU not giving power to the motherboard?
CPU totally dead?
what else can I try?
Really dont need to be spending lots on a new pc right now 
mb is foxconn 945p7aa if that help anyone?
mookaloid - 21/3/12 at 09:05 PM
unplug all your USB items except KB and Mouse and try it. Sometimes the USB power draw is too much to get it to fire up.
If that does it then upgrade your psu
If that doesn't do it then I would still suspect the PSU - they don't cost much so worth a try.
D Beddows - 21/3/12 at 09:13 PM
That's happened to me - in my case the motherboard had failed somewhere to do with the graphics card and it refused to do anything apart from
turn the fans on and flash a few led's until I fixed it. If you have a graphics card as opposed to integrated graphics it might be worth trying a
known good one. If it is the card they're hardly expensive (unless you're a gaming type obviously)
[Edited on 21/3/12 by D Beddows]
vanepico - 21/3/12 at 09:18 PM
hmm I wouldn't have thought the psu would have much to do with it. If the fans come on, disconnecting the mouse and keyboard, which are very low
current devices, would make little to no difference. If it worked before I doubt it would all of a sudden stop being able to supply the required
current.
What I would recommend is earth yourself to a radiator or something then reseat all the plugs between the PSU and motherboard and drives.
Did it make any noticable bang or magic smoke escape from anywhere?
I would guess, from what you said, the processor/motherboard might be done for.
sprouts-car - 21/3/12 at 09:19 PM
quote:
Originally posted by mookaloid
unplug all your USB items except KB and Mouse and try it. Sometimes the USB power draw is too much to get it to fire up.
If that does it then upgrade your psu
If that doesn't do it then I would still suspect the PSU - they don't cost much so worth a try.
I unplugged the mouse and keyboard which were the only two usb things anyway. I also unplugged the fans to further reduced power demand. No change.
quote:
Originally posted by D Beddows
That's happened to me - in my case the motherboard had failed somewhere to do with the graphics card. If you have a graphics card as opposed to
integrated graphics it might be worth trying a known good one. If it is the card they're hardly expensive (unless you're a gaming type
obviously)
That would explain the lack of picture but what about other thinks not working, ie power buttons and cd drive.
Unless the mb just gives up at some point. I'll see if I can borrow another one.
Thanks for the suggestions guys.
vanepico - 21/3/12 at 09:21 PM
Also I'm pretty sure CD drives should open even if they are not connected via IDE to the motherboard, just powered up.
sprouts-car - 21/3/12 at 09:25 PM
quote:
Originally posted by vanepico
hmm I wouldn't have thought the psu would have much to do with it. If the fans come on, disconnecting the mouse and keyboard, which are very low
current devices, would make little to no difference. If it worked before I doubt it would all of a sudden stop being able to supply the required
current.
What I would recommend is earth yourself to a radiator or something then reseat all the plugs between the PSU and motherboard and drives.
Did it make any noticable bang or magic smoke escape from anywhere?
I would guess, from what you said, the processor/motherboard might be done for.
No bang or magic smoke. I did turn it off at the wall last night which I don't normally do (after a proper shutdown of course).
The system has been unchanged from new (about 5 years ago now) except that I put more ram in about 3months ago, but that went well and its been fine
since, could that have done it?
I'll give the reseating connectors a go as i don't think i have anything else to loose at this point.
sprouts-car - 21/3/12 at 09:28 PM
quote:
Originally posted by vanepico
Also I'm pretty sure CD drives should open even if they are not connected via IDE to the motherboard, just powered up.
If I disconnect the IDE then it will open and close. But with that connected I cant.
Very odd
vanepico - 21/3/12 at 09:33 PM
Ah, that probably means that the motherboard is reading from it, or attempting to read from it, as if it were trying to boot from a disc. What kind of
connector is being used to connect the screen? If it is DVI or HDMI try using VGA. I think the fact that the cd drive will only open when it is
disconnected means the motherboard is partially working.
sprouts-car - 21/3/12 at 09:35 PM
Its vga.
The other difference, was that until yesterday i had a dvd in there!!!
I need to find that dvd a put it back in!!
watch this space.............
sprouts-car - 21/3/12 at 09:39 PM
quote:
Originally posted by sprouts-car
Its vga.
The other difference, was that until yesterday i had a dvd in there!!!
I need to find that dvd a put it back in!!
watch this space.............
no
vanepico - 21/3/12 at 09:46 PM
Is the graphics card an external one? I.e is the card with the VGA mounted into one of the PCI slots? If so try reseating it.
sprouts-car - 21/3/12 at 10:10 PM
quote:
Originally posted by vanepico
Is the graphics card an external one? I.e is the card with the VGA mounted into one of the PCI slots? If so try reseating it.
yes its external. I removed it and tried starting. Still the same issues with the cd drive and the power buttons.
Re inserted and all same.
I think it must be the mb or processor now
pmc_3 - 21/3/12 at 10:13 PM
Try reseating the RAM or taking out the modules in turn. You wont even get a post screen display if there is a problem with one of the modules.
sprouts-car - 21/3/12 at 11:43 PM
quote:
Originally posted by pmc_3
Try reseating the RAM or taking out the modules in turn. You wont even get a post screen display if there is a problem with one of the modules.
same result with every combination of ram.
thanks for your help every one.
vanepico - 21/3/12 at 11:48 PM
As a last ditch attempt you could always try reseating the processor, by the sounds of it you got nothing to lose.
Could always take it into a professional computer shop, they may have diagnostic equipment or something.
Jasongray5 - 22/3/12 at 12:33 AM
Have you tried giving it a good solid slap on the side? Shouting and swearing may also help.
Jason
RickRick - 22/3/12 at 07:01 AM
what about the bios battery, or atleast the bios settings, maybe worth trying a new battery, and then resetting the bios settings, but you'll
need to know what settings to put back in
Macbeast - 22/3/12 at 07:13 AM
If he has a blank screen, won't it be difficult to mess about with the BIOS ?
D Beddows - 22/3/12 at 09:19 AM
If you're happy with the current capabilities of your computer a 2nd hand motherboard of the same spec from ebay is only going to cost you £30ish
quid. Odds are it's just the motherboard so swap everything over (which really isn't rocket science) and you're up and running again