AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH I am sobing as I am typing..... what happened to my baby????? Seriously now, I left my PC encoding a video and came back to find it still as a door nail. No, not frozen or hung but turned off... As I have 'asked' the program to shut the PC down at the end of the work, I thought nothing of it. However, I did find it strange that the green indicator light by the power switch was on. I tried to turn the PC on but nothing happened. OK, I thought to my self, Obviously my COP (CPU Overheating Protection) utility has decided my pressy had enough for one session and decided to shut the bugger down. So... I detached the power cable from the back, waited 10 minutes and tried again...... ten point for the genious guess! Nothing happened. So where do I go next? The green light by the power switch comes on but nothing else happens. No fans turning, no noise, nothing! Like a :swear: graveyard. Now my question is: I do not have spare parts that I can start planting in and out of the machine. Is there any way to know or are there any tell-tales as to what bastarding component has let me and the PC comunity down? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all for looking. :good:
Really nothing? No PSU fan? No CPU fan? No hard-drive clicking? That means either the PSU or the motherboard. If you don't have any other components to plug in then at the very least you should get the PSU fan turning even with the CPU and RAM unplugged. If not it's probably the PSU or mobo. You could also check the cables and the socket itself to eliminate that possibility but other than that you would most likely need to check it with other working parts to trace down the problem (unless you have a multimeter lurking around somewhere ).
From the nature of the problem, I'd agree with ThePenguinCometh in that it's likely the PSU or mobo, and could also be the RAM. If you have a generic PSU, it's likely that it fried your motherboard, which in turn fried a bunch of other components. In other words, you could have an oversized doorstop on your hands. This is why we always recommend high-quality PSUs here at hardwareforums.com; that's a part one really shouldn't try to save a few bucks on. On the other hand, modern motherboards are very complicated, so it is possible that the mobo absorbed and therefore localized the damage to itself. In that case you'd only have a PSU and a mobo to replace. It could also be the RAM, since if the RAM had a tiny imperfection that you normally wouldn't notice, the act of video encoding could certainly cause the already damaged RAM to outright fail. If it was me in your shoes, I'd throw that RAM in a compatible, known working system, and run Memtest86+ overnight on it. If it has zero errors at the end of all that, your problem is likely localized to your mobo (and PSU). If there are any errors at all, return the RAM if it's warrantied (Kingston, Corsair and Mushkin have lifetime warranties). In that case your damage could be very extensive, or it could be localized to your RAM, like I suggested earlier. All the best, -AT
Hi and thank you both for your comments. No, nothing! No noises, clicks or fans going. Like I said - an elephant graveyard.... Unfortunately for me all my parts are generic. The PSU came with the case. Further more I have no other system to try and test the potentialy bad parts. I will have to see if I can get my hands on a voltmeter... :x: I pray it is the PSU as the ram, mobo, and the CPU are quite pricy :swear: :swear: :swear: :swear: :swear: :swear: :swear: :swear: :swear: Thanks again.
Sorry. Usually when a PSU goes, it goes postal on it's way out, taking many casualties. Not a very politically correct metaphor, but true enough. I'd be very surprised if you don't have damaged hardware besides the PSU itself. The cheapest PSU I recommend is the Thermaltake 420, which is around $40/US. From there, I like Antec quite a bit, and find Enermax to generally be the best for high-end workstations. -AT
:swear: :swear: :swear: :swear: :swear: :swear: :swear: :swear: Thanks anyway guys for all your replies and knowledge. Will post back when problem diagnosed properly.... Just for future reference...... :good:
Well... It was the power supply after all. Dead as tombstone Took it back, got a replacement. I just pray :swt: that it did not take any prisoners with it :x: Wish me luck dear, I am going in....... :jump2: :jump2: :jump2: :jump2:
I am not sure why I keep updating.... Hell, maybe someone is reading. Well.... as someone alreday warned me, my PSU did not go to PC heaven quietly.... he took, at least, my mobo as well. So off I go back to the shop to replace my mobo as well. As Madness said ".....oh what fun we had." (Baggy Trousers). My, my, my.....
Motherboard is dead (burned out!!!) The shop will replace but not like for like. Original mobo discontinued. Any comments on ASrock P4V88 and the Gigabyte Gigabyte 8S648FXP-RZ will be greatly appreciated!! Thanks all.
Go with Gigabyte, they have much higher Q.A. standards. Probably the best motherboard brand you can get on a budget. -AT
Well I guess you can go with Gigabyte, but smart people like me use ABIT. NOW GET AN ABIT BEFORE I HAVE TO :swear: KILL YOU! Sorry about that... but seriously I am an ABIT faithful but ASUS is good too. Just NEVER buy one of those MSI pieces of :swear:.
Chill max12590.... I see your point. The reason I asked about those particular two is because my mobo is still under guarantee so I am getting credit for my faulty one. I am quite restricted as the shop has not got too much of a veriaty. As my model was discontinued I chose to go for the model which was the same price and offered the same options - ASrock P4V88. As I am not an OCer I just need a fast reliable mobo. No bells and/or whistles. If I had the choice I would probably go for ASUS or Intel. By the way, a good mate has an MSI and he swears by it..... Keep it cool and chill the :swear: down :good:
Hahaha yea, well, I have used MSI and I swear by the fact that they are made in the same factory that makes McDonalds Happy Meal toys
