My computer randomly turned off yesterday, and when I tried a re-boot I heard some weird noises which turned out to be the northbridge fan dying. I cleaned my case out (with compressed air) since I had it opened anyways, and put a different fan on my northbridge. Now the computer will not POST at all, but the fans/hard drive spins. I'm thinking its a burnt northbridge, as something smelled hot when I took the case apart ( I doubt it is the CPU as I used thermal paste, I never tried to overclock, and it usually ran at around the high 40s celsius/mid 50s under load, which shouldnt be anything to worry about). Is there any way I can be sure before I order a new motherboard? Also, if I do get a new motherboard will I have to reformat my hard drive, or if I get one with the same chipset will I be able to just plug in the hard drive and boot? Thanks for the help. My system: MSI 865 PE NEO2 PFISR mobo (ICH5 northbridge) P4 3.0 GHz 512 MB PC3200 Ultra RAM 120 GB WD HD 300 GB Maxtor HD 128 MB Nvidia 4400MX
What power supply do you have? Have you tried your RAM in another computer? ICH5 is actually a southbridge. The 82865PE (aka 865PE) is the northbridge on your motherboard. Something may be hot, but was it an electrical burning smell. It's quite distinct.
Sorry for not specifying, I have a 400W Ultra X-connect power supply which had been working fine since I installed it about 6 months ago. I do not have another computer in which to try my ram, but I will try to borrow a friend's ASAP. As far as the smell, it was quite distinct and I'm almost positive it was something burning.
