Hi,
I', new to Tech Forums and I apologise in advance if this post is long but I think I have a BIG problem with my PC hardware and I need some help. The PC powered off unexpectedly and now won't restart. I built the following system approximately 6 months ago:
ASUS M2N32-sli Deluxe motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000 CPU
2x1024MB Corsair 6400C4 DDR2 800 RAM
Inno 3D NVIDIA 8800GTS 320MB GPU
320GB Seagate 7200rpm 16MB cache SATA HDD
500GB Seagate 7200rpm 16MB cache SATA HDD
Pioneer DVD-RW optical SATA drive
Antec Sonata III case running Antec 500W PSU
I run Windows XP SP2 on the 500GB HDD and Windows Vista Ultimate on the 320GB HDD and have run both OS alternately for a month. Last Tuesday, I logged into Vista for the first time in a week. I had and IRDa device connected via USB and Vista detected as new hardware and searched through Windows Update for a suitable driver. It failed, so I closed the window and continued browsing. Not long after it powered off unexpectedly. I switched it back on and logged into Vista in Safe Mode but couldn't find a problem. I rebooted, logged in and connected to the internet to continue browsing. The PC powered down without warning again, but this time would not power up again. Almost a week later and I'm running out of options. I have reset the BIOS clock, unplugged all hardware and tried to restart. I managed to get into the BIOS but could not boot up Windows (Vista or XP).
I also managed on one occasion to boot up on the Vista DVD and go to the install screen. I chose to Detect and Repair Windows, whereby the it detected the OS but went no further than a blinking cursor on a black screen. From this point I have not been able to power up, or start up to the BIOS let alone get to the recovery disk.
Over the last few nights I have tried to power up the PC after systematically removing hardware with no luck. Tonight, however, I have noticed during another attempt at certain failure, that the 4 pin ATX 12V socket on the motherboard has a brown discolouration on two of the pin sockets.
At first, I thought the infrared device driver may have caused the crash but I suspect that the culprit may be the ATX 12V socket. Before I take the PC down to the local repair man I'm wondering if anyone could offer some advice or suggest something.
I', new to Tech Forums and I apologise in advance if this post is long but I think I have a BIG problem with my PC hardware and I need some help. The PC powered off unexpectedly and now won't restart. I built the following system approximately 6 months ago:
ASUS M2N32-sli Deluxe motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000 CPU
2x1024MB Corsair 6400C4 DDR2 800 RAM
Inno 3D NVIDIA 8800GTS 320MB GPU
320GB Seagate 7200rpm 16MB cache SATA HDD
500GB Seagate 7200rpm 16MB cache SATA HDD
Pioneer DVD-RW optical SATA drive
Antec Sonata III case running Antec 500W PSU
I run Windows XP SP2 on the 500GB HDD and Windows Vista Ultimate on the 320GB HDD and have run both OS alternately for a month. Last Tuesday, I logged into Vista for the first time in a week. I had and IRDa device connected via USB and Vista detected as new hardware and searched through Windows Update for a suitable driver. It failed, so I closed the window and continued browsing. Not long after it powered off unexpectedly. I switched it back on and logged into Vista in Safe Mode but couldn't find a problem. I rebooted, logged in and connected to the internet to continue browsing. The PC powered down without warning again, but this time would not power up again. Almost a week later and I'm running out of options. I have reset the BIOS clock, unplugged all hardware and tried to restart. I managed to get into the BIOS but could not boot up Windows (Vista or XP).
I also managed on one occasion to boot up on the Vista DVD and go to the install screen. I chose to Detect and Repair Windows, whereby the it detected the OS but went no further than a blinking cursor on a black screen. From this point I have not been able to power up, or start up to the BIOS let alone get to the recovery disk.
Over the last few nights I have tried to power up the PC after systematically removing hardware with no luck. Tonight, however, I have noticed during another attempt at certain failure, that the 4 pin ATX 12V socket on the motherboard has a brown discolouration on two of the pin sockets.
At first, I thought the infrared device driver may have caused the crash but I suspect that the culprit may be the ATX 12V socket. Before I take the PC down to the local repair man I'm wondering if anyone could offer some advice or suggest something.
