Mobo or no?

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Rerok

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Hillbilly in NC
During a recent thunderstorm, the computer at my church was hit with a power surge, even though it was plugged into a surge protector. Now, when you push the power button, nothing happens, no lights, beeps, fans, nothing.

Dell Dimension 3000
Windows XP sp2
P4
512MB DDR400
Intel 865gv mobo...
in other words, a factory Dell

I thought it might be the psu, so i took the one from my rig at home and tried it, with the same results. I know the mobo is getting power, because there is a green light on it that comes on every time you plug it in.

With me being a self taught noob, my gut is the mobo was taken out from the surge, because it also killed the modem and router. But, since I am still a noob, I figured I would ask you guys just to be sure. Should I go ahead and tell them they need to spring for a new mobo, or is there something I might be overlooking? Any help is greatly appreciated.
 
Try resetting BIOS. Could have shocked the battery too. Don't ever suggest the motherboard until you tried everything else.

Try resetting everything on your board. Might be a memory problem as well.
 
I agree, sounds like the mobo might be gone.
Before you tell them though, take the pc apart and test as many components as you can in your rig. The mobo might not be the only thing that was fried.
 
I also agree, normally however, when a surge gets through it is absorbed by the PSU, but since you say it is not that, I would check the mobo battery.

Another thing, you should check just because it is so easy. Try to bypass the button. Short out the two prongs where the power button cables run into the motherboard (Should be like two pin connector).

Also, an easy way to see if it is the motherboard (and could possibly be repaired if you are proficient in soldering). Visually inspect the motherboard for bloated capacitors (strong candidate for what went wrong). Here is a link to a picture than shows a bloated capacitor.
http://bushytails.net/~randyg/badcaps-iq-2.jpg
The one on the left is how it should look, the one on the right has the top bulged up, meaning it will not function. If you find any that are bloated, that is your problem (The top should be completely flat).

Also, something else you can do is look for burn marks on the motherboard, check the resistors visually too see if any look burned.

If you still don't see anything wrong, your best bet is to buy a new Motherboard.*

*Unless you are short on cash and adventurous. A large project you can undergo is manually test all the resistors with a multimeter. You can tell about what the resistance should be by the multi-colored bands on them (Charts everywhere). If your multimeter reads 0. Than the resistor is bad, any good component will have at least some resistance, if it reads it is open, you have a bad component and you know what needs to be replaced.

That said, the process could take days, even weeks, and for 99% of people its best just to buy a new motherboard.


This is probably not what you wanted to hear, but that is how these things go, always costing more money lol.
 
Another thing, you should check just because it is so easy. Try to bypass the button. Short out the two prongs where the power button cables run into the motherboard (Should be like two pin connector).

I tend to use a flathead screwdriver.

Also, an easy way to see if it is the motherboard (and could possibly be repaired if you are proficient in soldering). Visually inspect the motherboard for bloated capacitors (strong candidate for what went wrong). Here is a link to a picture than shows a bloated capacitor.
http://bushytails.net/~randyg/badcaps-iq-2.jpg
The one on the left is how it should look, the one on the right has the top bulged up, meaning it will not function. If you find any that are bloated, that is your problem (The top should be completely flat).

Also, something else you can do is look for burn marks on the motherboard, check the resistors visually too see if any look burned.

If you still don't see anything wrong, your best bet is to buy a new Motherboard.*

*Unless you are short on cash and adventurous. A large project you can undergo is manually test all the resistors with a multimeter. You can tell about what the resistance should be by the multi-colored bands on them (Charts everywhere). If your multimeter reads 0. Than the resistor is bad, any good component will have at least some resistance, if it reads it is open, you have a bad component and you know what needs to be replaced.

That said, the process could take days, even weeks, and for 99% of people its best just to buy a new motherboard.


This is probably not what you wanted to hear, but that is how these things go, always costing more money lol.

Well, if anything looks charred, it's bad.

I would leave the motherboard as a maybe. Try disconnecting everything but the essentials. CPU, PSU, ONE stick of RAM. I assume you have an onboard graphic card?
 
OK, reset the BIOS and changed the battery with the one in my rig, nothing...Tried a bare bones start, using my PSU (500W, one in Dell is 250W), my RAM, nothing...Tried "jumping" the start button, 2 pin connector was actually an 8 pin, because the lights and power button all plugged into the mobo at the same place, nothing...no bloated capacitors, no charring.

Using a multimeter, soldering...HAHAHAHA...my soldering hand is as steady as Gene Wilder's shooting hand in Blazing Saddles.

The processor is an old socket 478. Found a mobo to match online for pretty cheap (even better it's on the Audio/Visual department's budget) so I'll wait on it to get here and see where that leads me.

Thanks for ALL your help guys
 
I agree with Mindover Master on this one, sounds like your board is gone, which leave your other components condition a mystery. I hope they survived for you ^_^

Also, yah, a screwdriver was the best tool for that, When I said two pin I was referring to what the connection on the motherboard would look like. Goda love the Flathead screwdriver though, It's like the crescent wrench of the screwdriver world.
 
No matter the connections, two pins will start up the computer.

Btw, Fox, Call me MoM, thats what I am known for :p
(shorter too)
 
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