dead computer

[canooten]

I'm trying to troubleshoot my brother-in-laws dead computer. It blue screened (didn't display an error...just ran some white horizontal lines across the screen) for a few seconds while being used and clicked off. Now it won't power back up. Nothing, nada, zip. No fans, no lights, no signal to the monitor.

I've swapped out the PS with no success, shorted the battery jumper, removed the battery for a while and taken the system down to just the processor and boot drive and still get nothing.

What would you say? Dead MB? Shouldn't be a connection issue since this computer is several years old and has run fine until it just died during use last week. I've disconnected the switch (swapped the power switch with the reset switch out of curiosity), but everything is conneced correctly.

Any ideas before I tell them it's time to upgrade?

 

[robertconley619]

I think the MB overheated and died or the computer refuses to start because of some significant dust build-up in key parts of the computer. I had this happen once on a 5 year old computer my sister is using and once i removed most of the dust in the system, it started to work. Who knows, it could be the same problem, especially if it's an HP.

 

[jeremy]

dust affects only fans/optical drives laser any other dusty part nothin will happen to it ,anyway as he alredy explained the psu died he replaced it and no dice , the mobo is defintly dead and possibly other parts too (and just FYI this only happens with cheap psus,a quality PSU will never fry any other part but itself) , but the processor most likely still alive what is it exactly? if its a socket a athlon/socket 370 pentium3 or celeron/socket 478 pentium 4 or celeron , you can get a new mobo..

 

[robertconley619]

what i meant by the dust was that it would cause the PSU to do what you described Jeremy, but it seems my wireless keyboard is acting up again and not finishing everything I type. Anyway, if it is several years old and it is older than a socket 370, then yeah i would tell him to upgrade because it is really hard to find a motherboard older than that, and if you find one in working condition is another topic entirely.

 

[canooten]

I'm not 100% sure what the exact specs on the machine are. It's an Athalon socket something. It's probably 3 or 4 years old, so I'd say it's about a 1.5ghz.

What's the best way to tell exactly what the processor interface is?

Also, it does get really clogged up with dust. That machine has been parked in one place since it was purchased....I don't think it's been moved except for a few months ago when their HD started to wig out and I took it home to replace and reload the drive. I cleaned it out then and it's already about clogged back up. It's not enough to stop fans from running though....I did check that.

I'm guessing the MB is toast....whether spontaneously or from the PS giving out.

 

[robertconley619]

If it is around 3 or 4 years old, i'd say it's either a socket 754 or socket A. As for finding out what interface:
Use a program like cpu-z or everest, they will tell you some of the specs and you can figure it out from there.

 

[canooten]

Use a program like cpu-z or everest

I would, but the computer is completely dead. I didn't know if there was a way to tell from the socket layout what exactly it is.

 

[jeremy]

3 ways

1) provide the mobo model , if you dont know what it is then have a look at it , should be in white letters

2) take off the heatsink/fan and look at the processor.. theres some text on it write it down and report back (and if your having hard time to see it just use a magnifier)

3) get the processor out and count its pins

 

[canooten]

get the processor out and count its pins

Maybe I'll post a picture and let someone else count the pins......not my idea of a fun evening

 

[jeremy]

better do 1 or 2 .. much easier then 3