Computer Dead?

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penguins21

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I bought a computer from a friend who has conveiniently slipped off to the beach... but he'll be hearing from me when he returns:

The machine is an Athlon 1.1 GHz, SDRAM, NVidia GeForce 2. Think it started its life as a Compaq... anyway, the thing won't boot at all... no beeps, no video. i've tried just about everything with no avail:
took out RAM - was bad, replaced with new
reseated CPU
reset CMOS
changed video card
changed monitors
removed all other peripherals

While I was troubleshooting something odd happened. Before it would power on, fans and such, just without video and beeps. Now when I turned it on there would be only a momentary spurt of power before it died. I finally decided to dig up another power supply. I tried it, and got the same "blip" before it refused to proceed. Tried the original power supply on a new motherboard and without pushing the power button it made the mobo fan spin, but power button did nothing. Decided it was not wise to leave the power supply on this machine any more.

So i'm puzzled. Is it the motherboard? CPU? power supply? all of them?

Originally a wire from the power supply (1/2 an AT power connector) was hooked to a fitting port (1/2 [single] AT power port) on the motherboard. Never seen this...

Any insight would be much appreciated! Sorry for rambling so much!
 
hmm did you try a different power supply?
your freind obviously didnt like you much if he sold u a busted computer without telling you it was busted
 
yeah, i tried a different power supply... after it stopped "turning on" at all. no different... the little "spurt" then nothing.

-andrew
 
take the motherboard out flip it over examine the panel for
burnt leads,dark areas etc...sounds like its damaged .
 
sounds good... fyi, i didn't mention i tried running the motherboard outside the case in case it was shorting or anything like that... that was when it completely stopped working. was resting on two plastic boxes.
 
Well, if it turns on and dies before the end of the POST, here are a few possibilities off the top of my head.

1.) CPU may be severely overclocked. This should've been solved when you reset the CMOS, unless it was done wrong.
2.) The heat sink fan may have come unplugged. Alot of motherboards will shut down automatically if no fan is detected. You reseated the CPU and HSF already, but it never hurts to check again.
3.) There might be a short in your case. Make sure there is nothing conductive touching the motherboard, and that your motherboard is not touching the back of the case.
4.) Doubtful, but both of the PSUs you tried may not be able to supply enough to power on the computer. PSUs do go bad, so don't be surprised if one eventually burns out on you.

It's not the RAM or IDE devices, and none of the peripherals could possibly cause a problem like that.
I hate even bringing up the possibility of someone's computer being plain dead, but it is a bit old...
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Hope I helped.
 
thanks! i'll try resetting the cmos yet again, as soon as this bozo gets back i'll get some cash back and scoot over to pricewatch and see what sort of motherboard combos they're sporting...
 
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