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| 16 JUN 2008 at 8:47am |
bboyer66Colonel
Posts : 4709
Joined: 17 APR 2006
Location: US, Pittsburgh PA
Status : Offline | Have had the same problem before. Was able to fix it when I swapped in a new power supply.
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| 16 JUN 2008 at 8:59am |
LongBladeGeneral
Posts : 20586
Joined: 2 MAY 2003
Status : Offline | Thanks. That was one of the answers I was hoping not to hear. Any other opinions before I sink some cash into a new PSU?
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| 16 JUN 2008 at 9:15am |
johnusds1973Centurion
Posts : 205
Joined: 26 NOV 2010
Location: 0
Status : Online | UNfortunately bboyer might be right. I had a Dell desktop and I had the same problem. After several agonizing hours on the help line, with a guy who claimed his name was "John", but I dont know too many John's with a THICK Indian accent, the computer actually was worse off than when we started. That fool even tried to convince me it was my monitor. Anyway, i went with a new laptop. I wanted an Alienware, but my wife wound up surprising me with an HP. It is actually a good machine, and I have had no problems playing the crap out of BF2 on full settings. Anyway, good luck Longblade
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| 16 JUN 2008 at 9:33am |
FarAway SoonerCommander
Posts : 1008
Joined: 23 OCT 2005
Status : Offline | You may be better off taking it to a shop. You end up paying extra for the labor, but you also only end up having to pay for the component that's not working. Otherwise, you buy a PSU, swap it in, find out that doesn't work, then you buy a new MB, etc...
Given that nothing changed physically since your return, it seems unlikely, but it's also possible that your MB has become inadvetently grounded. I think the PSU is the better bet, but this could be all kinds of things...
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| 16 JUN 2008 at 9:42am |
LongBladeGeneral
Posts : 20586
Joined: 2 MAY 2003
Status : Offline | The PC is hooked to a surge protector, but the clock in the room was blinking which tells me that the power went off at least once while I was gone. I'm not sure what a "grounded" mobo is, and everything else plugged into the surge protector is working (at least that I've tested, including the laptop I'm using now) so who knows?
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| 16 JUN 2008 at 10:19am |
ShelldrakeCommander
Posts : 2742
Joined: 1 NOV 2006
Location: CA, Nova Scotia
Status : Offline | @LongBlade []
I agree with the other posters that the PSU is the most likely culprit, especially if no fans or hard drives are spinning up when you hit the power button. I had one of my computers at work die after the building lost and regained power. Swapping the PSU solved the problem. Can you borrow a PSU from work or a friend's machine to test before going out and buying a new one?
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| 16 JUN 2008 at 10:41am |
LongBladeGeneral
Posts : 20586
Joined: 2 MAY 2003
Status : Offline | No extra PSUs around here - mine is a hefty 600 or 700 watt unit and it's unlikely that any neighbors have anything close to that kind of power handy.
FarAwaySooner's suggestion to take it to a shop is probably what I'll do. I will pay a bit in labor, but the spaghetti that passes for rails coming out of this PSU makes Cuthulhu look simple. As soon as I think ArmedandHomeless is awake I'll give him a ring and see if he has any tests to run, but my money is on the PSU, too.
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| 16 JUN 2008 at 11:47am |
roman2440Commander
Posts : 1036
Joined: 12 MAR 2004
Location: 0
Status : Offline | Actually before you take it to a shop or buy a new PSU, try un-mounting the mobo and remounting it (or test it with the mobo un-mounted). I had a very very very similiar situation a few months back with my Father's system. I tore my hair out trying to figure out the problem, especially since we had 2 PSUs, and it didn't power on with either of them.
I had resigned to just go and get him a new mobo, but before I did that I had to take the old one out. We had started pricing out what he would need and I looked at the gutted system. Decided to try one last time with the mobo out of the case and see what happens, it can't hurt right? What do you know, it worked! [] Must have been some sort of short on the mobo in terms of its mounting. Re-put everything back together and it was all back and working again (and has been since).
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| 16 JUN 2008 at 1:21pm |
keithroseCommander
Posts : 1937
Joined: 22 AUG 2003
Status : Offline | I had a similar experience to Roman, but discovered the Video card was causing a short out & the PC was shutting down as a result.
The only way I found it was the painful process of removing each card systematically (including each memory module) & seeing what caused the shut down problem.
Regards
Keith
Regards
Keith
[i]I started out with nothing & I've still got most of it.[/i]
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| 16 JUN 2008 at 3:43pm |
ghostryderColonel
Posts : 6937
Joined: 4 MAY 2004
Location: US, Texas
Status : Offline | There are PSU testers sold in stores like CompUSA for as little as 10 bucks. Just go get one and test it.
Also I'd recommend replacing those so called cheapy 'surge protectors' with a UPS battery backup system. Remember what a power supply does- it's supposed to convert a spiking 60 hrz current to a stable DC current without any spikes. You'd be amazed at the voltage fluncuations in most home outlets. This is what puts pressor on the power supplies and causes them to fail so often- a UPS battery backup will deal with that and then supply a constant and even voltage. Your machine will be more stable as a result. In your case a huge spike probably fried a cap in PSU- but the little spikes that are constant will do the same over time.
I can't tell you how many times I've had friends bring thier systems here for me to try to seek down a CTD in a game and plug it into my UPS system ans their CTD disappears. I alway say invest a couple hundred in a UPS system - I garantee your local utility isn't all that good at delivering a constant 110 or a constant 220. In fact your lucky if they stay in the ballpark.
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| 16 JUN 2008 at 4:34pm |
EyebiterCommander
Posts : 1231
Joined: 28 DEC 2004
Status : Offline | Before you do all that, unplug the PC from the surge protector and try another port on the surge protector. Make sure to cycle the reset button on the power strip. If that doesn't work try plugging it directly into the wall. Power surge might have fried the power strip but left the outet intact.
Buy your share of freedom... today!
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| 16 JUN 2008 at 7:40pm |
MIGMasterCommander
Posts : 2123
Joined: 4 MAY 2003
Status : Offline | Dude, I don't mean to sound negative, but I'm going to be anyway []
Most of the surge protectors I have used (some rather expensive) have been crap - since I have switched all my rigs over to either UPSs or power conditioners I have not had one power problem - or a dead PSU. I'm a total convert ! You're better off with a cheap PSU with power conditioning than a $400.00 monster cable surge protector.
rant off/
"We like our women like our gaming - Hardcore !" LongBlade, circa 2008
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| 16 JUN 2008 at 8:06pm |
VorticonCenturion
Posts : 18
Joined: 28 SEP 2004
Location: US
Status : Offline | And be careful where you take it to get it checked out if you do. They had a sweeps-month story on our local news where someone at the station took their bum computer to 5 different locations to have it checked out. Only one of the 5 gave them the correct and 'simple' solution, a store named Computer Renaissance. Others suggested a new motherboard, or a new power unit, etc., something costly.......that included one of the Best Buy geeks.
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| 16 JUN 2008 at 9:15pm |
SteveskiCenturion
Posts : 360
Joined: 16 MAR 2008
Status : Offline | Try one thing before going straight to the power supply. This is power supply related though. First unplug your computer at the back of the computer. Not at the wall or surge protector but at the back of the computer. Leave it unplugged for 30-40 minutes. Then plug it back in and try it again. Yea, I know it sounds crazy but have seen it work at least twice. A real computer hardware guru taught me this.
[]
We have nothing to fear but beer itself.
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| 16 JUL 2008 at 12:54pm |
ShelldrakeCommander
Posts : 2742
Joined: 1 NOV 2006
Location: CA, Nova Scotia
Status : Offline | @ Longblade
Have you managed to revive your desktop? Just curious but while you are putting in a new PSU you might also want to look at ATI's latest graphics offerings. At ~$200 the new Radeon HD 4850 cards look pretty good with near 8800 GRX performance at half the price.
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| 16 JUL 2008 at 4:27pm |
LongBladeGeneral
Posts : 20586
Joined: 2 MAY 2003
Status : Offline | I was on vacation for a while and then at Origins, so I only shipped the PSU out yesterday. Not sure what the turnaround is, but in the mean time my laptop seems to be handling CoD4 well enough that I'm having fun, even if I don't have all my perks yet.
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| 16 JUL 2008 at 6:25pm |
GDS StarfuryGeneral
Posts : 16394
Joined: 26 MAY 2001
Location: 0, Starbase 10
Status : Offline | try a baseball bat.
but remember
1 hit is maintanence 2 hits are abuse
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| 17 JUL 2008 at 8:04pm |
alpha3sixCenturion
Posts : 37
Joined: 27 MAY 2004
Status : Online | I don't have any solutions to add, but last year my computer was zapped via the ethernet port. Lightning struck a tree right next to my house and somehow a surge of electricity traveled through my cable and destroyed my cable modem, router, and damaged everything connected to the router. My brother's computer was hooked up to it via a very long cable and he got off with just a fried ethernet port. I wasn't so lucky. My motherboard was shot (hangs on POST) and so were my USB devices. Fortunately my WD external HDD survived - the USB no longer works but Firewire was still fine.
If you get a surge protector make sure it also protects your coax cable. My TV had one of those in between it and the incoming cox and it did came out with no damage at all.
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| 17 JUL 2008 at 11:07pm |
cmdrcainCenturion
Posts : 5
Joined: 14 JUL 2008
Status : Online | Ever get it back working?
The error here and one that any going away for extended periods was in not disconnecting the PC from power
Cable (if Tv tuner) and the Ethernet.
Being away you would not been home if there was a bad storm to have disconnected the PC.
You don't even need have a bad storm close, a Strike miles away can cause surges in power lines for miles.
The advicev to have a UPS is good, it not only is good for the reasons given but also because having one will prevent your PC from rebooting if the Power "blips" , brownouts etc, which will then risk you having the HDD trashed/corrupted especially if occurs when its writing something to the HDD
I've had a UPS for all the time I've had PC's back to 1980's.
Depending on what power needs have, you don't necessary need spend alot for an UPS, it could be $70 to $200
UPS as noted also filters the power, reducing the line noise and preventing uneven
power, that extends the life of many PC Components, My old 386dx didn't give up the ghost till 2000,
appx 10 years of use for example... A Pentium II is still useable even after 13 years... needs a HDD through... but boots up with floppy boot so it works otherwise..
My XP box is coming on 8 years.
My Vista box is newest not a year yet, XP and Vista box are on a large UPS.
Keeping them on UPS especially in Florida and its lightning (UPS include surge protection better then power stripes)
surely extends their life plus of course disconnecting things when a bad storm threatens..
Again, if one is going be away for extended time... days... disconnect a PC from all external sources... power, cable, ethernet...
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| 18 JUL 2008 at 8:13am |
LongBladeGeneral
Posts : 20586
Joined: 2 MAY 2003
Status : Offline | Thanks for asking. I UPS'd the PSU earlier this week and may have the replacement by late next week.
I did have it behind a surge protector, but the ethernet was exposed.
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