Computer crashed today.

1. screen went black; power LED on monitor went from green (on) to amber (standby)
2. after 10 sec, music stopped playing and computer powered down
3. tried to reboot, got the RAM count-up, then black screen and no further progress.
4. tried to reboot, nothing ever showed on the screen (no RAM count-up).
5. tried using a different hard drive as master, no luck
6. noticed the processor heat sink was clogged with dust, cleaned it, tried again: no luck

Burned up processor?
Burned up motherboard? (How would I tell the difference?)
Bad video card (but then, why did the computer shut itself down?)?

I can't remember the specs on what I put in the computer at this point (and I had to hurry off to work) but here's a little bit of info:
15month old Intel motherboard
15month old Intel p4 processor (LGA775)
15month old PCI slot graphics card

 

start smelling things

 

By your initial descirption of the problem (#1), I would have originally thought power supply. The easiest (but not most complete) way to check your power supply is to see if it's blowing air (strong current, not a wimpy breeze). Second to that is to check with a multi-meter.

It's been my experience that most motherboards will give before a processor will. I'd suspect that your processor is okay. Motherboards usually show wear with pop marks or leaking capacitors. Look for these anywhere on the board.

My first step in diagnosis would be to:
1. Clean the entire interior of the case.
2. Pull all componets save the motherboard, cpu, memory, video card and power supply.
3. Try and power on the PC. If it passes POST (you'll hear the distinctive beep) before it gives you an error about the HDD, or missing OS, etc.

IF that all appears well, continue by plugging up your hard drive and repeating #3. If that works, continue to add componet by componet until you discover where the failure is.

Of course, being electronic, it could be any number of things, but I'd suggest part failure in this order given your circumstances: PWRSPLY --> MBD --> CPU --> RAM --> anything else.

 

Yeah, I had thought of the power supply, too. It's a cheapo, so I shouldn't be surprised. The first one I had like this was bad out of the box, (wouldn't work when I put in my 2nd hard drive) so I got a replacement...

This one appears to be working OK, fan speed seems good and the lights are on. I tried reducing the load by removing one hard drive, but I could probably reduce it further as you suggested...

Someone else mentioned the bootup beep signals... Don't those usually come from a speaker in the case, wired directly to the MB? If so, I'll have to hook up that speaker as I never have on this MB...

 

It may also be a bad RAM chip(s). Those go out more often than bad CPU's.

 

Could be. But as a PC tech, I've replaced more than twice the motherboards compared to RAM. Unless, of course, the individual tried to install the RAM backwards.

 

Does the system POST? Show a Bios loading screen? Can you access the Bios? Is your system a home made or store bought? If store bought who is the Manufacturer?
Will it boot to a floppy or CD?

Most system will beep when memory is bad and some systems will not POST without RAM.

 

Agreed.

Also, if a light on the back of the power supply comes on, it should be good. Some have lights, and some don't. Check yours out. If the fan even spins up at all, I'd say it's ok. Your symptoms just don't lead me to believe it's a bad PSU.

 

the beep can actually tell you stuff. a leftover from the days when it actually ment something.

if its a little "beep" your cool

if its more of a beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEP kind well ya then its not happy about something, usually memory or something.

if not beep at all your likely not making it into bios and its ether a MB or PS.

oh and those acid burnt electronic smells are never good
and if you release the magic smoke it wont work... (why do you think they call it magic smoke!)

 

What do you mean by "does the system POST"? Let me guess, Power On Startup Test?

No magic smoke, yet.
It never has beeped, I traded my beeper for a cell phone in the '90s. HAHA. Actually, I never hooked up the speaker for the beeps. So I'll try to do that this evening, and see what it sounds like.
Except for the first time after it shut down, nothing comes up on the monitor at all. The monitor momentarily gets a signal from the computer (the LED by the power button turns green, then back to amber). So no access to BIOS, no loading screen, nothing.
The computer is homemade...

 

My only suggestion would be to disconnect all drives and remove all expansion cards except video. If it boots and you get video then it's probably a hard drive if it still does not show video when it boots I would say it's a video card or motherboard. And all of this assuming it does beep.

 

judging by your first post i would have at least looked the processor, as most new processor/mobo's have a temp censor that turns off the machine if the temp is above X amount. But then this last post makes me think take a look at the power supply, if amber is sleep mode, then it should not be switching between power and sleep during POST. By the way power supply is pretty much the first thing tested in post, so if it is bad you will have no beeps, processor is second and usually if it is bad you will also have no beeps.

 

Agreed. I was thinking that the power light Injohneer is talking about is the one on the monitor not the one on the PC but I'm not sure.

Is this LED on the PC or the monitor?

 

ok, here's some common things to do: unplug everything, pull all cards/hard drives/everything except the video card. pull out the cpu and put it back in (reseat it). pull the RAM and put it back in (making sure all the contacts are good). Unplug everything from the power supply except the motherboard (and maybe the video card, if you have one that takes power). try to boot. if that doesn't work, my money is that the motherboard is gone.

 

On the monitor

I'm finally done here at work, so I'm headed home and will try a bunch of this out...

 

Well, I finally got it back up and running.
I took everything off of, and out of, the computer and blew it out with canned air...
I pulled the processor, ram, all cards, etc. Then started the process of powering it back up with different combinations to see what worked.

In the end, I had to keep pulling the power cord off, then removing and re-inserting the ram between each power-up.

The beep noise (I finally hooked up the speaker) sounds normal, so that's good.

So I'm suspecting it's my RAM or power supply (Just because I bought a cheap one, and had problems with the first one out of the box). I guess it wouldn't hurt me to buy MORE RAM, and a good power supply

And I think the wifey approves, too.

 

good deals on computer parts: http://www.newegg.com

 

Yup, that's where I bought my motherboard, processor, ram, etc. back when I built 'er up.

Might have to revisit the ram aisle.

 

does the heatsheild on your p4 look warped at all? take a ruler and make sure it is straight..

DONT FORGET TO REAPPLY a thermal paste of some kind before you put your heatsink\fan back on.

For powersupply i won't use anything but antec...I have had the same antec power supplys in more computers than I can think of.

As for ram go with kingston or crucial..they have good warranty and support

 

I would have to disagree on these brands of RAM. If you are getting 184 pin RAM, I would go with Corsair. They are a little pricey, but so far, I have had no problems with them. Here is what I usually put into peoples computers when I build them for them.

Do you have an extra powersupply and RAM to test to make sure those are your problems? My house is full of that crap, and that is the first place I look to when one of our systems is going down. I had a problem similar to this, and it happend to be the controllers on the motherboard itself where the PSU connects. It also didn't help that I put the RAM in backwards.