diagnosing a computer that doesn't even POST

8

8fingers

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 18, 2005
Messages
293
ok my [H] friends, time for you to help me look good. hopefully i can offer decent advice to someone here sometime to sortof repay all the great things you all have helped me with. anyways... on to the good part.

i diagnosed a sick little computer tonight. a 400 to 500 MHz celeron as i remember, 64mb ram. when i press the power button, it give a little flare of life, the PSU and cpu fans spin briefly (maybe 1 sec, less sometimes) and then all is quiet. the monitor never gets a signal. the power LED on the front of the case remains lit, albeit dimly. the LED on the motherboard remains fully lit. to repeat the previously desribed circumstances, i have to unplug the power and then plug it back in.

my guess is the PSU is bad. it's a 145W sestron. never heard fo them but it looks crappy. it is ATX 2.03. isn't that the newest ATX standard? this computer was built at least 4 years ago, if not 6.

i just thought, maybe this could be the bios battery? (is that, CMOS?)

if it is the PSU, i don't have one i can swap out with it to check. can i get a 200 or 250 watt one at a local place like compusa or best buy? where would be best?

all of you people are awesome...

ps. i brought the hardrive home and virus-checked it. 20+ trojans, all different. could this be causing all the trouble?
 
I doubt the person you've fixed it for changed things in any way, but when I got bored and took apart my comp, and then put it back together, similar things happened. My issue was those little power buttons were put in the wrong spaces on the mobo, as nothing was labelled. Once those were fixed, everything worked fine again.
 
8fingers said:
ps. i brought the hardrive home and virus-checked it. 20+ trojans, all different. could this be causing all the trouble?
Click to expand...

No..


8fingers said:
i just thought, maybe this could be the bios battery? (is that, CMOS?)
Click to expand...

Also no.

..It's very likely the PSU. Pull it out of the system and short the pwr_good wire on the ATX connector (green) to.. I THINK it's +5v VSB (look it up on google). Leave it connected to an optical drive to see if it works. If it DOES, could be the motherboard, or possibly even a short somewhere (checked all the PSU cables? all in good condition?)
 
The first thing i would do is try a differant psu, but is it really worth it its 4-6 years old. You will not beable to run anything.
 
thanks everyone, looks like i'm gonna shoot for a new PSU. i tried mentioning to him that buying a new comp (from dell) would only be about $300-350, but he kinda balked and mumbled something about finances being tight. apparently his real estate business hasn't been doing so well...
 
8fingers said:
thanks everyone, looks like i'm gonna shoot for a new PSU. i tried mentioning to him that buying a new comp (from dell) would only be about $300-350, but he kinda balked and mumbled something about finances being tight. apparently his real estate business hasn't been doing so well...
Click to expand...

Ouch...in this market, anyone who isn't making money in the real estate business should seriously consider a new line of work!

Try to borrow or scavenge another PSU to test with before you have him spend money on one.
 
8fingers said:
ok, i sent the dear fellow to buy this PSU. i'll try it out this afternoon...
Click to expand...
I estimate that this PSU will blow up/implode shortly after passing its 30 days warranty period, but it'll be fine for troubleshooting :)
 
i realize that it's crappy in every sense of the word, but maybe it'll give him enough time to scrape up the $$ to buy a new computer... i hate troubleshooting this machine for him *sigh* but i get money out of it...
 
ok, so we got a new psu. i hooked it up, and the exact same thing happened as before. so... i took the MB out of the case, took everthing out. set it up outside the case... and it worked!?! strange... so then i start putting back, and i figure hey before i totally screw it in, i'll try it one more time. and what do you know, the fans spin 1 sec and the motherboard LED lights up and that is ALL that happens. so i going crap, i gotta tell him he needs a new computer. so i did, and he wants me to look for one for him, dude they're getting a dell!

yea, gonna pick up that dell that everyone talks about in the hot deals forum. it may not seem like a rockin computer to ya'll, but he's gonna be flat out amazed when he sees how fast it is.
 
8fingers said:
ok, so we got a new psu. i hooked it up, and the exact same thing happened as before. so... i took the MB out of the case, took everthing out. set it up outside the case... and it worked!?! strange... so then i start putting back, and i figure hey before i totally screw it in, i'll try it one more time. and what do you know, the fans spin 1 sec and the motherboard LED lights up and that is ALL that happens.
Click to expand...
Apparently the mainboard is shorting out somewhere. Are there any stand-offs or other conductive protrusions which shouldn't be there touching the mainboard?
 
Elledan said:
Apparently the mainboard is shorting out somewhere. Are there any stand-offs or other conductive protrusions which shouldn't be there touching the mainboard?
Click to expand...
all the standoffs were kinda weird, they seemed to be aluminum... but the motherbard wasn't touching anywhere else that i could see... but thats over. this uber crappy computer is dead. hallelujah.
 
now how did you come about this work? do you just advertise yourself as a computer tech? or what, cuz ive seen people come into my store (i am a tech at telecommunications store), ask if we have any junk machines we would sell him, and proceed to explain that he goes around to older peoples' homes and "fixes" their computers, what he really does is go around and run a virus scanner and maybe a spyware scanner, and if that dosent fix it he just tells the people their machine is junk and he buys the computer for "salvage parts" which he then sells on ebay. pathetic fat slobby bastard. these older folks don't have the money they need as it is, then this asshole goes around an rips them off. fucking asshole. anyways, i digressed, alot. in short, moral of the story, in conclusion, ect... dont be like that.

EDIT: DAMN! i just read my own post here, and wow! i am an asshole. please excuse my accusations as they werent intended, but hell there they are.
 
GtrPmp said:
now how did you come about this work? do you just advertise yourself as a computer tech? or what, cuz ive seen people come into my store (i am a tech at telecommunications store), ask if we have any junk machines we would sell him, and proceed to explain that he goes around to older peoples' homes and "fixes" their computers, what he really does is go around and run a virus scanner and maybe a spyware scanner, and if that dosent fix it he just tells the people their machine is junk and he buys the computer for "salvage parts" which he then sells on ebay. pathetic fat slobby bastard. these older folks don't have the money they need as it is, then this asshole goes around an rips them off. fucking asshole. anyways, i digressed, alot. in short, moral of the story, in conclusion, ect... dont be like that.

EDIT: DAMN! i just read my own post here, and wow! i am an asshole. please excuse my accusations as they werent intended, but hell there they are.
Click to expand...
lol, i'm only 18. i work for cheap (for computer stuff) and i don't want other people POS computers. i have my own that i'm quite happy with... but i totally understand where you're coming from... so no hard feelings.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top