My computer broke

[Rik]

As if it's not enough to chew a crown off on Tuesday, I fired up the main machine this morning and it wouldn't boot. Being Good Friday, I can't get warranty service until at least Wednesday. Luckily, my backup regime means that I was able to transfer to the other desktop, after a quick check on the forum via the netbook, with almost everything intact. (I have the data for everything, but in a couple of cases, the app isn't installed - plus there's three shared printers I can't access.)

I want a better week next week.

[DorsetBoy]

CMOS battery?

[Niall]

The CMOS shouldn't stop it booting. My mums PC had a dead battery in it and you had to go into the bios to set the time on every boot or it wouldn't start. Other than that, it worked fine for months (until I found the key to open the case and replace the battery )

[Rik]

CMOS battery?

Possible, Dorset, though a scrambled CMOS seems more likely. Unfortunately, with my tremors, I can't get to the battery without risking the SATA leads nearby.

[DorsetBoy]

SATA leads are also good for coming loose  

[Rik]

They seem OK. The initial message was "Initialising USB controller" at which it hung. A reset got no further so I powered down and disconnected all the USB devices. On powering up again, the fans and drives all ran up OK, but no graphic output, no beeps and the drive lights just stayed on. It doesn't respond to the power button or the reset button either.

[DorsetBoy]

Can you get to BIOS setup?

[Rik]

No, it's not even entering POST from what I can see - and the graphics card is giving no signal, ie the monitor shuts down into standby.

[DorsetBoy]

That could be the power supply failing.

[kinmel]

Just as well it's under warranty Rik

[Niall]

It could be a long list of things. This is what irritates me about PCs

It could be the graphics card itself, it could even be a soundcard that's died stopping it booting (or any other PCI device for that matter). I doubt it's a power supply issue as it would more likely not even start to boot. The motherboard controllers could have killed themselves though as I saw that happen on my sisters PC, although I forget the exact message the screen showed when booting, or even where it got to.

[Rik]

Just as well it's under warranty Rik

Indeed.

[Glenn]

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20071112150542734&board_id=1&model=P5W+DH+Deluxe&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

[Rik]

It could be a long list of things. This is what irritates me about PCs

Definitely one to hand off to an engineer with a van load of spares.

[Supanova]

Fixed my brothers after it wouldn't boot. Corrupt boot-sector. Takes about 5 minutes to fix with the install disk and a commandline. Worth a try.

[Rik]

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20071112150542734&board_id=1&model=P5W+DH+Deluxe&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

Lots of possibilities, none that I can do for myself.

[Rik]

Fixed my brothers after it wouldn't boot. Corrupt boot-sector. Takes about 5 minutes to fix with the install disk and a commandline. Worth a try.

I don't get a POST screen or any video, though.

[kinmel]

Follow the flowchart

Go with the flow

[zappaDPJ]

Sounds like power to me or at worst a motherboard/CPU failure. If it was any other component or a device boot failure you would still have the potential for BIOS entry or the BIOS would be beeping out a merry tune.

[Rik]

Follow the flowchart

Go with the flow

Sadly, I can't.

[Rik]

Sounds like power to me or at worst a motherboard/CPU failure. If it was any other component or a device boot failure you would still have the potential for BIOS entry or the BIOS would be beeping out a merry tune.

Well, any of them are covered by the warranty.

[DorsetBoy]

Sounds like power to me or at worst a motherboard/CPU failure. If it was any other component or a device boot failure you would still have the potential for BIOS entry or the BIOS would be beeping out a merry tune.

That is what I thought, I had a power supply that failed on 2 coils so that drives and fans came up but 2 of the ATX leads were dead.

You have several supplies in one,there are 6 different supplies on mine.

[Rik]

Anybody want to pop round with a spare?

[adamr8965]

Have you tried shouting at it rik?

[DorsetBoy]

Have you tried shouting at it rik?

Shush,everybody else thought it was thunder in MK.

[adamr8965]

Nah rik passing wind.

[Rik]

Have you tried shouting at it rik?

I've tried that, pleading, Sue's offered to cook it a steak but nada. 

[Rik]

Nah rik passing wind.

Precisely. 

[adamr8965]

neither off them worked? must be proper nacked then

[Rik]

I am.

[drummer]

Have you tried hooking up an external monitor?

[Rik]

The monitor is OK, Drummer, I switched it to this machine.

[Technical Ben]

Have you tried this?
It's much easier than this one:

[Rik]

About my level, Ben.

[adamr8965]

can't see the hammer option.

[Rik]

It's on page 2.

[drummer]

The monitor is OK, Drummer, I switched it to this machine.

D'oh!  I read your first post too quickly and assumed you were talking about a netbook. 

[adamr8965]

ah hammer will always solve the problem, coz it will be full nacked. Then you'll a new one then

[Rik]

D'oh!  I read your first post too quickly and assumed you were talking about a netbook. 

I do it all the time, Drummer.

[Steve]

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20071112150542734&board_id=1&model=P5W+DH+Deluxe&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

The only one there with a solution was due to badly seated ram. I have a machine that ran for a couple of years with 4 sticks of RAM until suddenly it wouldn't post.I removed 2 sticks reset CMOS and it worked until I but the other 2 sticks back in. So now it runs Windows 7 happily with 2 Gb instead of rather slow Vista.

[Rik]

Want to pop round, Steve?

[Steve]

I would but I've got four orders for sausages,bacon,eggs,beans and toast to do before the football kicks off.

[Rik]

 

I'll get Sue on the job...

[Gary]

I'll get Sue on the job...

Its good to see age never effects libido 

[Rik]

 

[mrapoc]

no boot at all with no beeps etc.?

first off, id take the power cable out the back, discharge it all by pressing power button a few times and leave it 5 mins, try again

take out anything not needed

if still no, you are looking at component fiddling which as u say with shakey hands its a bit risky - but id take the cmos out and do the above - wait for 30 mins with cmos out.

then id try with bare minimum components - hell take the ram out and see if u get beeps!

then its a case of trying with less and less components till a) you find the culprit or b) its your motherboard fooked!

doubt its shorting somewhere, but possible

[Rik]

I'd basically narrowed it down to scrambled CMOS, power supply, motherboard, graphics card, CPU, RAM or something else, Sam. I think the case is OK though.

[kinmel]

I'd basically narrowed it down to scrambled CMOS, power supply, motherboard, graphics card, CPU, RAM or something else, Sam. I think the case is OK though.

Rik, it is much more likely to be that the smoke has escaped, be sure to point out that possibility to the repairman   

[Rik]

I kept the case hermetically sealed, Alan, which also allowed me to fry eggs on the top. 

[kinmel]

I kept the case hermetically sealed, Alan, which also allowed me to fry eggs on the top. 

Well at least you know it's not the smoke gone missing then 

[Rik]

 

[Rik]

It's a dead mobo. Changing PSU and graphics card didn't work, neither did resetting the CMOS, not singling down to one stick of RAM. No RAM did produce an error beep code, but nothing else helped, so new mobo to be fitted tomorrow or Friday.

[zappaDPJ]

Sounds like power to me or at worst a motherboard/CPU failure. If it was any other component or a device boot failure you would still have the potential for BIOS entry or the BIOS would be beeping out a merry tune.

That was my second guess! 

[Rik]

And you were right. With my luck, they'll replace the mobo and discover it was the CPU after all.

[kinmel]

I still think the smoke has escaped from a resistor or capacitor.

[Rik]

You may be right, but I think it's trapped in the spigot flange...

[zappaDPJ]

There's an ointment for that condition available from all good chemists 

[Rik]

 

I've got some, but Sue refuses to rub it on.

[adamr8965]

I've got some, but Sue refuses to rub it on.

Jesus rik, dont really need that information thanks all the same.

[Rik]

I'm a very open person.

[adamr8965]

Sounds like it.

[Rik]

And now one of my external HDs has failed. Do you think it's the Friday jinx?

[Glenn]

The drive or the enclosure?

[Rik]

I don't know, tbh, Glenn, and can't take it apart to find out.

[Rik]

Update on this. Getting the new mobo took a week, but the engineer came out and fitted it today. Guess what? It made no difference. So, for the moment, he's saying it's a dead CPU and he'll be back on Friday to change it. We shall see on both counts...

[kinmel]

Time to ask for a refund/replacement, it is unreasonable to leave you so long without a working PC.

[Rik]

I'm getting there, Alan.

[Simon]

Won't that end up being more work for you, getting it all set up again, Rik?

[zappaDPJ]

Update on this. Getting the new mobo took a week, but the engineer came out and fitted it today. Guess what? It made no difference. So, for the moment, he's saying it's a dead CPU and he'll be back on Friday to change it. We shall see on both counts...

That was also my second guess. Can I just say that if it does turn out to be a loss of smoke that would have been my third guess?  

[Rik]

 

I still wonder if the PSU spiked and took out the memory and CPU. Testing after the event with a different PSU doesn't eliminate the possibility.

[Rik]

Won't that end up being more work for you, getting it all set up again, Rik?

It would, and it would leave me with a mix of OS on the network, which I'm never keen on.

[zappaDPJ]

I still wonder if the PSU spiked and took out the memory and CPU. Testing after the event with a different PSU doesn't eliminate the possibility.

It doesn't although there should be some degree of surge protection built into the PSU unless it's really nasty.

[Rik]

Well, if the new CPU doesn't fix it, he'll presumably then try the RAM, but meanwhile there's the, slim, chance that the PSU has knackered the new parts. This could be an expensive repair for them.

[Ray]

I would have thought that he would have had one of these in his tool kit, Rik, to check the psu.

[DorsetBoy]

Well, if the new CPU doesn't fix it, he'll presumably then try the RAM, but meanwhile there's the, slim, chance that the PSU has knackered the new parts. This could be an expensive repair for them.

Is it an engineer or someone doing guesswork here?

[Rik]

It's a swapsie man, Dorset.

[psp83]

Surely they know the PC model and the parts that it uses and should bring them all out with them so they don't have to make several trips.

[DorsetBoy]

It's a swapsie man, Dorset.

Gawd, I could send Patrick to do that.

[Rik]

Surely they know the PC model and the parts that it uses and should bring them all out with them so they don't have to make several trips.

They do, but they go for the cheapest option first, Paul. I gather that if it proves to be the CPU, they will put the old mobo back in to save some money...

[Steve]

That might save you a lot of extra work

[Rik]

I thought so too, Steve.

[Rik]

Surprise, surprise, no word from the engineer, so I don't think he's coming back today after all. I can feel myself reaching for my copy of the Sale of Goods Act.