Re: Dead PC - help please !

Hi
Thanks for the reply

Palindr☻me wrote:
Adrian wrote:
Hi All

The header says it all,really !
Saturday night - pc was running fine, Sunday morning it was sat there with both front-panel lights full on (hdd & ?power?) - and completely unresponsive to any stimuli (keyboard, mouse, front panel on-off switch.

Could only turn it off by pulling the mains lead.
Put mains lead back in, front panel switch turned it back on again - but only to the same state as before. No drives spinning, front panel lights hard on, two red leds on the motherboard, fans spinning, no post......

PC was branded i-Friend - sent their support a couple of emails and phoned their helpline - no response - wonder if they've gone bust ?

Spec-wise it's a EVE2 C2714R - micro-atx motherboard, Celeron 1.7, fair bit of ram. Nothing fancy by today's standards - but a lot better than the pII it replaced !

Further diagnosis showed that one of the power supply fans was seized solid - so, on a wild hope <g>, I purchased and installed a new PSU. (The machine has had two replacement PSUs under guarantee before - so I though there might be something in this theory...

Now the new PSU is very nice, but it doesn't change the symptoms one tiny bit.....

Have also tried the 'unplug everything' approach, down to a bare motherboard with Celeron, but this makes no difference.

So - at the moment, I have three possible strategies (further suggestions welcome!)

a) Buy a motherboard 'bundle' (e.g. Celeron 336 2.8Ghz - 512mb - Micro ATX from Novatech http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/bundles.html) on the grounds that I can simply drop the whole lot in and it should fly - about £100 inc vat

b) buy a series of new parts (uP, motherboard, ?memory?) and simply replace bits until it starts to work - could be several parcels / delivery charges etc

c) Bin the whole thing and buy a cheapie replacement system unit and transplant the old hdd to the new unit.


I'm confident around electronics, just a bit baffle by the wide range of bits & pieces available now - which is why the 'bundle' approach appeals..

My diagnosis of 'motherboard or uP' - sounds about right to you ??


Yep.

The minimum system approach is a good one - but minimum is mobo (with speaker) processor and memory (plus psu, of course). If that combination doesn't give any signs of life, other than HDD and PWR both being on permanently, then it is usually the mobo - unless the processor heatsink has fallen off...

<g> - No - I checked that !


The simplest way forward is if you have access to a compatible system and can exchange memory and processor - to check those are OK.

If only - back in the old '486 days I did have that luxury - but not now...
...which is why the 'bundle' approach seemed appealing...

Have a
look at the capacitors on the mobo - if any are leaking or have bulging tops (or open tops) you have your answer.

Nope - not that either


Now could be a good time to think about your backup strategy.

<g> - yes - I know....

As it happens, I did, purely by chance, back up my user directories to this machine (an old Tosh laptop) 2 days before the other system fell over....
The laptop is slow - but just about usable....

Like the
existing drive is probably a few years old and may be on the way out - and new ones are pretty cheap. The old one, in an external box, may last a few more years as a sort of backup device. A lot better than nothing. Perhaps better than putting it in the replacement system, where it will only add to the heat and probably not much to the functionality.

Fair comment.
There are always at least 2 pcs on this little home network - perhaps I should set up some routine to 'cross-copy' vital info between the machines.... there's probably a program out there that would do this...


As to bits, kits, or built system - you don't save much by the former but what you do get is exactly what you want. If you aren't all that fussed, a built system saves a lot of time. A bundle is good if it is significantly cheaper than the sum of the bits.


The one I was looking at was just over the £100 mark (inc VAT) for Celeron 336 2.8Ghz - 512mb - Micro ATX - seemed reasonable ?

Thanks again
Adrian
.

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