Advice on repairing an old PC

GunRunner

GunRunner

GunRunner

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31 Jan 2007
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603
It has been a long time since I have been on here, so please bear with me. I am a little behind the drag curve with the very latest/cheapest technology.

Quite a few years ago I rebuilt a nice PC for my daughter for general surfing/emailing and carrying out her internet banking from her own place.

The PC has suddenly failed with continuous beeps and a code of CC from the Abit motherboard readout display. This happens when the power supply cord is put into the back of it and the supply switched on. Nothing else happens. I was advised by a local guy that the motherboard has failed.

The case and all its peripherals are good quality and rather than throw it away, I would like to rebuild.

Could some kind gentleman please suggest the way forward, so that we have a fully working PC at minimum cost.

1. It is an ATX aluminium Lian-Li Midi Tower case with 4 large and 3 small bays in the front. The panels are all removable and it is easy to work on with knurled screws used for assembly for the majority of the peripherals except for the mounting of the motherboard.
2. The failed motherboard is an Abit IP 35 Pro XE.
3. It has 2 x 1GB Geil DDR2 800 RAM (PC2 6400). (presumably not used on later boards). Anyway, 4gb in my view should be the minimum)
4. Intel E5300 Pentium Dual Core CPU. (presumably not worth using again?)
5. Palit 7800 GT 512 PCI-E graphics card.
6. Power supply.
7. LG DVD re-writer.
8. A 3.5" floppy.
9. Two 500GB Hard drives.
10. Windows XP installed.
11. Quality keyboard.
12 Microsoft wired mouse.

All suggestions gratefully received.

Many thanks
 
If the PC (before failing) was adequate for her requirements, then to keep costs down, I would perhaps go on ebay and find a similar motherboard or PC that has a similar chipset.

If you start to upgrade then you'll need a fresh install of windows (Which if you're OK with doing then fine) - would a cheap tablet PC from Argos/Tesco not suffice?

If all she's doing is surfing and emailing, it maybe a more viable option.
 
That's a nice little bundle for £100, but I think as OracIe said a second hand replacement socket 775 motherboard could be considerably cheaper?

You could try clearing the CMOS on the current motherboard first via the switch, jumper, battery, just in case? Instructions for your specific board should be in the manual that it came with or available on the Abit website perhaps.
 
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Just to throw another option. If you are sure it is the motherboard you could replace it with this.

Personally, I'd just get that £100 bundle or a tablet :)
 
As far as I remember CC code is Clear CMOS, so I advice you to find a proper jumper onboard first and celar CMOS. It might be old battery as well, so putting a new one cannot be wrong idea.
 
Yeah that's what I thought. It could be the boards CMOS is buggered, but it couldn't hurt to try clearing it using switch/jumper depending on what the boards got, or removing the battery and power cable for a while, not sure how long it usually needs to be?
 
Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I had already shorted the CMOS and left it for a while. Also I disconnected the power supply from it (the old trick from years ago) and then reconnected. No joy.

The guy who tested for me thought the board might have had a short on it and he felt the processor could have suffered as a result.

In the final analysis, it is all down to how much my daughter wants to spend on it. Her choice not mine.
 
fowler002 said:
Another option, give her your PC and have an excuse to get a new toy for yourself ;)
Click to expand...

+1

But in all seriousness, try a new mobo battery before dropping money on repairs/upgrades whatnot. I doubt the board would have just shorted for no reason. Unless it's been moved/tinkered with recently, or your daughter has been throwing used paperclips in through the intake fans for fun...

What psu is it out of curiosity? As if its old, even if it's a good brand etc it might not be supplying proper power through degradation over time.
 
implosiveturnip said:
What psu is it out of curiosity? As if its old, even if it's a good brand etc it might not be supplying proper power through degradation over time.
Click to expand...

A brand new 500 watt PSU was tried in the shop with the same resulting beep beep beep and the CC post code. That is why we came to the conclusion it was the board. Surely if the battery was duff, it would lose the CMOS settings every time it was switched off. The manual tells me this and I have tried a new one. Same result.

Remember this post code shows as soon as it is connected to the mains and the power is supplied to it. The board is just not powering up. Well, it is but it is only getting to the CC post code error and the red power led.

The book tells me that the CC Post code appears when either the external "EZ-CCMOS1" Switch or the internal "CCMOS1" Jumper is not to its normal position. This board only has the jumper.

The PC had been plugged into the mains (board powered up) for 12 months. My daughter only switched it off to clean dust from the surrounding area and did not even move it.
 
Fair enough. In that case I'd go with one of OCUK's pre-built cpu/mobo/ram combos and be done with it. Maybe an APU based system and sell off your old RAM, CPU and GPU. Better to go for new imo as better warranty and CS from OCUK than having a shot in the dark on Le auction site or that xanthan-based tree-themed pre-owned pawning website.
 
I would go with replacing the bios battery before anything, they only cost about £1 so its not much lost if it doesn't work. They usually last about 5-10 years, but they do run out faster if the PC is turned off at the wall whenever its powered down.
 
Thanks again guys

Kotu said:
I would go with replacing the bios battery before anything, they only cost about £1 so its not much lost if it doesn't work. They usually last about 5-10 years, but they do run out faster if the PC is turned off at the wall whenever its powered down.
Click to expand...

Already done that! Perhaps you missed my previous post?

Being an intel guy over the years, it looks like this will be the one to use to do an upgrade.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-213-OK&groupid=43&catid=2512

Naturally I will need to re-install Windows XP (corporate) to make sure all the correct drivers are installed properly?

Looks like I will have throw the floppy drive away, unless there is an adaptor to convert over?

Also I presume because this is a Micro ATX board it will just be a lot smaller in the case?

***Just realised the DVD Rewriter is IDE! Do the converters (IDE to SATA) work?****

Thanks to all who have replied so far. I am always open to advice and suggestions.
 
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