Trouble shooting a dead PC

steven2805

steven2805

steven2805

Associate
Joined
19 Feb 2010
Posts
67
Hello,

I have been asked to take a look at a friends PC which has been having some serious issues as of late.

The story am being told is the computer is on its 3rd power supply with the previous 2 "blowing up". This is sending alarm bells ringing to me as they aren't cheap no name PSU. Currently its got a Corsair 500W and previously had a Corsair 750W and unknown before that.

As far a specs its got a
Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3
Can't remember the exact Cpu but Its something like AMD FX-6300
Corsair 500W
AMD Radeon HD 7790
unknown ram

I had a quick look at it today and first noted that the GPU and PSU fans spin but none of the Case or CPU fans spin, they are plugged in. I would assume if the GPU is getting power the motherboard is getting power through it.

Also as a side note the Pc has never got a side panel on (due to overheating) and the owner removed the head sink on multiple occasions and didn't bother replacing the thermal paste. It was a hard chalk consistency when I removed it. Well that's probably why its a bit hot !!!

I have recommending he invest in a new motherboard and possibly a new CPU but have you guys any ideas or is it toast ?

any help is much appreciated :-)

Sorry about the title my phone decided to ninja auto-correct me
 
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Outside of case with the bare minimums is the best start.

Does the motherboard have a speaker, if so take the GPU out with 1 stick of RAM to see if it's posting properly.
 
Thanks for both your replys

It's certainly possible it could be the PSU again, ill have to do some testing, perhaps swap my working one over.

I have stripped the computer right back and haven't found any obvious damage/burn marks. Also tried it out of case with the same result. Nice call on the speaker I will have to investigate and see what's going on with that as I haven't heard anything coming from it. Cheers again
 
Hmmm 3 PSUs blew up. I done researched on that kind of issues, it could be either over tight screws on motherboard caused shorts or ungrounded, bad or faulty PSU power cable cord.

Also is the PC plugged in surge protector?
 
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Why do you need to shoot it if it's already dead?

And how did it die?

I'm calling the police!
 
Shooting a PC is easy. Finding a problem before replacing or disconnecting anything is also easy. Unfortunately confusion is traceable to replaced parts without even one reason to know that part was defective.

For example, PSUs do not blow up. It if failed, a number says which supply function failed. Then a reason for that failure is first known, then eliminated. I do not see even one reason to know any supply has blown up. What determines if a supply can operate? Another power system component - a power controller. Why was that not accused?

CMOS, RAM, and CPU thermal past have no relationship to what symptoms suggest is defective. Testing for beep codes is also irrelevant. Since everything can act defective IF a power system (more than a PSU) is first not confirmed good. A defective supply can even boot a computer. Solution means instructions, a meter, and one minute of labor.

Those are the only two choices. Either keep replacing parts on wild speculation (even ignore other's accuastions). Or learn what is defective using one minute of labor to empower your help with numbers.

Former will never identify why failures happen. Can sometimes cure symptoms. And may induce other defects making confusion even worse. Later is how to eliminate a failure and reasons for future those failures the first time. And then also learn how a computer really works. Your choice.
 
Surge protectors can also be faulty, never buy a cheap one, I had one which simply did not work once and another that blew and took out my PSU with it.

I live on the edge of a town, my place is always the first to go in any power cuts and I get power spikes now and then. I cannot stress the importance of a good surge protector if you friend is having power spike issues.

The problem with power spikes is it can do more than damage the PSU. It can do serious damage to other components.
 
Scirocco said:
The problem with power spikes is it can do more than damage the PSU. It can do serious damage to other components.
Click to expand...
Damage can be due to a protector too close to a PSU and too far from earth ground. We literally traced every surge to explain why damage happened. Otherwise we could not install effective solutions.

In one case, an adjacent protector bypassed internal PSU protection. Connected a surge directly to a powered off motherboard. Of course, damage means an outgoing path must also exist. Outgoing from that computer via its network card. Then into another powered off computer via its network card. Then outgoing from that computer to earth via its modem and phone line.

Adjacent protector literally connected a surge to earth destructively through an adjacent computer. That protector did what its manufacturer specifications said it would do. Make no difference if the protector is a $12 one or an $80 one from Monster, et al. Described is what adjacent protectors do on a type of surge that protector does not claim to protect from.

Superior protection inside PSU was bypassed because an ineffective, plug-in protector was adjacent to that computer.

Another, proven, many times less expensive, and superior solution is unfortunately also called a surge protector. This completely different device is located when a surge might enter the building. Connected low impedance (ie 'less than 10 feet') to single point earth ground. That sentence is THE most critical. Then a protector is but one part of a system that harmlessly absorbs hundreds of thousands of joules.

Price does not determine quality. Some of the most expensive protectors offer all but no protection from typically destructive surges.

How many joules does an adjacent (and most expensive) protector absorb? Hundreds? Always read manufacturer specification numbers (and not price numbers). Hundreds means near zero protection. If surges are causing damage, then we know another and proven protection is missing or compromised.

Surges occur maybe once every seven years. Most failures are due to manufacturing defects. To say more requires hard facts such as using one minute of labor to empower the help with numbers. Currently provided is only enough information to wildly speculate.

Wild speculation solves problems by randomly replacing good parts until something works. Another solution, employed by the fewer who actually know this stuff, means locating what is defective long before even removing or replacing anything. That means numbers from one minute of labor.

A PSU can fail due to a defect in another part of the power system. Nobody can say which other part until useful data (ie numbers from a meter) are first provided. A task so simple that even a 13 year old can do it.


BTW, surges (ie lightning) do not take out all or most computer parts. Typically damaged is only one or two parts. Surges, that can overwhelm protection inside electronics, typically occur once every seven years. A number that can vary significantly even in the same town. A number defined by other critical parameters such as geology.
 
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