Help - Computer went dead in the night

Conrad11

Conrad11

Conrad11

Soldato
Joined
12 Jun 2005
Posts
5,361
Hi there,

Woke up this morning and my computer won't switch on and i am wondering what the problem is. This is after I had put into into standby (Vista) last night. I have tried taking the plug out the back, and putting it in again...to no avail.

My Hardware is:
Hiper 580W Modular
DFI Ultra-D (939)
Opteron 165
2x1GB Corsair Ram
X1900XT
250GB SATA Drive
DVDRW IDE

When the power cable is plugged in at the back, the red light on the hiper comes on to signify there is power going in (normally a red light there). The Hiper fan is on constantly at a pretty low pace.

There is no lights on my DFI Mobo when there normally is IIRC.

I have tried unplugging everything but the mobo and trying to switch it on with no avail. I have tried switching it on via the on button on the mobo to no avail.

What should i try next?

Thanks.
 
OK, iirc the DFI does have a power LED, if the LED isn't on the board is either toast, it's not getting power or the LED is dead :P Check the power connections between the PSU and the board and then search for Hiper PSU problem in google, it's well known that the Hipers have a higher rate of failure than most people are comfortable with. I'm betting if you swap the PSU you may be lucky :)
 
Well I have just got home, plugged in the power cable and the computer came on, but all the lights on the motherboard were flashing (fast) and there was a constant tick (fast).

All thats plugged in is the CPU and a stick of RAM.
 
When my Hiper 580W blew the red light was still lit on the back, but my psu tester confirmed it was fried. A psu doesn't have to be totally fried to give problems. Have you tried both sticks of ram in different slots one at a time to see if their may be memory problems? It may be more than one fault but normally your not be that unlucky.
 
I think i might be unlucky...lol.

I have plugged in a crappy 300W PSU (via 20 -> 24 pin converter) to check if it was just the PSU that appears to be gone, but when i did. There was no power LED on the Motherboard. I pressed the on button and it did that wierd thing where it was flashing all the lights and making the clicking sound constantly.

Does that mean the motherboard is broken too?

I have tried with only 1 RAM stick in there.

How can i test if my motherboard and PSU are gone?
 
In my experience, the clicking that you are hearing is caused by some lost bios settings. If you do a 1/2 hour CMOS clear, you may find that it boots. If it does, go into the bios and load optimized defaults/save and exit. Reboot and load your normal bios settings. The cause may well be putting it into standby. If it fires up properly, then just don't use standby again.
 
kitfit1 said:
In my experience, the clicking that you are hearing is caused by some lost bios settings. If you do a 1/2 hour CMOS clear, you may find that it boots. If it does, go into the bios and load optimized defaults/save and exit. Reboot and load your normal bios settings. The cause may well be putting it into standby. If it fires up properly, then just don't use standby again.
Click to expand...

This sounds very encouraging, I hope you are right!

I will do what you suggested and post back with the results...thanks.

I have been using the standby for about a month now (since i have had vista), more than one a day i would put it into and come out of standby with no trouble....until now.

EDIT:

How would you suggest i carry out the CMOS clear.

What I was thinking:

Unplug the pc.
Put the jumper onto CMOS Clear.
Unplug the battery...
Wait 30mins

And then plug it all back in again.
 
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The clicking is coming from the PSU - it must be that, that has gone!....I guess it has taken the motherboard with it.

Anyone know how long warranty lasts on Hiper PSUs...wanna know if i can RMA it.
 
Right ok....this is really starting to get my confused now.

I have swapped the Hiper PSU for the crappy 300W one. The 300W deffinately works as it is powering a machine as we speak.

When it is plugged into the machine in question (the broken one) and i press the on button. The motherboard does its thing where is constantly flashes every light on the motherboard on and off (1 stick of RAM + CPU plugged in), but the clicking is coming fro the 300W PSU, so somehow, unless the clicking is supposed to be there, I think that the motherboard is causing the problem with the clicking in the PSUs.

I tried the CMOS clear...to no avail.
 
Since you first posted i have been doing some searching at DIY STREET. I can't find anything related to your symptoms, going back as far as 2004. As i posted earlier, i had the same thing ages ago, and it was the bios. With all the things you have tried and having the psu ruled out, it can only be the mobo.
 
Are you sure the 300W psu has enough power on the +12v rail to boot the machine. An opty and an XT will need a fair bit of juice, probably more than a standard 300w can deliver.

You really need to beg, borrow or steal a decent PSU to rule out a PSU fault.

Is there a +12v rating on the 300w PSU ? if so what is it?

AD
 
The 300W PSU is only powering 1 stick of RAM, the CPU and the motherboard.

I wouldn't dare plug in the graphics card or anything else for that matter.

I'm starting to think its the PSU and its taken the motherboard with it.

When i get back later. I am going to see if the CPU is dead by putting it in another motherboard.
 
I'm still saying it's the Hiper, though it's not unheard of for it to take out other parts of the system when it goes, as suggested I think it'll turn out the 300w PSU isn't up to the job either. So it's beg, borrow or er ... borrow without permission and hope they don't notice time !
 
What about with one stick RAM, CPU and the GPU in? Unless you are doing that, but sound slike you are leaving the GPU out... if not, ignore.

Have you tried re-seating the CPU? Do you perhaps have a spare lying around you could test?
 
Just tested the CPU in another machine and it appears it is ok being powered by the 300W....so the psu IS up to the job as i said.

the reason i am not putting the GPU in is that, the motherboard will show debug lights that indicate there is a problem that it doesnt detect a GPU (not what is doing now - because it doesnt switch on :p), so that is irrelavant.

EDIT:

It looks like it has taken the RAM though as they don't work in another machine. That might be the reason it was going crazy. Ill check :)

EDIT AGAIN:

Looks like the PSU, Mobo and RAM are dead, the CPU is ok, but i am unable to check the GPU...i hope that is ok.

EDIT AGAIN:

Looks like the RAM might be fine afterall....just tried it again in a different machine, but in differnt DIMMs and it appears fine.

EDIT AGAIN:

The RAM only seems to work in DIMMs 3&4 on a DFI Inifinty RS482, whereas other RAM I have works in DIMMS 1&2. Strange.
 
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