HELP!!! Mysterious Death of Computer!!!

Marshall Blyth

Marshall Blyth

Marshall Blyth

Associate
Joined
13 May 2004
Posts
270
Location
Gloucester
Hi guys,

Last night my computer mysteriously died. Knowing the amount of experience and expertise on these forums, I am posting here from my brother-in-law's laptop, in the hope that someone will be able to help me identify which part has gone FUBAR.

Here are the specs first of all:

AMD 64 3400+
MSI K8N Neo Platinum
2 GB Crucial 3200 DDR RAM
BFG NVIDIA 7600 with 512RAM
Audigy 2 ZS

This machine was built in July 04, but received a rebuild after my GFX card fried at the very beginning of 05.

Symptons:

I was playing Soldner - Secret Wars on Saturday evening, and suddenly a funny noise came through my speakers, like when you are tuning a radio in, then the computer locked up. I was forced to do a manual restart, and then it booted up normally, but then froze when I tried to load Soldner again.

After this, I could only load XP in safe-mode. But it froze 5 minutes or so after loading. Now, it won't load at all. It powers up automatically (without me touching the power switch) as soon as I turn the plug on, and then turns itself off 3-4 seconds later. I tried reseating the GFX card, soundcard and RAM, but this has not fixed the issue. Power seems to be getting to the GFX card and chip, as the fans on both are spinning. I think ir may be the chip, but I wanted to see what you guys thought before 'doing' anything.

If you need anymore information, feel free to ask, and I shall provide any details that I can.

Cheers fellas... ;)
 
that is grim. my mobo died a complete death about 2 weeks ago and i had to rebuild the machine, so i know how you feel.

unfortunately i have no clue what has happened to your machine. i hope somebody more knowledgeable than me can help you.

good luck
 
The random reboots, autoswitching on and off - and otherwise partial functionality suggest the PSU as opposed to the memory, or graphics card, or chip. We can't yet rule out the mobo... but the PSU is the Prime Suspect.
 
Right now I am on my brother-in-law's laptop, but I'll try and set up another computer so that I can get on the internet from home. I might wait until I have the money in the summertime to completely rebuild my system...
 
why not try and get hold of a PSU tester only a couple of quid, just an alternative if you cant get hold of a free spare to try
 
my old pc used to scream through the speakers right before a shut-off. Funny as **** in a way the cpu shouting HELP!!

PC Probe showed it was the cpu overheating. Cleaned off the cpu and sink with a lick of fresh arctic silver cured it.

I hope that's your problem, lest it be more expensive.
 
I was gonna say it's a temp, unseated device or PSU issue, but you ruled out reseating the various parts already...

Next i'd try reseating the CPU, it's gonna be cheaper then anything else... cost of compound at the most, then look at trying another PSU.

All as suggested already, just wanted to add my opinion.... ;)
 
Hi fellas,

I am EXTREMELY happy to tell you that my beast is back up and running! It turned out to be the MoBo in the end.

That's the 2nd MSI K8N Neo I've been through on this machine, strange, I always thought MSI stuff was cool.

Ah well, it's sorted now. Thanks for your help and wisdom... ;)
 
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