What is borked: PSU or Mobo??

Dutch Guy

Dutch Guy

Dutch Guy

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My main computer is dead, the light on the mobo comes on when I press the power button but the fans stop after a split second and nothing further happens, I can hear the PSU fans spinning but that is because the Enermax PSU keeps the fans on after stopping.

But what could be dead, the mobo or the PSU?
 
If anything powers on at all that would suggest that the powersupply is ok...

Have you got another PSU you could test your system with?
 
There are no beeps, no GPU fan, only the light on the mobo goes on and the fans spin but within a second they stop.

I tried resetting the CMOS and that did not help.

I guess it might be the PSU even though it does power up but maybe it can't deliver enough power to boot?
 
I decided to order a new Enermax Pro82+ 525W PSU together with a Socket 775 mobo, E7200 and DDR2

But what is the best way to get Windows XP to work without reinstalling as I haven't had time to backup data from the boot drive?

What happens when I do a repair from the Windows XP CD, will all the installed programs still work?
 
Sometimes you might be able to get away with booting into windows without doing anything. In most cases you won't. Generally an In Place Install (Repair) would do the trick just fine. All documents and programs are retained.
 
Mul said:
Sometimes you might be able to get away with booting into windows without doing anything. In most cases you won't. Generally an In Place Install (Repair) would do the trick just fine. All documents and programs are retained.
Click to expand...
Thanks, that is some good news, I think I won't even try to boot as I will go from a Nvidia mobo + AMD CPU to Intel mobo + Intel CPU :p

Am I right in thinking I should NOT select repair Windows with the recovery console but select repair later on when choosing to install XP?
 
Are you sure it's mobo/PSU? Sounds like a description of a recent RAM problem I had.
 
Mud said:
Are you sure it's mobo/PSU? Sounds like a description of a recent RAM problem I had.
Click to expand...
Arrggghhh, I have no idea.

I haven't ordered yet so I can try it with one stick removed to see if that helps.

But if it is a RAM problem shouldn't the casefans remain spinning and the mobo give a boot error?
 
- Removed one stick and tried = same symptoms
- Tried booting with the other stick = same symptoms

So can I say it is not the memory?
 
Probably...though I had 3 of 4 sticks definitively go together, and the 4th stick 1/2 go! Think you may have a point about the fans remaining spinning, though I had Asus POST weirdness to deal with too (turns on, off, then back on...).
 
Dutch Guy said:
Thanks, that is some good news, I think I won't even try to boot as I will go from a Nvidia mobo + AMD CPU to Intel mobo + Intel CPU :p

Am I right in thinking I should NOT select repair Windows with the recovery console but select repair later on when choosing to install XP?
Click to expand...

Just to answer your question there, that's right yes. You carry on past the EULA agreement up to the point where it detects any previously installed versions of Windows on the Hard Disk Drive. At that stage you press R for repair rather than carrying on to delete and recreate partitions.
 
Mud said:
Probably...though I had 3 of 4 sticks definitively go together, and the 4th stick 1/2 go! Think you may have a point about the fans remaining spinning, though I had Asus POST weirdness to deal with too (turns on, off, then back on...).
Click to expand...
I tried it without any memory installed just to see if I would get an error instead but still the same, the fans jitter a split second and that's it, I also can't hear the harddrives spinning.

[edit] I ordered a PSU, mobo, CPU and DDR2 so I have some building/installing to look forward too :( [edit]
 
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