Possible Motherboard Problem?

[Nlaplaca]

I'm trying to diagnose a friends computer. His machine has been behaving
erratic and now no longer boots. It started a few days ago when his computer
would not boot up. When I went to investigate it started up no problem. What
he told me was that he would turn the computer on and it seemed like it
would start up then immediately shut off after 2-3 seconds. After I looked
at it, it was fine for a couple days. Now the problem is back except now
when you turn the power on you get nothing.

I opened the case to have a look and it smelled like possible something may
have burned up. My thought was that it was most likely the power supply. So
we got a new power supply to replace the one he had. There was a 250 watt
that the computer came with and I replaced it with a 350 watt. This machine
has an AMD 2200, 512 mb DDR 1 HD and 2 optical drives. I thought 250 watts
was a bit low. Anyway after installing the new power supply and turning the
power on the computer's fans all run including the heatsink fan but the
computer will not boot. The motherboard doesn't even post. So at this point
I am thinking that in addition to the power supply being faulty maybe the
motherboard has had it as well. Another strange thing is that the new power
supply fan doesn't run either. It is an antec true power so it is a quality
supply.

I have built my share of computers but the only hardware problems I have
ever had were 2 graphics cards and a hard drive. I have never had a
motherboard or power supply fail. Is it possible that a failed power supply
could take the motherboard along with it? I am not sure what make board it
is. It is an e-machine that he got from best buy. The warranty has expired
and he most likely will get a new one. Just thought I would post here first
to see if anyone had any other ideas?

Nick

 

[Jerry]

Though not really having anything to do with each other did you check the
battery on the motherboard after swapping out the power supply? If there is
no apparent indication it's booting then the BIOS may be bad or the battery
went bad too and the BIOS is not powered.

 

[V Green]

Check the electrolytic caps in the vicinity of the CPU.

They should NOT be swelled up and/or leaking stuff
out.

 

[Nlaplaca]

Well I did take it out for a few seconds and then re inserted it. I thought
maybe that could be the culprit. Might be worth trying a new battery?

 

[David Vair]

Check the video card also, its BIOS is first to kick in if that doesn't start then rest of stuff
wont start either.

 

[Nlaplaca]

I thought of that too. One of my graphics cards died on me and I thought it
was the motheboard since I did not get a beep code when I tried to boot the
computer. But I could clearly see the card was fried. It had black burn
marks on it.

However his has onboard graphics. His agp slot is empty

 

[Shan]

Sounds like a power supply problem. If changing the PSU didn't help then most likely some connector in Motherboard is damaged. That or then it's indeed the BIOS battery.

I had similiar problem when i bought my current computer about a year ago. Fans would run for couple secs, then nothing. It appeared that the new PSU was broken, had it replaced and it worked like prime.

 

[Jerry]

Then try an AGP video card - his may have been fried.

Trying a new battery won't hurt.

 

[Nlaplaca]

As it turns out his computer is actually under warranty so hopefully I won't
have to worry about it. Thanks for the replies everyone.

Nick