mobo / cpu troubleshooting

[aaron.colon]

hello all,

my question regards testing if a cpu and mobo are functional.

Functional:
Power Supply
RAM

Items in question:
2.5ghz Celeron
Mobo (from eMachines compter)

When the PS is connected to the MOBO, the LED on the front of the
computer (indicating power) is lit. When power switch is pressed (to
boot computer) nothing happens. Fans do no spin, ect.

Failed repair attempts:
1. Switched the power switch
2. Put CPU into an old P4 compatable board running a 1.8ghz P4 with
512MB pc133 RAM. Computer boots, but hangs. No video signal. Perhaps
FSB / RAM is incompatible?

CPU shows no signs of visible damage. I am unaware of how the PC
reached this current state. Best guess is some type of power surge, as
i had to replace the PS.

Are my MOBO, CPU, or both fried?

any information you can provide is greatly appreciated.

thanks,
aaron

 

[Rod Speed]

(e-mail address removed) wrote

my question regards testing if a cpu and mobo are functional.

Functional:
Power Supply
RAM

Items in question:
2.5ghz Celeron
Mobo (from eMachines compter)

When the PS is connected to the MOBO, the LED on the front
of the computer (indicating power) is lit. When power switch is
pressed (to boot computer) nothing happens. Fans do no spin, ect.

Failed repair attempts:
1. Switched the power switch

Best check for that is to connect the two pins used for the
power switch with a screwdriver at the header, carefully.

2. Put CPU into an old P4 compatable board running a 1.8ghz P4
with 512MB pc133 RAM. Computer boots, but hangs. No video
signal. Perhaps FSB / RAM is incompatible?

Or that older motherboard wont accept that particular cpu.

CPU shows no signs of visible damage. I am unaware
of how the PC reached this current state. Best guess
is some type of power surge, as i had to replace the PS.

The other obvious possibility is that the original PS died and
killed the motherboard in the process. Thats not uncommon.

Are my MOBO, CPU, or both fried?

Its not common to kill a cpu, its much more likely to be the motherboard.

any information you can provide is greatly appreciated.

Check for bad caps on the motherboard. These are the usually blue or black
plastic covered post like things that stick up vertically from the motherboard.
The tops should be flat. If any have bulged or have leaked, the motherboard
is dead.

 

[paulmd]

hello all,

my question regards testing if a cpu and mobo are functional.

Functional:
Power Supply
RAM

Items in question:
2.5ghz Celeron
Mobo (from eMachines compter)

When the PS is connected to the MOBO, the LED on the front of the
computer (indicating power) is lit. When power switch is pressed (to
boot computer) nothing happens. Fans do no spin, ect.

Failed repair attempts:
1. Switched the power switch
2. Put CPU into an old P4 compatable board running a 1.8ghz P4 with
512MB pc133 RAM. Computer boots, but hangs. No video signal. Perhaps
FSB / RAM is incompatible?

CPU shows no signs of visible damage. I am unaware of how the PC
reached this current state. Best guess is some type of power surge, as
i had to replace the PS.

Are my MOBO, CPU, or both fried?

any information you can provide is greatly appreciated.

Your motherboard is dead, but the one last thing you can try is to put
the p4 1.8 in the motherboard and see if it'll boot (it probably won't,
but it won't hurt the chip) . It's suffering the typical black and
silver emachines death of simulltaneous motherboard and PSU failure.
I've seen more than a dozen of these. The CPU, hard drive, RAM, and
optical drives are still fine, probably. It's nothing you or the
previous owner did to kill it, it's just emachines.

A standard mATX motherboard will fit in that case.

 

[amc]

thanks for all the information.

i will probably buy another Mobo.

thanks again,
aaron

 

[nich]

I have two P4 boards that have both stopped there video or normal boot
the fans spin and the system physically tries to go through the start
process but no video conformation the video card and on board video are
good and the power supply has been changed and re-changed the CPUs have
been changed with the same results. I also had a friend that ran into a
similar problem and after unplugging the board for a couple days it
worked any Idea what would cause this kind a problem and Other Ideas on
how to fix it?

 

[Paul]

I have two P4 boards that have both stopped there video or normal boot
the fans spin and the system physically tries to go through the start
process but no video conformation the video card and on board video are
good and the power supply has been changed and re-changed the CPUs have
been changed with the same results. I also had a friend that ran into a
similar problem and after unplugging the board for a couple days it
worked any Idea what would cause this kind a problem and Other Ideas on
how to fix it?

To get help here, try this:

1) Give a complete hardware inventory. That is important, because
sometimes the poster has an oddball hardware device that is
causing all the problems. Don't forget to mention that USB
card reader, for example.

2) Give a complete symptom description. What tests have you already
carried out ? What things did you see or hear when using the
computer ? Was there a funny burnt smell ? Was there a recent
lightning storm ? You'd be surprised some times, how many
questions we have to ask people, until they give the info
needed.

There are whole books written about computer repair. If you ask
a one line question, we'd have to write you a whole chapter in
return. If you give a complete description, we might guess the
answer for you on the very first try.

Many things can completely kill a computer. So we need a lot of
info to narrow things down.

HTH,
Paul