And then it all went of....

[Richard_T]

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Having a bit of a computer problem, in that it just switched off, now wont turn back on again. (Desktop PC)

the fans all spin up to top speed, and thats it, a Gigabyte ( motherboard manufacturer screen ) came up briefly and then straight to black - no beep no method to get to bios just a black screen.

I unplugged everything and tried again, before getting the windows failed to boot screen for a few seconds then nothing but a black screen

 

All the fans spin up OK

 

I managed to get my hands on another psu, and a psu "quick tester"

For the psu in my pc...

when the PSU tester is plugged in to the main psu ( rated at 720wat ) it beeps and shows a PG value of 990LL and the +12volt is showing at 36volts, with the other voltages all over the place.

 

The alternative PSU rated at 600 watts, when plugged into the psu tester shows a pg value of 300LL and all other voltages witin +/- 0.2 volt

However when the alternative psu which tests as good is plugged into the motherboard+all connections on the main pc the main p.c still refuses to boot the fans spin up and then pulse ( going from high speed to slow )

 

Im guessing that the psu has died ( hence the out of range values ) and wiped out the motherboard? does this sound right?

 

ive also managed to test the Ram sticks on another PC as well as the graphics card and hard drive, all my data is double backed up onto two external drives ( one 6 years old and o the other just under a year )

 

The problem is i need to get it working again by tuesday :( the motherboard is/was a Gigabyyte 970A-DS3P with an AMD CPU

[Plastic Nev]

Hi Richard,

I am afraid it does look like the PSU failing has wiped out the mother board as well.

 

As for the other attached components such as the CPU, hard drive, RAM, and if fitted CD/DVD drive, they can only be checked by trying on a good system, though the CPU I would not advise too much messing with that except to install it on a new motherboard.

 

Providing the tester is accurate, the 36 volts on the 12 volt rail is the most likely reason.

 

Providing you can get a replacement motherboard and install it, then try the other components with fingers crossed is about the only thing I can offer.

Bear in mind, if that high voltage has damaged other stuff, it may be cheaper to buy another computer.

 

Nev.

[Richard_T]

Thnaks for the reply, looks like a motherboard jobby then :(

Ive been able to test the graphics card, Ram and associated drives on an alternative PC and these seem ok, the graphics card was ( PCI power lead ) was only registering 9 volts, for some odd reason the socket that goes to the motherboard ( the big flat one with the multiple wires ) was receiving the crazy high voltages, and the other bits were either over or under by a few volts. ( as in two or three )

 

Unfortunatly its going to be a trip to the high street for a replacement board, ( as i need it working soon ) and I will be in Nottingham tomorrow so thats a choice of Maplins of PC world/Currys, and pc world seem to sell more things like coffee machines than pc bits.

Ive isolated the rogue 12volt pins on the PSU and tested them with an old fashioned multimeter it all tallys.

 

As for swapping out the motherboard, this will be a first for me, as ive normally bought barebones kits form places such as novatech, im guessing the only thing that I will need is some heat sink thermal paste to re-attach the CPU heatsink

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, sounds about right and glad that most stuff seems to have escaped. Not too sure about the graphics card, and of course it is a wait and see as far as the CPU is concerned, though I think you might find that also has escaped as it isn't on the higher voltages.

 

As you will be taking the CPU off the old board, then yes you will need the thermal paste. Make sure you clean off all the old paste.

 

Nev.

[Richard_T]

cheers, i dont know why there cant be a simple fuse, or protection device in there some how.

 

Just glad that ive got data back ups as well - tend to get a replacement back up drive every three years- currently got two

[Plastic Nev]

cheers, i dont know why there cant be a simple fuse, or protection device in there some how.

 

There are such circuits available, however it is the usual story, too much expense to fit them in.

 

Considering the original PSU was 720 watts, ideally you need similar or possibly larger, as it is the possibly most important part of the computer, go for a good quality one and dont be tempted to skimp on price.

 

Nev.

[Richard_T]

Thanks again, no luck in Maplin the motherboards and a lot of the compenents have been replaced by toys on the shelves.

been looking at this http://www.amazon.co.uk/M5A99X-R2-0-Motherboard-PCI-Express-iControl/dp/B008RPZUZK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1417897705&sr=8-2&keywords=AM3%2B+motherboard+990

coupled with my current CPU ( AMD FX-8 8320 ) Asus amd radeon HD6670 graphics card (1024mb GDDR5 Ram ) 2x 4GB DDR3 Ram, Blu ray drive, SSD disk and mechanical hard drive.

I*m hoping that a 600watt psu will power it. ( OCX ModXStream-pro 600w)

[h=1][/h]

[Plastic Nev]

H Richard, that board is an Asus board, therefore you may have a problem getting Windows to boot as it will see a different environment.

 

I have found also on Amazon the same board I think as your original so Windows should have no problem booting, also a cheaper price too here :-

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-970A-DS3P-Motherboard-Socket-Express/dp/B00CX4MUCC

 

Also looked at the specs for the graphics card, is this the same model?

 

http://www.asus.com/uk/Graphics_Cards/EAH6670DIS1GD5/specifications/

 

If so it only requires some 75 watts, so that 600 watt PSU should be OK, though I would still look towards buying a larger wattage PSU when you can afford it.

Please bear in mind that the graphics card you have may have been damaged along with the motherboard by the PSU blowing. You may find you have to get a new one too.

[Richard_T]

again thanks, ive got no issues with a clean windows install, ( was expecting it anyways )

Just wondering if the other board would be a better one than the gigabyte 970 one.

just thinking if i go down the change it route, it may as well have an upgrade along the way - or if its broken try and get something a little better

[Plastic Nev]

Ok Richard, if a full reinstall is no problem then I understand. It is a bit late here so no time to look up full specs, however I will tomorrow and let you know what I find, depends also on what you are prepared to spend as well of course, so if you can give us a general idea of how much, it will help in finding the best for the money.

 

Nev.

[Richard_T]

cheers my budgets around £75-£100 looking for something thats goign to be relativly easy to install durable and hopefully a little future proof as in will be able to accept better components cpu/ram etc if i should choose to upgrade in the future.

[Plastic Nev]

OK Richard, considering the original motherboard is full size and fortunately not one of the small form factor boards, basically the world is your oyster.

 

You know what you want from a motherboard, so unless you are prepared to change it, the only restriction is compatibility with the original CPU, as everything else is more or less universal except the graphics card.

However if that has died and you need to replace it anyway, even that may not be a problem. (Could do with another computer to try fitting that graphics card and see if it has been damaged or not)

 

Bear in mind that other makes of mother board may be slightly smaller, or slightly different fixings as that Asus one is, and therefore mounting pillars may have to be changed or moved.

 

So, do have a good look round, when you see something that fills your needs, let us know before actually buying it so we can check out what is what or if there looks to be any problems with for example CPU compatibility etc.

 

That Asus board you linked to for an example looks to be fairly good, though at least two years behind in design as it was first released in 2012, a more recent design may give more and worth thinking about.

 

Nev.

[Richard_T]

This is also within budget http://www.amazon.co.uk/M5A99X-R2-0-Motherboard-PCI-Express-iControl/dp/B008RPZUZK#productDetails

[Plastic Nev]

That is actually the same board you linked to earlier, however, it should be OK as far as I can see, the graphics card you have should also be compatible if it is still OK.

 

If Windows will not boot once you have installed the MB, do you have the original Windows disk?

 

Nev.

[Richard_T]

thanks again - got the full retail version of windows 7 home premium,

[Plastic Nev]

OK, Richard, I think you should also get the complete drivers disk with that motherboard, so providing you have the current product key, or if that Windows DVD hasn't been used elsewhere and have the key for that, you should be able to fully reinstall Windows 7 and activate it with no problems, then put the drivers disk in for the motherboard.

 

Nev.

[Richard_T]

It arrived this morning, just spent all morning taking the old out, and putting the new one in. it all went together quite well.

Its booted up OK, (it even went beep) well booted up as far as the windows loading screen goes, but as expected it then blue screens, then re-boots then windows start error page.

so it looks like a re-install windows job - fortunately ive got the disk/key etc and its a full retail version of windows.

 

First time Ive installed a motherboard/cpu+heatsink etc for a P.C - and it didnt require any soldering :) unlike the freeview recorder that I repaired about a week ago - the internal psu had blown on that as well ( had to replace some capacitors ) , which coincidentally is about the same time my PC started having trouble ( re-boots etc) thats my ADSL router, freeview box and PC which all started playing up at roughly the same time

[Plastic Nev]

OK Richard, let us know if any problems with the Windows reinstall. If there are it may just be the hard drive, though hopefully not.

 

As for the combined other electronic device failures, have you had any problems with the electrical supply as it sounds like a possible mains electricity surge, do you have a surge protector?

 

Nev.

[Richard_T]

All seems OK so far, do you know of any decent automatic fan control software? Im looking for something that will turn the case fans on only when the temperature reaches a certain level and increase the speed as/if the temperature goes up, decreasing them as the temperature goes down.

 

Also sat in the corner is the remains of a previous PC of mine, all that remains of it is a motherbaord/CPU/Ram

the motherboard is a FoxconnP9657AA cpu Intel Core2 duo E6300 and 4GB DDR2 Ram not sure if it would be worth anything ( 7 years old) if i took it to somewhere like CEX? its other likely destination would be the tip

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, software to control case fan speeds would also require some form of hardware I would think which would be specially built into the motherboard.

 

Some top end gaming motherboards may well have case fan controllers, but I doubt it for that motherboard you have and cannot see anything in the specs for it. So basically I don't think it can be done, though if anyone knows differently they are welcome to say so.

 

 

 

As for the box of spare parts from the old computer, if a member of E Bay, you might be able to sell them on there, certainly the motherboard and CPU, and maybe the RAM as a separate item.

[Richard_T]

theres some bundled software called FanXpert as a part of something else called AI suite 2 that allows for the control of CPU fan and Chasis fan 1, but not the other fans, and the minimum setting for the chassis fan is 40%