Home PC appears to have died!

[Tris]

One for the computer wizzos

When we switch it on it appears to wind up as usual but then nothing. Screen stays in "standby" mode (Monitor OK as I've plugged it in to laptop and it worked)
No lights on key board
One quick flash from the hard drive light and then nothing more.

I guess it is a motherboard problem or it would boot upin some sort of default mode, but how do I confirm that?

Its an AS Rock AGP8X motherboard

Cheers

Tris

[K]

Computer - meet hammer. Hammer - meet computer. *



* Caution, this approach may not fix anything other than your sense of frustration. ;)

[Tris]

Computer - meet hammer. Hammer - meet computer. *



* Caution, this approach may not fix anything other than your sense of frustration. ;)

Wife she say NO :p

[Ping]

.... We're sorry, there are currently no geeks available to deal with your query. Please hold for one of our geeks to become free or try again later.

Thank you...

*beeeeeeeeeeeep*

*cue bad, tinny elevator music*

[fizzwheel]

Have you tried turning it off and on again...

I'd suspect you are correct, mainboard has gone. However I've had similar problems when I've had things like hard drives fail. So What I'd do is disconnect all the cables to devices such as hard drives, cdroms etc etc, then try and fire it up like that.

If that doesnt work try reseating the ram and the CPU, work through it methodically and do one thing at a time till you've narrowed down whats causing it.

If after all that it still doesnt work, it'll most likely be mainbaord failure

[ThEGr33k]

I'd suspect you are correct, mainboard has gone. However I've had similar problems when I've had things like hard drives fail. So What I'd do is disconnect all the cables to devices such as hard drives, cdroms etc etc, then try and fire it up like that.

I doubt itll be hard drive as you would at least get a boot screen with that issue.

Could be many things... Best way to tell is to listen to beeping that the computer makes, if you have a speaker on your Mobo. Usually on a good boot you'll just get one sharp beep, or should :rolleyes:

Basically without the beeps it could be:

CPU
Motherboard
RAM
Graphics card (if it has one?)

The comp wont boot if any of those are gone...

even the monitor/cable.

Power supply is unlikely since you say everything spins up but could still be an issue.

Sorry I cant help more, fault finding from over the net isnt so easy :(

[L3nny]

Do you get any beeps when you turn the PC on?

If not it's almost certainly the motherboard. Same thing happend to my PC a few weeks ago.

You could however take the back off it and make sure all the cards and RAM are seated correctly.

[Tris]

Have you tried turning it off and on again...


Only about a million times ;)

I can't remember if we get a beep or not. I'll check when I get home

Cheers for now though

[Swin]

A simple thing to check is that the cpu fan is turning. Just take the side cover off and get in a position where you can see the fan as you switch the machine on. Some motherboards will not allow the system to boot up if the fan isn't working as it will cook the CPU.
Fan coolers are about 10 pounds to replace, so it's worth a quick check before replacing more expensive bits

[startrek.steve]

Ive got the same motherboard, it could be the power supply, try borrowing a known working one. It can spin up the fans and still be knackered..
Steve

[Kinvig]

A couple of starter questions for 10 - what OS are you using - Windows (& which flavour - XP, vista etc), Linux, Apple?

If it's Windows OS have you tried booting it up in safe mode? IIRC, keeping the F8 button pressed down when you boot up to get to the start up menu. What error messages do you get?

Have you installed any new hardware/software recently?

Installed the latest service packs/patches?

Anti virus?

[Tris]

OK in response

CPU fan runs

Its running Windows XP so I'll try the F8 thing

New software for a wireless connection but that worked fine a number of times over a number of days before this. Plus I've pulled out the wirless USB thingy and re-booted but that didn't work

Anti virus in and upto date

We did move it from one room to another so I wondeer if something got shook up somewhere

How do I get the CPU out and what precautions do i need to take if Im to check its all plugged in right?

Cheers

[Kinvig]

I wouldn't advise rummaging around under the bonnet esp. if you don't know what you're looking for. See what options you get running in safe-mode first.

Softly, softly, catchy monkey n'all that!

[Ploppy]

What stage is the computer getting to? If you have no output still then you need the beeps... unless you can test everything separately, which I doubt most people can do.

[chompy]

if its a dell then check you have no memorys sticks in there. dells dont turn on if you do and do what you say. It happened to my work on eand its because a memory stick was left in when it got turned off :D hope it helps