Topic: 2 dead computers.

[mistybear]

Okay, we have managed to stuff up both computers,

Michael was away at a friends laning when his computer just wouldn't turn on. Well it did for a split second, just a flash of light and then nothing.

We were advised to disconnect the PSU and stick a paper clip in the power lead to see if it would work. I guess that's the poor mans multi metre.

We decided not to do that as neither of us were confident and I was worried about frying something expensive. So we decided to unplug my PSU and plug Michaels in to my computer. Seemed sensible at the time......  

The result was that the fans spun for a split second, then nothing. Okay, dead PSU, now plug mine back in..... mine won't boot now.  

The PSU and CPU fans come on and I think the HDD whirls for a few seconds, but no ticking and tapping, then the HDD goes silent and just the other fans are going and no signal on the monitor.  

We have been rechecking that everything has been plugged back in and can't find what is wrong.

[Simon]

Hi Kate,

It might have been better to have tried the good PSU in the dead PC, rather than chance a possibly bad PSU in a working machine, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. 

I can only think that perhaps you haven't connected something correctly, or that possibly the bad PSU has caused some damage.  Have you definitely connected all the IDE terminals as they were before?

[mistybear]

Hi Simon,

I didn't think that a dead psu could cause damage, I was only concerned about doing damage to an expensive machine.

Michael connected everything and he went over it so many times, but he has done that before only to find something he had missed. But I can't see anything amiss but it's be ages since I've worked on mine. He has gone to work and won't be home till sometime tomorrow and then he'll be exhausted from working all night.

He took the battery out and we even put the old GFX card back in, made no difference.

What could we have fried? if that is the cause. Michael has offered to take it to a PC repairer if we don't get it up and running as I really have to have it as I can't use the lappy for somethings that need doing now.

[Simon]

I'm guessing, Kate, but if the battery has been removed, the BIOS would have been reset, so you may need to enter the BIOS and set the boot drive as the main drive.

[mistybear]

That would be fine if we had an output from it. I'd love to see a blue screen and not "no signal". 

When there isn't any ratta tat tat from the HDD, what does that mean?

[topquark]

I use one of these for testing out power supplies: http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=98829

Worth the investment if you have a few computers around and it's usually my first port of call for a fault after a manual check of the motherboard.  Do you hear the beep indicating POST (power on self test) has completed, if not it would be worth reseting the bios as with the battery removed you may have some invalid values in the bios config memory.  Methods for reseting the bios vary but there is usually a jumper on the motherboard to ensure it's erased properly.

[Simon]

So, you're getting no signal to the monitor at all, Kate?  Is there an on board graphics port you can connect it to?  If there's no sounds from the hard drive, then it's probably not connected, or dead (unlikely).  Sorry, but I don't really know what to suggest.

[mistybear]

I use one of these for testing out power supplies: http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=98829

Worth the investment if you have a few computers around and it's usually my first port of call for a fault after a manual check of the motherboard.  Do you hear the beep indicating POST (power on self test) has completed, if not it would be worth reseting the bios as with the battery removed you may have some invalid values in the bios config memory.  Methods for reseting the bios vary but there is usually a jumper on the motherboard to ensure it's erased properly.

I will try and find one of those testers here, seems like a good idea. And there isn't any beeps at all, just fans. I don't know where the jumper on the mobo is. I've had a good look inside the PC and a look at the mobo diagram, mind you, I'm not sure what it looks like.

So, you're getting no signal to the monitor at all, Kate?  Is there an on board graphics port you can connect it to?  If there's no sounds from the hard drive, then it's probably not connected, or dead (unlikely).  Sorry, but I don't really know what to suggest.

We took the graphics card out many times and even put the old one back in, but I think that one is just about dead anyway.

The only sounds that I "think" are coming from the gfx card is the initial whirl noise that lasts for about 20 seconds and is usually followed by the ratta tat tat of it's reading data or whatever it is it does to make that noise. And mine makes a lot of noise and generally takes awhile to load windows and everything else.

[Simon]

Quote: "We took the graphics card out many times and even put the old one back in, but I think that one is just about dead anyway."
 
Some motherboards also have onboard graphics, which the BIOS will default to if it's been reset by removing the battery.  Is there no other connection where the monitor would connect to?

[mistybear]

How do I upload a thumbnail of a pic of the back on my PC, Simon?

[mistybear]

[Simon]

I can't really see it from my phone, but is that a blue connector next to the big pink printer port? If so, try plugging your monitor in there.

[mistybear]

Okay, thanks Simon. 

[mistybear]

I didn't end up doing that as we don't have a cable adapter of that size.

But Michael took my HDD out and put it in a borrowed computer. Problem is, neither of us know how to access it? And he's gone to work now, so it's just me.

I've read a little about master and slave drives but it doesn't make a lot of sense.   

[Simon]

Are you just trying to access the files, Kate?  If so, I think it needs to be a slave, so you would need to set the jumper on the drive correctly, and connect it to the middle (I think) connection on the IDE cable, assuming it's an IDE drive.

But you might want to wait for someone else to confirm that.