Computer gone.....

[Chicky Babe]

okay...so this might be completely random and don't shoot me if it sounds stupid as I am no computer guru, however...

I had a very very similar problem, it would try to boot and then the monitor would go black and say something about analogue/digital... I ended up moving the pc and monitor to another powerpoint in the house and it worked, booted up fine and got my screen back.  Took it back to the study and it wouldn't work. Still thought it was a power problem with my pc...

I took it to the pc shop and they said it needed upgrading and had a couple of issues so got those fixed, took it home, booted up fine for a few days then did it again!!!  Pulled the power point out and it was full of ants and the connections were eroded...new power point and it was good as gold!!!  Fortunately I needed the upgrade and glad I got some of the other issues fixed as it was buggin me!!

Like I said...may have absolutely nothing to do with it, but an electrician friend of mine came over and checked the voltage on my powerpoints and three of them had a reduction in voltage due to corrosion so he replaced 3 of them for me!!

Just an idea!!!

[WilSurf]

I will give it a try.
It doesn't any harm.

[noel_w]

I have a very handy little gadget to test PC power supplies. I have attached a random link to one that is similar to mine. It has saved me $$ heaps of times as I "dabble" in IT. (24x7  )

http://pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=4081

It will check your power supply to tell you if all outputs are close to spec.

[Geoffwin]

Sounds like the m/b to me.

My suggestion would be to unplug and plug back in all things that can be unplugged (except cpu), so video card, mouse, keyboard, hard drive connections both on the hard drive and the motherboard. Memory modules.

I have had a similar issue caused by a faulty USB stick, luckily for me the stick fried and nothing else. Perhaps you were not so lucky.

Did you mention you tried the hard drive from the faulty machine in another machine?

It is very limiting of you cannot get into the bios and/or you cannot boot from the CD / DVD rom. This is also an indicator of a bad m/b.

[D4D]

For the 5000th time check the power rails...

[WilSurf]

For the 5000th time check the power rails...

Where are these "power rails"?
Is it the 4-pin connection to the hard drive you are mentioning?

[noel_w]

A particular voltage coming out of a multi voltage power supply is generally referred to as a "power rail" .
The power supply tester I referred to above will test these "power rails"

[D4D]

Where are these "power rails"?
Is it the 4-pin connection to the hard drive you are mentioning?

Do you have a multimeter? Turn the PC on and measure the DC V at the power connector for the HDD, red should be +5V, yellow should be +12V, black is earth.

[Bunyip]

Wilsurf,

with the whole "world ending on the 21st" thing is it really worth putting in this much effort? 

Sounds like a MB to me as well.

Bunyip

[Estelle]

Did you make a note of the screen dump message. Usually comes up with an almost English message and a bundle of hexidecimal junk (about 10 digits) The first hexidecimal message is important.

Could be a memory problem. Turn it off and unplug the memory card(s) and reinsert them making sure you have physical skin contact with the chassis when touching the RAM.

[Marcus73]

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but have you checked the power rails?

[fuji]

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but have you checked the power rails?

Multimeter?

[WilSurf]

It went to uick to see the message.

Yes, I have a multimeter.
Will see if I can measure voltage at the hard drive connector.

[Bird]

Just bin it and upgrade.

we dont build PC's for staff at home anymore, we send them to www.dell.com.au
their onsite warranty is worth it. EG: the Shit you are having now, they would have fixed it in 24hrs...  Been doing that for 3-4+ yrs now, never had a problem.

[noel_w]

Just bin it and upgrade.

we dont build PC's for staff at home anymore, we send them to www.dell.com.au
their onsite warranty is worth it. EG: the **** you are having now, they would have fixed it in 24hrs...  Been doing that for 3-4+ yrs now, never had a problem.

Yep Dell just came out & changed 330 motherboards out of some Optiplex 990's we just installed. That would have cost them a couple of bob under warranty. It only took them 3 months to organise it. But they did do it.
You need to get a 3yr warranty and retire it at 3yrs. Don't try to get it fixed after that as it will cost a small fortune.

[WilSurf]

I finally got hold of the person who built it for us.
He doesn't have his company anymore and don't do it.
He adviced me to go to a local computer shop.
I am not happy.

My previous HP pc running on ME is still in good shape after over 10 years.

[Bunyip]

HP pc running on ME is still in good shape

ME was never a good OS, I am amazed to hear it 

[Bird]

ME was never a good OS, I am amazed to hear it 

x googolplex

[WilSurf]

I never had an issue with that machine.
I have done more reading and I think I have to follow up on D4D tomorrow and check the PSU.
Lot of failure are due to a defect in the power supply.

[WilSurf]

OK, had the multimeter out yesterday.
It was a bit of a fiddle as the pins are tiny and the probe is slightly bigger.
What I found was:
- yellow: 12.6V
- black: -0V
- red: 0V

D4D said that red should be 5V?
That is only the connector to the DVD, but if the logic is correct then the 5V to the DVD is the same 5V to other components?

[D4D]

OK next step is check the red wires on the power supply connector on the motherboad. Sounds like your 5V rail is dead, new power supply time.

[booga]

It's the power supply, dont bother testing just go and buy a 450w PSU roughly $150-200 problem solvered else take it to the shop and spend $500

[MDSimpson]

You can pickup 450W PSU for cheaper than that. Techbuy have them (450w) starting around $55.00 plus delivery. They are good most things in stock too.

[WilSurf]

Does it matter which model to buy?
Do they all have the same power cables with connectors?
From memory I have an Antec VP450

[D4D]

Most likely it will be an ATX power supply, which is pretty standard.