slayeroffice - web experiments gone horribly awry

03.17.2005 - Computer troubles...

The other morning I got up, walked into our computer room and hit the switch on my main PC. Rather than hearing the whir of the fans starting up, I got a hell of a jolt of static electricity that made the hair on my legs stand up. To my incredible dismay, the computer did not turn on.

This being the day I was to leave for SXSW, I didn't have the time to mess around with it. I left it sitting there and once I was on the plane that afternoon I had completely forgotten about it.

But now I'm at home, and my gaming machine is not working. Here's what I've done in an attempt to resurrect it:

  • Swapped the power switch out for another I had laying around.
  • Attempted to short the power switch connector on the mainboard with a screwdriver to get it to start.
  • Removed components one by one and attempted to start the machine each time.
  • Removed everything from the machine except the CPU and the RAM
  • Unplugged all devices from the power supply, including fans.

I do not believe it to be the power supply. When the machine is plugged in, the ethernet card's green LED glows, which I assume means the mainboard has power. When I hit the switch on the power supply to turn it off or unplug it, I hear it whine briefly...I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.

So what are my options? Anyone have any other ideas for things I can try or is the board done? The mainboard is a K8N Neo Series MS-7030 ATX, and if you need any other specs let me know. Help! :)

Comments

Clearly, your only option is to eBay that heap & buy a PowerBook!
Posted by kevin c smith on March 18, 2005 @ 3:21 am
It is metallic, and the power button is metal as well, for what thats worth. I'm starting to suspect the board as well from converstations I'm having this morning. I've been told of three MSI boards that have gone bad on people.

By the way - nice meeting you at SXSW Jeremy. Dunno if you remember, but my wife Kate and I joined you, Simon, Kevin and the guys from Lawrence at that cajun place.
Posted by Steve on March 18, 2005 @ 10:36 am

Does anything look odd physically on the motherboard? I remembered reading about problems with capacitors a while back, and found this article: http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=195
Posted by Elaine on March 18, 2005 @ 12:41 pm
everything looks fine. Nothing bulging, leaking or otherwise.
Posted by Steve on March 18, 2005 @ 1:01 pm
When I have problems starting my home computer, it turned out to be dust problems. Try vacuum cleen your machine, it might help.

In my home computer, just waiting this couple of hours helped as well.

just my two cents.
Posted by splintor on March 20, 2005 @ 1:29 am

I think this is due to a static problem in your pc.

try to hold the case (or any metal part of your pc) then stick your naked foot to the wall or floor (as a ground) then press and hold the power button to switch on. Wait a while until it boots. Doing this would discharge the static in your pc. I had this problem before and it worked. I even try to unplugged every hardware in the pc when I had this problem and doing that simple task saved my day!
Posted by copongcopong on March 20, 2005 @ 9:11 pm

It could be the power supply fried the motherboard. I've had this happen to me before. First, check the little selector on the back of the power supply, make sure it is set properly. You might also want to try using the power supply with a 'test' motherboard, if you happen to have a spare. A voltage tester is the best way to check how much power the power supply is putting out.

The symptoms you describe are exactly what happened when my power supply fried my board.
Posted by Reggie on March 28, 2005 @ 7:30 pm

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