Not totally related to WoW, but

[InfectedWithRage]

sure as hell sucks b/c I can't play!


Ok, don’t laugh; this pc has done wonders for me. I think it's almost time to upgrade.

I purchased the 3.0 Prescott when it first came out, threw in 2 gigs of OCZ, a PC Power and Cooling 550, grabbed a 9800xt and then upgraded to an x850xt shortly there after and viola, I was good to go for a while.

I probably turn my pc off for a full day, once a week. This past weekend, I had turned it back on and to my surprise, nothing really came on. The case fans, power supply fan, and CPU fan all came on. My monitors' power button kept flashing and said they were offline (something to that effect), and I can't tell if XP is even loading up. You can usually here the 10krpm drives spinning a little bit amongst the noisy fans.

I thought my cables were slightly loose somewhere, needed to reset the battery backup/surge protector, my friggin circuit breaker in the house, and even re-applied new arctic silver, hoping it was only that.

To no avail, nothing worked and I need my crack! I'd love to drop $3-$4k on a new rig, but that will have to wait for tax return time.



Anyone here have an idea on what to do next? Many thanks in advance!





-I

[Stigg]

Maybe its just your monitor? If you are getting all your fans running (mainly the cpu fan) then there is no power supply problem. If youve checked all yoru wirings then its not a wiring problem (have you checked to see if the wires actually work? i.e. tested them on a new computer?) Maybe your HD burned out? That could cause xp (or anything else for that matter except your bios to not load)

Check your monitor. If not, taxes are done in april right?

[InfectedWithRage]

I did move the monitors to my wife's pc and they both worked fine. I'd like to move my video card to my wife's pc, but she doesnt have an AGP slut. I'll try the hd swap tonight when I get home from work and see if that's the problem.

Thanks for the reply thus far...




btw, I can't believe I spelled hear as here... damn grammar checking ftl!

[swaldman]

Maybe its just your monitor? If you are getting all your fans running (mainly the cpu fan) then there is no power supply problem.

Doesn't follow - entirely possible for the PSU to put out 12V for the drives but not the 5v, 3.3v or whatever else is needed for other components. However, you're right that most PSU faliures result in the whole thing stopping, so a PSU problem is probably quite unlikely.

If youve checked all yoru wirings then its not a wiring problem (have you checked to see if the wires actually work? i.e. tested them on a new computer?)


GOod point.

Maybe your HD burned out? That could cause xp (or anything else for that matter except your bios to not load)

But then he'd still see the POST on his screen.

Unless it's a monitor issue (or a disconnected/dodgy video cable) then something has to be stopping anything displaying at all. That, to me, means any of
- PSU
- Motherboard (& the various I/O and other chipsets on it)
- Video card
- CPU
- Possibly RAM - not sure if you can get a display out of video card ROM without any though.

Do you hear any bleeps from the PC's speaker? If so they can often tell you something.

Assuming you've checked all the connections thoroughly, the first thing I would try is to remove and re-insert your RAM, in case it's worked loose. If this doesn't help, try the same with the video card, then the CPU.

Also have a look for any signs of overheating anywhere on the motherboard (not just where the heatsinks are). Are there any LEDs on your network card that are normally lit? If so, them being off doesn't tell you much, but if they're on then it *probably* means that your PSU is OK (not quite sure, I don't know how many different outputs they have these days)

I'm guessing you don't have another PC around, but if so then swapping some of the (compatible) bits will let you eliminate them (or otherwise).

If none of this gets you anywhere, then unless anybody with a bit more technical knowledge here turns up, I think it's time to find a local PC shop or repairer and let them have a look...

[InfectedWithRage]

Awesome advice so far and I thank you for your time spent in replying!

I don't hear any beeps, bleeps, or bips when the pc is powered up. I really don't think it is even getting past the post.

I will try to re-seat the memory and video card tonight and see if that can wake this POS up.

At first I thought it was a heat issue. The Prescott runs crazy hot and coincidently, my central air unit died over the New Year weekend. I live in Miami and not having AC no matter what time of year is just hurtin'! My static air temp is a chilling 82F! So I reapplied some new paste.

I'm really against bringing my pc to any repair center or any sorts! I feel I can handle anything thrown at my computer either through experience or help from others w/out paying an arm and a leg.

And yes, April is just around the corner, but I'm not going w/out my own pc until then. The wife's pc is a dual core 3.0 (not duo) and it sports a fancy onboard Intel graphics chip! Whoo! :undecided:

Once again thanks for the help. It's saving me some money and keeping my morale up for the time being!





-I

[swaldman]

At first I thought it was a heat issue. The Prescott runs crazy hot and coincidently, my central air unit died over the New Year weekend. I live in Miami and not having AC no matter what time of year is just hurtin'! My static air temp is a chilling 82F! So I reapplied some new paste.


As I understand it it failed to turn on after 24 hrs turned off... unless you noticed anything odd happening while it was on previously, this would make it rather unlikely to be a heat issue - even something as inefficient as a Prescott doesn't generate a whole lot of heat when it's off :-)

[InfectedWithRage]

I understand. I was referring to my high ambient air temp. in conjunction with the 50+c idle prescott. I assumed (you know what happens when people do that) that the combination of the two would halt the pc.










*edit-grammar

[Stigg]

Doesn't follow - entirely possible for the PSU to put out 12V for the drives but not the 5v, 3.3v or whatever else is needed for other components. However, you're right that most PSU faliures result in the whole thing stopping, so a PSU problem is probably quite unlikely.



GOod point.



But then he'd still see the POST on his screen.

Unless it's a monitor issue (or a disconnected/dodgy video cable) then something has to be stopping anything displaying at all. That, to me, means any of
- PSU
- Motherboard (& the various I/O and other chipsets on it)
- Video card
- CPU
- Possibly RAM - not sure if you can get a display out of video card ROM without any though.

Do you hear any bleeps from the PC's speaker? If so they can often tell you something.

Assuming you've checked all the connections thoroughly, the first thing I would try is to remove and re-insert your RAM, in case it's worked loose. If this doesn't help, try the same with the video card, then the CPU.

Also have a look for any signs of overheating anywhere on the motherboard (not just where the heatsinks are). Are there any LEDs on your network card that are normally lit? If so, them being off doesn't tell you much, but if they're on then it *probably* means that your PSU is OK (not quite sure, I don't know how many different outputs they have these days)

I'm guessing you don't have another PC around, but if so then swapping some of the (compatible) bits will let you eliminate them (or otherwise).

If none of this gets you anywhere, then unless anybody with a bit more technical knowledge here turns up, I think it's time to find a local PC shop or repairer and let them have a look...


ZOMG my computer knowledge just got pwned

[swaldman]

I understand. I was referring to my high ambient air temp. in conjunction with the 50+c idle prescott. I assumed (you know what happens when people do that) that the combination of the two would halt the pc.


But the prescott hasn't had a chance to reach 50C if you have only just turned it on...

[InfectedWithRage]

Maybe I got a bunk proc. As soon as xp loads and I can see my task bar, mbm states it around 50+c right off the bat... I've had a huge Zalman copper heatsink/fan on it since day one. I clean it on a month to month basis and it still runs hotter idle than what I had read. I have a nasty Thermaltake Xaser 5 I think with 5 case fans.


I don't know...



What I do know is that I want a 5k rig now! :D

[InfectedWithRage]

I went to go re-seat the memory again and noticed a burn mark on the actual block on the mobo, nothing on the ram :ponder: . I checked it for any debris and didn't find any. I didn't think there would be anything in there since I haven't replaced my memory or even taken it out since the initial install. I moved the 2 gigs down a slut and all is well! I gots muh crack!

Thank you all for taking the time to reply and assist me with this small issue. Glad to know people are willing to help a stranger.


Many thanks again and happy pwn'ing!




Btw, I now have a whopping 48c idle temp! lol