Machine Is Dead...(sort Of)

[bearskin]

hey guys I got a small problem here. maybe someone is familiar with this problem.

machine dies on me. well sometimes...

when I turn on the power switch the little fans spin for about one second and then dies.

I have tried another power supply...another fan...another switch but no solution.

now this problem happened suddenly without warning.

I had it runing perfectly for a couple of days but it died again.

hopefully you may have ideas....thanks.

[martymas]

hi bearskin

where have you bin

we missed ya

maybe it is that ME

buggering up on you

have you checked you V-card

or your ram

these are trouble spots for shut downs

good luck

marty

[TheTerrorist_75]

I would suspect the motherboard (bad cap?) or processor is ready to bite the dust.

[shanenin]

I back TT's opinion. That definitely sounds like a bad motherboard.

[bozodog]

Bearskin! Where have you been? Sure, just drop by anytime you have a problem... Heh heh We missed you around here.

[JSKY]

Don't rule out a stick of ram starting to go on you.

[Chappy]

Hiya Bearskin!

Just saw a post on you being MIA and we were all hoping it was simply PC issues and not anything more serious..good to see it's the first one...well, probably not good for You right now eh..

Hmm, this really could be so many different things with just this to go on, I think you'll have to do some more troubleshooting to kind of eliminate some and shorten the list for us.

Try RAM test with MemTest but don't put TOO MUCH stock in that, I had a bad stick that it kept telling me was good, but replacing the stick solved all the issues immediately. At least it may tell you that you have a bad stick, but if it comes back clean, still keep this in the back burner just in case.

Are you getting ANY errors while it's running at all? If not that may just rule out RAM issues. That will usually cause all kinds of issues while running.

Since you've ruled out Power Supply and switch issues most likely, I'd kinda fall on the failing MoBo side too, or an important part of it. Possibly this part could be replaced if it can be isolated but to check MoBo's like that you need special equipment and probably needs to go into a shop.

Everything shuts off kinda normally when this happens? Like, you don't have to do anything else to finish a shutdown?

[shanenin]

Possibly this part could be replaced if it can be isolated but to check MoBo's like that you need special equipment and probably needs to go into a shop.

I wonder how many shops do work like that, or if most just say, "Replace the mobo". I get the impression bad capacitors cause many motherboards to fail to boot. I wonder how easy it is to test individulal ones.

Edited May 14, 2007 by shanenin

[bearskin]

well as some of you have suggested I'm kinda looking at the motherboard thingy.

rule out ram.

rule out power supply

rule out power cord

rule out switch.

rule out video card (onboard)

rule out cooling fans

rule out processor I think as when it runs, it runs perfectly for a couple of days.

motherboard is not worth replacing as it is older computer.

I will keep it for a couple of days just in case someone comes up with something new.

thanks guys.

[diaperbaby]

I'm going to go with short on the board. Is it loose at all? Possibly could be just dieing on you.

[garmanma]

I'm going to go with short on the board. Is it loose at all? Possibly could be just dieing on you.

Yeah, if you're going to strip it for parts, try running it out of the case on the bench

Mark