Urgent\help needed from the PC tecchies

[tranquillo 10]

It's a Asus M3A79-T Deluxe - leather seats as standard..

Going to bed now, speak tomorrow,

Thanks all.

[BirdDogICT 3]

IF your mobo's fried, then the PSU might be the culprit. Worth checking before you'll put a new mobo in.

ASUS motherboards usually have a green power indicator light on the mobo. If it isn't lit, it's indicates either a PSU or mobo failure.

 

Voltage regulation on cheaper boards can be the weak link in the system when thinks go wrong. I recently had a hard drive failure that fried the PSU, but thanks to good voltage protection on my ASUS, nothing else was harmed. I've done a lot of builds with ASUS boards, as they offer great heat dissipation designs. Very few have failed, but like all electronics, they eventually fail due to heat and power surges at startup.

Edited January 6, 2012 by BirdDogICT

[almccoyjr 7]

See if any of your friends has a multimeter. If they know how to use it, you'll be able to tell if it's the PSU by testing the 12, 5 and 3.3 volt legs using the two power cables from the PSU. Hopefully, you'll have the schematic or pin-outs on the PSU. Once you have the power cables disconnected from the mobo, it shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to double check both cables and tell if the PSU is working properly.

 

plug_nickel

[SFP1Ace 33]

ASUS motherboards usually have a green power indicator light on the mobo. If it isn't lit, it's indicates either a PSU or mobo failure.

 

Voltage regulation on cheaper boards can be the weak link in the system when thinks go wrong. I recently had a hard drive failure that fried the PSU, but thanks to good voltage protection on my ASUS, nothing else was harmed. I've done a lot of builds with ASUS boards, as they offer great heat dissipation designs. Very few have failed, but like all electronics, they eventually fail due to heat and power surges at startup.

 

Yup, I believe green light indicates +5 volt standby.

 

To check your power supply you'll need either a digital multimeter or a PSU plug-in tester.

 

http://www.aitechsolutions.net/pchwtrblsht.html

[Boomer113 0]

I searched your symptoms on google and found this:-

 

"NOTE: Before making any attempt to remove or replace any part inside the casing, ensure that the power is off.

 

Well, the first thing that might be causing this is your memory card (RAM). Try to remove it and place it in another memory slot on the motherboard.

 

To be sure if your motherboard is still in good working condition, remove the memory card and power on the PC.

 

You should hear continuous beep sounds.

 

If you hear this then your motherboard is fine.

 

If placing the memory card in another slot does not work then the problem lies with the memory card itself. You will need to replace it.

 

It could also be that some faulting PCI cards are causing this error.

 

Try to remove your PCI cards. Normally a faulting PCI modem causes this type of error. Remove it and then power on the pc."

 

It may be worth having a look. I seem to remember having a similar issue years ago with an old PC and it may have been the PSU loosing a rail so my PC wasn't getting enough juice to boot up.

[tranquillo 10]

Just have to do a bit of work this morning 'till I can get back to the PC.

I have red and green lights lit on the board.

I'll try the Ram - I've got 2 sticks so removing 1 and then swaping the other in different slots and try again with the other stick?

Thanks for the overwhelming support, by the way.

 

Going to get a hard drive enclosure today so I can check out my drives on this laptop.

Edited January 7, 2012 by tranquillo

[tranquillo 10]

Both HDs loaded into an enclosure and plugged into my wife's laptop and everything is fine. Phew. Guess who hasn't been backing-up as often as he should.

Next job will be trying the ram and my pci wireless card.

Got a mate who's got a multimeter to check psu at some stage too.

[Parky 8]

I'm thinking it's a cooked graphics card. I'd eliminate that as the cause before I started looking anywhere else....

[Von Paulus 8]

I'm thinking it's a cooked graphics card. I'd eliminate that as the cause before I started looking anywhere else....

 

+1

[tranquillo 10]

+1

Thanks for that. How do I eliminate that? I have nowhere to attach the monitor if I remove the card. Is it a case of remove the card and listen to the\ beeps to see if it's posting?

 

 

 

[Von Paulus 8]

There's only one way, and that is to test with another graphic card.

You card is fried, probably that fan have stop working for some time.

The beeps are not a standard feature for every motherboard, as far as I know.

Alas, it's bios beeps and depends on manufacturer and bios version.

I've seen fried graphic cards and no BIOS post no nothing. And it was only the graphic card.

Other times is like the other folks said here, you hear beeps, or even the computer startup but without any screen image. It depends.

Like Parky said, I too would begin with the graphic card.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Von Paulus

[tranquillo 10]

As I mentioned earlier, I'm due for a card upgrade so I don't mind too much getting one and trying it. I'm looking to upgrade from a ATI 4830 512mb on the asus board with a Phenom II 550x2 Black Edition cpu 3.4g I think.. Any ideas?

[Javito1986 14]

You built the PC yourself right? Situation like this, best thing to do is to disassemble it and put it back together outside the case one piece at a time, testing your boot by listening to the beeps after each time you add on a new piece.

 

If you've removed the GPU and RAM, and aren't getting ANY beeps from that MoBo, that's a bummer. It could be a bad power supply? I'm hesitant to blame the MoBo itself, those things should be pretty sturdy. Though it would hardly be unheard of, that is the usually the thing I blame only after exhausting the alternatives. I would ask around on Tom's Hardware as well, that's where I took my questions when I was putting together my PC in October and was having a failed boot. In that case it was the RAM, but my MoBo was beeping at me to indicate that problem.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Javito1986

[Von Paulus 8]

As I mentioned earlier, I'm due for a card upgrade so I don't mind too much getting one and trying it. I'm looking to upgrade from a ATI 4830 512mb on the asus board with a Phenom II 550x2 Black Edition cpu 3.4g I think.. Any ideas?

I usually follow Tom's suggestions. But it depends on your local market.

http://www.tomshardw...iew,3107-2.html

Edited January 7, 2012 by Von Paulus

[Siggi 10]

I repaired/built PCs for around 12 years and nine times out of ten what the OP describes was down to a PSU failure (with all other components surviving).

[Von Paulus 8]

With his symptoms, my experience as a professional PC technical maintenance for more than 20 years, tells me it's hardly only a PSU failure.

Lights, fans working, usually it's motherboard failure. But with a graphic card fan not working, is reasonable to think that the graphic card fried out, and thus I would start at that point.

The culprit still can be a faulty PSU, but I doubt in his case it's only a case of PSU, for the reasons pointed by Skatezilla. If it's a case of faulty motherboard I would also check the PSU, specially if it's not from a reliable brand and it's just an ordinary Chinese built one.

But this should be seen by a repair technician, specially when you don't have or don't have access to spare parts for testing.

[tranquillo 10]

OK guys. I stripped everything out and tried starting up with just mobo and cpu. Same symptoms - red and green lights come on, cpu fan spins up, and that's it. Speaker attached but no beeps.

I can sense money being spent on a technician here and I can't really afford that right now - not on top of the replacement parts necessary.

The plus side is the case is much cleaner inside now.

 

The psu, by the way, is OCX. So not a cheapie.

If were to remove the psu is would someone be able to test it in their shop or does it need to in thePC?

Edited January 8, 2012 by tranquillo

[Von Paulus 8]

You've tested without the graphic card?

I think the 4830 as a power connector. Check that connector and the one that come from the PSU to connect it, if there's any loose contact.

Test again and see if the fan is working.

 

I've a spare graphic card, that I use for testing. I can lend it to you while you do the tests.

It would take some days to arrive you, of course.

 

It's always better that the PSU goes with PC, in case you go into a shop.

[tranquillo 10]

You've tested without the graphic card?

I think the 4830 as a power connector. Check that connector and the one that come from the PSU to connect it, if there's any loose contact.

Test again and see if the fan is working.

 

I've a spare graphic card, that I use for testing. I can lend it to you while you do the tests.

It would take some days to arrive you, of course.

 

It's always better that the PSU goes with PC, in case you go into a shop.

Thanks VP. I did refit the card and checked connections but still no fan. Thanks for the offer of a loan of a card, that's a very kind offer, but I need to get this fixed ASAP as I use it for my business as well as OFF.

I've invested in a ATX psu tester which should arrive on Tuesday. If I can determine whether the psu is at fault or not then I can go from there.

 

 

[Javito1986 14]

I really hope it's a PSU failure. The tester is a good buy. Honestly, that's the cause in most "sudden failures" of this sort. But we'll see.

 

IF it is your MoBo that will be annoying, but knowing is better than not knowing. The tester will help you isolate the problem. Keep us updated, I'm rooting for you.

[tranquillo 10]

I really hope it's a PSU failure. The tester is a good buy. Honestly, that's the cause in most "sudden failures" of this sort. But we'll see.

 

IF it is your MoBo that will be annoying, but knowing is better than not knowing. The tester will help you isolate the problem. Keep us updated, I'm rooting for you.

 

Thank you. Yes, I'm hoping it's the psu but we'll see.

 

 

Thanks for the great support and advice. I'll keep you posted for sure.

 

 

 

[DonL 0]

I had a problem a few weeks ago where my computer would only get as far as the motherboard splash screen. I would get 1 beep and then it would freeze. The solution was to uplug all usb connections and than it booted up fine. It doesn't sound like your problem is exactly the same as mine but it is an easy thing to do. Good luck

[Tamper 9]

Tranquillo,

 

Sorry I'm so late to join this dialogue, but regarding the PSU (and the 'tester'):

 

You shouldn't need a tester. Every PC power supply I've ever worked on - and there have been many - will turn on as normal by simulating the motherboard's contact closure to the PSU's monitoring input. Sound complicated? Not at all, follow me:

 

Make sure the PSU is disconnected from the AC line ("mains"), and it's power switch is turned off (if so equipped). Disconnect all the PSU's power plugs from everything, including those on the motherboard. (A long, 20- or 24-pin power connector, plus often a second 4-pin connector with 2 black and 2 yellow wires in a 2x2 square plug). On the 20(24)-pin connector, find the green wire - there is only one, always. It will be between two black wires on one side 'row' of the connector. The green wire is the PSU's input sense line, the black wires are ground. When your motherboard powers up normally, it sends a ground from the board to the green wire. The PSU won't work when disconnected because it doesn't get this ground. The whole arrangement is designed so that the PSU won't start unless the motherboard is OK (passes internal checks up to that point). It also allows 'relaying' start-up across configurations with multiple PSUs.

 

Take a regular paper clip (the "jumbo" size works best), and carefully insert it in the plastic connector points so that the green wire is 'shorted' (connected) to any black wire, then flip the PSU "ON" switch on (if it has one) or plug the AC power cable back in. If you have shorted the green wire to *any* ground (black wire) then the PSU should come on as normal.

 

I think I read you had access to a meter somewhere up in the thread. You'll need this to check the voltages coming from the PSU...the main ones are yellow wires = 12v, red wires=5v, and orange wires=3.3v. There are several other voltages which you can find references to, but if these three are present, then chances are about 99 to nothing your PSU is fine. But even if you didn't have a meter, worst case, then if the PSU comes on during the above test, the chances are very high that your PSU is fine.

 

Speaking of which - and I *really* hate to be the bearer of bad tidings - but, to me, if I had to guess right now, site unseen? You have a bad motherboard. Not to detract from any other inputs here, but the 'sudden death' failures I've seen are the motherboard in 8 or 9 of 10 cases, and the PSU in 1 or 2 of 10. Many more sensitive components on a motherboard, and much more inside PSUs these days to protect them from bad loads. They can withstand even direct short-circuits across the voltage outputs; they simply do what's called "crow-barring" - shutting themselves off if something pulls too much current from them.

 

I'd leave the tester you bought unopened, at least long enough to try what I discribed - you have nothing to lose. The money you save by returning the tester you can apply toward a new motherboard (or another part if that happens to be the case). In any event, the tester is not necessary; I've been building/repairing/upgrading PCs for many years now, and although I have a full complement of bench tools, I've never had (or needed) a power supply tester. If you prefer to confirm things you hear online for yourself - no worries - just google around a bit for 'how to turn on an ATX power supply' or some such. You'll see all sorts of references to the 'green wire' procedure, I am sure.

 

Best of luck.

Edited January 9, 2012 by Tamper

[tranquillo 10]

Thanks guys.

Tamper, thank you for that. Unfortunately my m8 who has the multimeter is away for a week so no go in that direction unless I wait - shame. Had a thought today though - my uncle is in the business of repairing TVs, stereos, DVD players etc. and has been doing so for a good 40 years so I'm guessing that maybe he has a multimeter and knows how to use it. Just a thought. I'll try and get hold of him.

If my problem turns out to be the mobo and I get one only to find that the cpu is toast as well it will be a bummer. Apart from the extra expense, if I get a new mobo it will need to be AM3 to suit my cpu, if I then find I need a cpu I will find it difficult to get a AM3 cpu to match the mobo. Hey Ho.

[Tamper 9]

Yeah, it can be quite a run-about when one part seems to keep them all from working. One thing to consider: Even if you cannot get a meter, if the PSU passes the "paper clip test" chances are fairly good it's OK - for what it's worth.

 

If you want some other means of testing the outputs, consider these ideas: Common 2-cell AA or AAA flashlights work off 3v (2x AAA or AA battery @1.5v each), so the bulb from one of those can be used to confirm the 3.3v. Anything that runs off 12v - an old car radio, for example - can be used to confirm that line. The 5v is roughly the same as 4x AA or AAA powered devices (roughly 6v but will work on 5v); maybe an old portable radio would do. Most often you can either look at markings on electrical items to get an idea of what voltage they require, or (for battery-powered devices) look at the battery holder to determine how many batteries and therefore how much voltage they require.

 

As for current, it is very unlikely a flashlight bulb, or a radio (even one from a car) will draw more than a fraction of the current your PSU can easily provide, so no worries about overloading it ; just make sure to keep the + and - wire 'polarity' correct.

 

These are ways that you could, without a meter, confirm the outputs from the PSU. Hope this helps.

Edited January 9, 2012 by Tamper