Thread: PC Troubleshooting...Please help..

Ok guys ...looking for some help or opinions..

My nephews pc locked up in windows recently and being 15 years old with very little patience decided to unplug from the wall and power it back on again(I know bad practice,as I say no patience)upon trying to power back on power button lights up fans start and then just powers off again...no startup screen nothing...

So I had a look at it...removed all peripherals down to bare bone requirements just cpu 1 stick of ram and motherboard and still nothing...removed cmos battery and jumper just to chance and nothing...stays on if i unplug the power to cpu ....



My question is does this sound like motherboard to everyone else too or does anyone have any other suggestions...

Dont want to be wasting money buying a new motherboard if its not but what else could it be???

Any help would be appreciated...

Thanks

Do you have a spare PSU that you could use, just for a sanity check?

Even if it's a fairly low wattage PSU you should be able to get some life out of the system if it's stripped down to bare bones.

If a spare, known working PSU doesn't make it spin up then I'd agree it's probably a fried motherboard. I hope it's not too expensive to replace :(

Checked PSU with spare....still not working...

Priced motherboard looking like about €100...

If it is staying on when you unplug the CPU, could be an issue with your CPU overheating. Does the motherboard signal an alarm at all, when it powers down?

Before buying a new motherboard I would check your CPU fan, if that is good, try resitting the heat sink. Make sure you properly clean the heat sink and CPU pad before applying fresh thermal paste. If you have not done it before it is really easy, do a search on youtube, for a video guide.

No alarm from motherboard at all just powers down again....I removed cpu fan and had a look at the cpu,all seems ok but didnt apply new themal paste,didnt think that could just happen all of a sudden but will try...

Cpu fan starts running anyway...but will chance new paste...

You can give that a shot I guess but I don't think the wall yank was just a coincidence. Also, I doubt the CPU would overheat before posting.

Seems to me to be a MB issue. Something with the power regulation went to crap.

Resitting the heatsink is a long shot, but worth a punt before shelling out for a new motherboard.

Thats what I was thinking why all of a sudden would it overheat after unplugging from wall....but gonna try all avenues 1st....

Thanks for all suggestions..and anymore that are given...

Heya Max :P Your situation sounds wierd. Good power supplies shield both mainboard, cpu, and everything else from a power spike which may have happened as he was pulling the plug. Check with a different stick of RAM as well just to be certain, but it doesn't sound good.

Your mention about your nephew getting impaticient and pulling the plug has sparked my interest. What was the computer doing that caused him to get impaticient before he pulled the plug. It may lead you down a specific path to follow if you ask good questions.