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Computer people - I need help

ancientmysts

By ancientmysts
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ancientmysts Newbie

ancientmysts

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Ok, so I went to bed last nite and my PC was fine. Woke up this AM and it's all sorts of bad. My PC is a Gateway GT5412, upgraded with a nVidia 8600 GTS video card and a larger power supply. It's had those done to it since about May, so I know there's no problem with that.

 

When I turn on the PC the power light isn't illuminated. It usually has a blue glow around the power button and a power logo glowing blue inside the button. Then the first thing you notice is the fans, they sound much louder like they're attempting to work in overdrive. After that there's nothing. You know the PC is on, you hear the fans running, but my monitor never gets a signal so it's like the computer never starts. The DVD drive has power, I can see the glowing light where my ethernet cable plugs in at. So I know the rest of the PC is receiving power.

 

My brother in law said that it's possibly the mother board. While he's not the best computer person to go to, he's usually helpful. Opened the computer up, cleaned out the little bit of dust in there, checked all the cords, power supply, made sure everything was plugged in and still nothing happens. Is there a way to check and make sure that it's my mobo? I really don't have a lot of money to go out and replace everything until I'm for certian what's wrong, and I'd just like to go buy whatever the problem is, fix it and be on with my life.

 

Also, if it is the mobo, I've heard about people having problems with their hard drive after changing out boards. I have a lot of important items on my hard drive and I'd like to make sure that if I have to replace my mobo then I wouldn't have to go through firey loops to get my hard drive recovered.

 

Current system specs are here:

http://www.dealtime.com/xPF-Gateway-Gateway-GT5412-Desktop-PC

 

Upgraded video card here: (It's the GTS)

http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_8600.html

 

If mother board is the problem I was looking into replacements already. I only know a bit about internals, so I made sure socket was right, memory matches and everything but this is the new mobo I was looking into:

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0277446

 

Any help would be appreciated. Let me know if you think it's the mobo, if the new one I looked at would work properly and about the hard drive. Thanks in advance.

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kenny Enthusiast

kenny

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I would be on it being a PSU before a motherboard.

 

Have you power cycled the PSU itself? Sometimes they'll be all kinds of odd and need powered off for a few seconds, then back on - mostly if there was a surge/outage or something.

 

Any beeps? Does the motherboard have a seven segment display to post error messages on?

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ancientmysts Newbie

ancientmysts

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There's no beeps. I can't enter BIOS or even see anything about the PC starting up. Like I said, I don't know much about the internals. Plug and play, that's what I like.

 

There were no power surges or anything last nite that I know of. I've got other things running on the same power strip and nothing else seemed to be effected.

 

Hate to be a burdon but can you explain what you were asking me to do? Power cycle the PSU? (PC noob.)

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kenny Enthusiast

kenny

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PSU = power supply.

 

Look at where the power cord plugs into the back of the computer, it will have a black switch with a 1 and a 0... flip it to 0 and wait like 10 seconds, then turn it back to 1.

 

Sometimes power supplies are odd and like to have that done.

 

Power supplies also fail far more often than motherboards, so before you waste a lot of effort confirm the power supply actually works.

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ancientmysts Newbie

ancientmysts

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I think I still have the stock supply, but my brother in law is or is planning on using it in some POS he's going to build. I'm at his place now, but he's not here so I'd have to look for it. It doesn't seem like that would be the problem though since the fans are running, lights for the ethernet are on, and the DVD seems to have power. I've tried to turn off the switch on the back of the power supply already, let it sit for a bit and turned it back on. Nothing happened there.

 

EDIT: Opened the side of the case. Powered the PC on after turning the switch on the power supply off for a few. Monitor still reveices no signal. There is sufficent power to open/close the DVD tray, fans running and all that mess. I did notice a small green LED light on the mother board itself is lit up. The letters next to it read CR3J1. The light is next to where the cable from the power supply plugs into the mobo. Don't know if that helps with a solution.

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ancientmysts Newbie

ancientmysts

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I'll go see if I can hunt down the old PSU. Edited post above, don't know if that means anything to anyone.

 

EDIT: Found the original PSU. Hooked it up and got the same deal I've had. So I'm guessing it's not the power supply. At least it narrows down the list. So are guys thinking it's the mobo then? Any chance it could be the processor or anything like that? Like I said, I don't wanna go shell out a bunch of money for a new mother board if that's not the problem. Thanks again for all your help.

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ancientmysts Newbie

ancientmysts

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Bump for more help. Patience is not a viture of mine, bored easily and my PC is one of my forms of entertainment/cash. At any rate still need some questions answered. Is it the mobo? If so, is the one I linked in my first post compatable? Also, if I replace my mobo, what's going to happen to my hard drive? Do I lose it? Have to spend hours recovering it?
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87GT Newbie

87GT

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My mobo has an intigrated video card. The 8600 GTS is in the PCI express slot. And correct me if I'm wrong, but can't you run your OS without having a working video card, pretty sure my friend killed his and could still have his OS running.

 

You can but it will at least do the POST when the computer turns on (beeping once or more). Remove the GTS card you have from the computer then see if you can get into the BIOS. Lets just open you didn't disable the onboard video card in BIOS already.

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ancientmysts Newbie

ancientmysts

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The video card and power supply has been working fine. They've been installed since April. I'm getting ready to pull out the 8600 GTS to see if it is the problem. I don't believe that I diabled the onboard card, but it's been a while. I'll update you as soon as I try.
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Scaly13 Newbie

Scaly13

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This may sound dumb but are you sure your monitor is still working?

 

I work in IT and I have read most of what is posted and agree that is looks like something internal but I get calls all the time that turn out to be a bad monitor connection or a bad monitor. Sometimes it never hurts to check the simple stuff.

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ancientmysts Newbie

ancientmysts

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This may sound dumb but are you sure your monitor is still working?

 

 

Yeah, that was one of the first things I checked. First was the mouse because the laser on the bottom wasn't lighting up, and I had just replaced my mouse. I've checked it on 3 different monitors already. 2 of which I know are properly working.

 

I removed my video card and powered it up. Didn't even beep. No changes. Reinstalled my video card and tried again, same deal. No changes what soever. Anything else I should try before comming to the conclusion that it's probably the mobo?

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87GT Newbie

87GT

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If you have more then 1 memory stick installed remove 1. If that doesn't work replace the 1 with the other you removed. Depending on your RAM you may have to install in pairs but that is only on a few types of memory. I've had a computer not do anything but run the fans when a memory stick just stopped working.
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Orion Newbie

Orion

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given what youve tried, it sounds to me like the mobo. sorry man. good news is that a new one is not going to cost you and arm and a leg. well, unless you want it to. try to look at your computer in a similar fashion to your car. breaking shit is just a good excuse to go faster. :)
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ancientmysts Newbie

ancientmysts

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No beeps either means the mother board has no power, or the mother board is dead.

 

Take your pick and replace.

 

 

Well the power supply has been changed out with no results, so I'd guess the mobo is dead. In my first post I linked one that I was looking at, brother in law told me that I had a 775 chipset, but after looking further the site says I have a 945G chipset. I'm hoping to find one similar to the nVidia one that I linked in quality, price range and so forth. Any suggestions?

 

EDIT: I know very little about chipsets and motherboards. So as much help as possible in picking out a good one compatiable with my system would be appreciated. I mostly use this PC for gaming (Warcraft mostly but a few others, looking into Warhammer), Photoshop and working on a friends website. I hope that helps in the decision for mobo choices based on what I do mostly with my PC.

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