Last night my computer just froze, dead, couldn't do anything. Under
a normal crash I'd either push the on off button at the front of the
case, or press the reset button, to let the computer boot up again.
Problem last night was this wouldn't work. The power light at the on
off switch at the front was still showing as on, the fans were still
turning. I was forced to switch off at the wall. Strange thing was
though, that after switching back on at the wall, the computer
returned to the previous state, as in, light on at the on off switch
at the front and the fans turning. So I switched off at the wall
again and left for a few hours, but again same problem after turning
on.
How can this happen?
I don't mind sorting this out myself if I know where to look. Could
it be that the CPU is crackered? HD? When I switch on at the wall I
don't hear the hard drive but this may be because the CPU isn't
churning. I guess I'm really wondering how to stop the computer
returning to an 'on' state so I can at least try to let everything try
to boot up again from scratch.
"Dundonald" <mark.dundon@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1194086010.887857.76470@v3g2000hsg.googlegrou ps.com...
> Last night my computer just froze, dead, couldn't do anything. Under
> a normal crash I'd either push the on off button at the front of the
> case, or press the reset button, to let the computer boot up again.
> Problem last night was this wouldn't work. The power light at the on
> off switch at the front was still showing as on, the fans were still
> turning. I was forced to switch off at the wall. Strange thing was
> though, that after switching back on at the wall, the computer
> returned to the previous state, as in, light on at the on off switch
> at the front and the fans turning. So I switched off at the wall
> again and left for a few hours, but again same problem after turning
> on.
>
> How can this happen?
>
> I don't mind sorting this out myself if I know where to look. Could
> it be that the CPU is crackered? HD? When I switch on at the wall I
> don't hear the hard drive but this may be because the CPU isn't
> churning. I guess I'm really wondering how to stop the computer
> returning to an 'on' state so I can at least try to let everything try
> to boot up again from scratch.
>
> Any help really appreciated.
>
> Thanks
>
On 3 Nov, 10:50, "BIC" <rol...@pointbtinternet.com> wrote:
> "Dundonald" <mark.dun...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:1194086010.887857.76470@v3g2000hsg.googlegrou ps.com...
>
>
>
> > Last night my computer just froze, dead, couldn't do anything. Under
> > a normal crash I'd either push the on off button at the front of the
> > case, or press the reset button, to let the computer boot up again.
> > Problem last night was this wouldn't work. The power light at the on
> > off switch at the front was still showing as on, the fans were still
> > turning. I was forced to switch off at the wall. Strange thing was
> > though, that after switching back on at the wall, the computer
> > returned to the previous state, as in, light on at the on off switch
> > at the front and the fans turning. So I switched off at the wall
> > again and left for a few hours, but again same problem after turning
> > on.
>
> > How can this happen?
>
> > I don't mind sorting this out myself if I know where to look. Could
> > it be that the CPU is crackered? HD? When I switch on at the wall I
> > don't hear the hard drive but this may be because the CPU isn't
> > churning. I guess I'm really wondering how to stop the computer
> > returning to an 'on' state so I can at least try to let everything try
> > to boot up again from scratch.
>
> > Any help really appreciated.
>
> > Thanks
>
> perhaps the front switch is stuck on.
>
> power off, open case and unplug switch wires.
>
> replace case and power up
>
> what happens now.
Good suggestion, unfortunately still the same problem. I opened the
case, disconnected the small power cable at the motherboard from the
on / off button.
One thing I didn't mention, but I'm assuming people are aware, is that
the computer just isn't starting up at all (I'm accessing this group
using laptop). The monitor at the desktop isn't picking any signal
from the desktop because evidently it's not starting up even though
the power is always on.
Dundonald wrote:
> On 3 Nov, 10:50, "BIC" <rol...@pointbtinternet.com> wrote:
>> "Dundonald" <mark.dun...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>>
>> news:1194086010.887857.76470@v3g2000hsg.googlegrou ps.com...
>>
>>
>>
>>> Last night my computer just froze, dead, couldn't do anything. Under
>>> a normal crash I'd either push the on off button at the front of the
>>> case, or press the reset button, to let the computer boot up again.
>>> Problem last night was this wouldn't work. The power light at the on
>>> off switch at the front was still showing as on, the fans were still
>>> turning. I was forced to switch off at the wall. Strange thing was
>>> though, that after switching back on at the wall, the computer
>>> returned to the previous state, as in, light on at the on off switch
>>> at the front and the fans turning. So I switched off at the wall
>>> again and left for a few hours, but again same problem after turning
>>> on.
>>> How can this happen?
>>> I don't mind sorting this out myself if I know where to look. Could
>>> it be that the CPU is crackered? HD? When I switch on at the wall I
>>> don't hear the hard drive but this may be because the CPU isn't
>>> churning. I guess I'm really wondering how to stop the computer
>>> returning to an 'on' state so I can at least try to let everything try
>>> to boot up again from scratch.
>>> Any help really appreciated.
>>> Thanks
>> perhaps the front switch is stuck on.
>>
>> power off, open case and unplug switch wires.
>>
>> replace case and power up
>>
>> what happens now.
>
> Good suggestion, unfortunately still the same problem. I opened the
> case, disconnected the small power cable at the motherboard from the
> on / off button.
>
> One thing I didn't mention, but I'm assuming people are aware, is that
> the computer just isn't starting up at all (I'm accessing this group
> using laptop). The monitor at the desktop isn't picking any signal
> from the desktop because evidently it's not starting up even though
> the power is always on.
>
>
If it is a pre-built computer, please mention the brand and model number.
If you built the computer yourself, tell us the motherboard maker and
motherboard model number.
If I had to guess, your board has an 865, 875, or 848 chipset, and
your ICH5 or ICH5R Southbridge chip just burned up. The fault type is
called latchup, and can leave a burn mark on the top of the ICH5 chip.
When that has happened to some people, they were plugging in a USB device at
the time. At least one guy, has lost several motherboards to the same
fault type.
But without knowing the brand and model, it is pretty hard to blame it
on that. It could be lots of other things.
Processors don't generally drop dead on their own, at least not
without a bit of help (dodgy Vcore on motherboard etc).
Power supplies don't have a very good reputation for reliability, so
if you wanted to change a single component at random, the PSU would
be the one to switch out.
On Nov 3, 10:33 am, Dundonald <mark.dun...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Last night my computer just froze, dead, couldn't do anything. Under
> a normal crash I'd either push the on off button at the front of the
> case, or press the reset button, to let the computer boot up again.
> Problem last night was this wouldn't work. The power light at the on
> off switch at the front was still showing as on, the fans were still
> turning. I was forced to switch off at the wall. Strange thing was
> though, that after switching back on at the wall, the computer
> returned to the previous state, as in, light on at the on off switch
> at the front and the fans turning. So I switched off at the wall
> again and left for a few hours, but again same problem after turning
> on.
>
> How can this happen?
>
> I don't mind sorting this out myself if I know where to look. Could
> it be that the CPU is crackered? HD? When I switch on at the wall I
> don't hear the hard drive but this may be because the CPU isn't
> churning. I guess I'm really wondering how to stop the computer
> returning to an 'on' state so I can at least try to let everything try
> to boot up again from scratch.
>
> Any help really appreciated.
>
> Thanks
On 3 Nov, 11:28, Paul <nos...@needed.com> wrote:
> Dundonald wrote:
> > On 3 Nov, 10:50, "BIC" <rol...@pointbtinternet.com> wrote:
> >> "Dundonald" <mark.dun...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> >>news:1194086010.887857.76470@v3g2000hsg.googlegr oups.com...
>
> >>> Last night my computer just froze, dead, couldn't do anything. Under
> >>> a normal crash I'd either push the on off button at the front of the
> >>> case, or press the reset button, to let the computer boot up again.
> >>> Problem last night was this wouldn't work. The power light at the on
> >>> off switch at the front was still showing as on, the fans were still
> >>> turning. I was forced to switch off at the wall. Strange thing was
> >>> though, that after switching back on at the wall, the computer
> >>> returned to the previous state, as in, light on at the on off switch
> >>> at the front and the fans turning. So I switched off at the wall
> >>> again and left for a few hours, but again same problem after turning
> >>> on.
> >>> How can this happen?
> >>> I don't mind sorting this out myself if I know where to look. Could
> >>> it be that the CPU is crackered? HD? When I switch on at the wall I
> >>> don't hear the hard drive but this may be because the CPU isn't
> >>> churning. I guess I'm really wondering how to stop the computer
> >>> returning to an 'on' state so I can at least try to let everything try
> >>> to boot up again from scratch.
> >>> Any help really appreciated.
> >>> Thanks
> >> perhaps the front switch is stuck on.
>
> >> power off, open case and unplug switch wires.
>
> >> replace case and power up
>
> >> what happens now.
>
> > Good suggestion, unfortunately still the same problem. I opened the
> > case, disconnected the small power cable at the motherboard from the
> > on / off button.
>
> > One thing I didn't mention, but I'm assuming people are aware, is that
> > the computer just isn't starting up at all (I'm accessing this group
> > using laptop). The monitor at the desktop isn't picking any signal
> > from the desktop because evidently it's not starting up even though
> > the power is always on.
>
> If it is a pre-built computer, please mention the brand and model number.
>
> If you built the computer yourself, tell us the motherboard maker and
> motherboard model number.
>
> If I had to guess, your board has an 865, 875, or 848 chipset, and
> your ICH5 or ICH5R Southbridge chip just burned up. The fault type is
> called latchup, and can leave a burn mark on the top of the ICH5 chip.
>
> When that has happened to some people, they were plugging in a USB device at
> the time. At least one guy, has lost several motherboards to the same
> fault type.
>
> But without knowing the brand and model, it is pretty hard to blame it
> on that. It could be lots of other things.
>
> Processors don't generally drop dead on their own, at least not
> without a bit of help (dodgy Vcore on motherboard etc).
>
> Power supplies don't have a very good reputation for reliability, so
> if you wanted to change a single component at random, the PSU would
> be the one to switch out.
>
> Paul
I have a pre-built mesh computer with:
BIOS: American Megatrends AMI BIOS version 0908
Motherboard: ASUSTek Computer Inc. A8N-VM
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200 (2000 MHZ) Venice S939
Does this board tally up with your guess above? When the incident
happened I wasn't plugging anything in, I was playing a game, and it
just froze dead.
On 3 Nov, 11:42, sandy58 <Alecki...@aol.com> wrote:
> On Nov 3, 10:33 am, Dundonald <mark.dun...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Last night my computer just froze, dead, couldn't do anything. Under
> > a normal crash I'd either push the on off button at the front of the
> > case, or press the reset button, to let the computer boot up again.
> > Problem last night was this wouldn't work. The power light at the on
> > off switch at the front was still showing as on, the fans were still
> > turning. I was forced to switch off at the wall. Strange thing was
> > though, that after switching back on at the wall, the computer
> > returned to the previous state, as in, light on at the on off switch
> > at the front and the fans turning. So I switched off at the wall
> > again and left for a few hours, but again same problem after turning
> > on.
>
> > How can this happen?
>
> > I don't mind sorting this out myself if I know where to look. Could
> > it be that the CPU is crackered? HD? When I switch on at the wall I
> > don't hear the hard drive but this may be because the CPU isn't
> > churning. I guess I'm really wondering how to stop the computer
> > returning to an 'on' state so I can at least try to let everything try
> > to boot up again from scratch.
>
> > Any help really appreciated.
>
> > Thanks
>
> So no way to get to BIOS? Tried a boot disk?
On Sat, 03 Nov 2007 06:22:28 -0700, Dundonald
<mark.dundon@gmail.com> wrote:
>I have a pre-built mesh computer with:
>
>BIOS: American Megatrends AMI BIOS version 0908
>Motherboard: ASUSTek Computer Inc. A8N-VM
>CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200 (2000 MHZ) Venice S939
>
What PSU make/model/ratings?
>Does this board tally up with your guess above? When the incident
>happened I wasn't plugging anything in, I was playing a game, and it
>just froze dead.
Having to unplug the PSU from AC power shows it had shut
itself off either from it's own failure or a failure of
connected components. What remains is to determine which is
the cause. Is anything under warranty still? If not you
might pull the PSU and leaving unplugged for awhile, open
and inspect it (failed capacitors being most likely).
A basic inspection of all system internals is also prudent,
especially capacitors on the motherboard and video card, and
checking that all cards are fully inserted into their
respective slots including memory, video, etc. Also check
whether the video card fan spins freely or if it might've
seized and allowed video card to overheat.
Since you are a gamer/were-gaming it seems a bit more likely
(than otherwise) the stress on the video card could have
damaged it (if there were some problem with it already), you
might pull the video card and see how the system reacts,
substituting some other video card if possible... even an
ancient PCI video card would suffice but ultimately the
safest course is to not try to power the system with this
PSU yet until you know if it's operating properly including
inspection and taking voltage readings with a multimeter.
"Dundonald" <mark.dundon@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1194086010.887857.76470@v3g2000hsg.googlegrou ps.com...
> Last night my computer just froze, dead, couldn't do anything. Under
> a normal crash I'd either push the on off button at the front of the
> case, or press the reset button, to let the computer boot up again.
> Problem last night was this wouldn't work. The power light at the on
> off switch at the front was still showing as on, the fans were still
> turning. I was forced to switch off at the wall. Strange thing was
> though, that after switching back on at the wall, the computer
> returned to the previous state, as in, light on at the on off switch
> at the front and the fans turning. So I switched off at the wall
> again and left for a few hours, but again same problem after turning
> on.
>
> How can this happen?
>
> I don't mind sorting this out myself if I know where to look. Could
> it be that the CPU is crackered? HD? When I switch on at the wall I
> don't hear the hard drive but this may be because the CPU isn't
> churning. I guess I'm really wondering how to stop the computer
> returning to an 'on' state so I can at least try to let everything try
> to boot up again from scratch.
>
> Any help really appreciated.
>
> Thanks
>
Hardware failure of some type
Open the machine up and check all connections...
unplug and replug devices and cables etc.
also pull out the power supply and shake it and smell it.
if you hear a rattle or is it smells burned then it;s probably bad
(try a different power supply if you are not sure)
On 3 Nov, 15:53, kony <s...@spam.com> wrote:
> On Sat, 03 Nov 2007 06:22:28 -0700, Dundonald
>
> <mark.dun...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >I have a pre-built mesh computer with:
>
> >BIOS: American Megatrends AMI BIOS version 0908
> >Motherboard: ASUSTek Computer Inc. A8N-VM
> >CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200 (2000 MHZ) Venice S939
>
> What PSU make/model/ratings?
>
> >Does this board tally up with your guess above? When the incident
> >happened I wasn't plugging anything in, I was playing a game, and it
> >just froze dead.
>
> Having to unplug the PSU from AC power shows it had shut
> itself off either from it's own failure or a failure of
> connected components. What remains is to determine which is
> the cause. Is anything under warranty still? If not you
> might pull the PSU and leaving unplugged for awhile, open
> and inspect it (failed capacitors being most likely).
>
> A basic inspection of all system internals is also prudent,
> especially capacitors on the motherboard and video card, and
> checking that all cards are fully inserted into their
> respective slots including memory, video, etc. Also check
> whether the video card fan spins freely or if it might've
> seized and allowed video card to overheat.
>
> Since you are a gamer/were-gaming
I'd say "were gaming" is more appropriate, I'm not a gamer by any
means, that was the first time I'd played any type of game on the PC
for about 12 months.
> it seems a bit more likely
> (than otherwise) the stress on the video card could have
> damaged it (if there were some problem with it already), you
> might pull the video card and see how the system reacts,
> substituting some other video card if possible... even an
> ancient PCI video card would suffice but ultimately the
> safest course is to not try to power the system with this
> PSU yet until you know if it's operating properly including
> inspection and taking voltage readings with a multimeter.
help with fault diagnosis please 
Linear Mode
