mah 'puter broke!

[aenemic]

I found my baby dead yesterday morning

bought a new network card before the weekend so I could play Wrath of The Lich King (don't judge me). the built-in network chipset on the motherboard is broke since way back and there was a PCI network card from netgear installed when I got the computer (my dad's boss built it a long time ago). this card, better known as FA311, isn't even supported by Win XP and Blizzard seem to have a personal vendetta against it. so I bought the cheapest card I could find, from a manufacturer called Del Taco. well, not really. but almost. it's in fact Deltaco. it's a Realtek chipset on it, same as the built-in one on my mb.

so anyways, I installed the new card and it seemed to be working great. well, besides for the fact that if I tightened the screw the card would seem to slightly slip out of the pci slot. I thought I had it in place and started up the computer. no problems that day. on Friday when I got home my computer wouldn't start at first. it got power but wouldn't boot. checking the status lamps at the back, two of them were green and two were red. I felt pretty sure that that means something isn't correctly in place. so I opened it up and it seemed like the network card had slipped out like a milimeter at most. pushed it back in there and the computer would now boot. exactly the same thing happened Saturday morning. same solution this time. I then had the computer running until around 3-4 in the morning the turned it off. and Sunday morning it just wouldn't start. no power, no nothing.

I first thought it was the psu so I tried another one which is completely new and barely used. no change. I disconnected every little thing from the mb except for the cpu and psu and still nothing.

so I've come to the conclusion that it must be the motherboard. I was going to buy a new computer soon anyway so it's not that bad, except for the fact that I have absolutely no money for the rest of the month and when I get my pay the money is going elsewhere. so all I can do is try to find a cheap motherboard that will last me 2-3 months. AND HAS A FRIGGIN' AGP SLOT FOR MY GRAPHIX CARD!!!!111

they don't make those anymore as far as I know...

so yeah, before I start scouring for bits and pieces to put this pile of junk together again... does anyone have any intelligent input on the matter? any thoughts on if I might be wrong about the motherboard and there's something I missed? could it be my new network card that completely ruined everything? should I just stop playing WoW? do I look fat in these pants?

 

[Leon]

any thoughts on if I might be wrong about the motherboard and there's something I missed?

From the sound of it, it is quite possible that your motherboard screwed the pooch. I can't say for certain, but I doubt you've missed anything if it won't boot with just the bare-... Wait a minute.

I disconnected every little thing from the mb except for the cpu and psu and still nothing.

You didn't remove the RAM as well, did you? Because that would be funny, and cause the computer to be unable to boot.

could it be my new network card that completely ruined everything?

Quite possible. If it slipped out of the slot enough to cause a short or something, it may have electrically fisted the PCI bus controller (which is typically an integrated function of the southbridge chip) into submission. If the southbridge is fucked up, well... It certainly could explain your predicament.

should I just stop playing WoW?

Yes, and your current situation is surely a sign from the heavens that you should cut that shit out.

do I look fat in these pants?

No, your fat makes you look fat.

 

[Wooz]

Weird.

You sure there isn't a screw flying around loose inside your rig?

 

[aenemic]

You didn't remove the RAM as well, did you? Because that would be funny, and cause the computer to be unable to boot.

um, yes I removed the RAM. the computer might not be able to boot without it, but I should at least get power, no? like, lamps lit, fans on psu and cpu starting...

Quite possible. If it slipped out of the slot enough to cause a short or something, it may have electrically fisted the PCI bus controller (which is typically an integrated function of the southbridge chip) into submission. If the southbridge is fucked up, well... It certainly could explain your predicament.

now you're talking in riddles... no but seriously, if this is what happens, is there a possibility that other parts of my system were fried as well? can't that shit spread like the plague (or like WoW)?

should I just stop playing WoW?

Yes, and your current situation is surely a sign from the heavens that you should cut that shit out.

funnily enough, I almost agree with you here. there's been nothing but problems since I started playing WoW. a couple of months ago I spent like a week trying to get that shit to run. but yeah, I still have lots of other games to play and I NEED MAH 'PUTER!

do I look fat in these pants?

No, your fat makes you look fat.

my mom says I'm just big boned. meanie!

anyways, I've searched around a bit for used computer parts and found these two mb's for sale real cheap: Asus P5K-VM & AsRock 775i65G

Weird.

You sure there isn't a screw flying around loose inside your rig?

I drop screws in there all the time but I'm pretty sure I always manage to find them. I don't think that's the problem.

 

[Wooz]

um, yes I removed the RAM. the computer might not be able to boot without it, but I should at least get power, no? like, lamps lit, fans on psu and cpu starting..

Hah. No.

Put the RAM back on.

 

[aenemic]

um, yes I removed the RAM. the computer might not be able to boot without it, but I should at least get power, no? like, lamps lit, fans on psu and cpu starting..

Hah. No.

Put the RAM back on.

alright, I'll give that a try. so let's assume that I actually get power when I put the RAM back in, what's the next step? if it isn't the mb, how do you suggest I go about finding the real problem?

 

[Leon]

Whether or not it gets power with the RAM installed, if it still doesn't boot it's quite safe to say that your motherboard is fried. Like I said before, the wigglin' of that card could have caused a short and popped something - no telling what, exactly - and right now you've got to fix (that is, replace) whatever appears to be broken and all signs point to your motherboard.

To rule out other components, try using them with other known working parts - try using your CPU/RAM in another compatible system, etc.

 

[Wooz]

how do you suggest I go about finding the real problem?

Well, strip the computer to the bare (Mobo, PSU, RAM, CPU) and see if it boots. If it seems to, add the graphics card, plug the monitor on and check if it takes you to BIOS. If it does, gradually put another component on and re-boot after each successful boot-to-bios.

 

[aenemic]

that's the thing, I don't have another system to try stuff on. that would make things a whole lot easier.

but ok, when I get home tonight I'll try adding the RAM - if it still doesn't start up it's most likely the motherboard I guess.

thanks for the help so far guys.

 

[SuAside]

sounds like a pretty standard case of a PCI card slipping out, causing a shortcircuit on the bus...

never EVER use a PCI/AGP/PCI-X/PCI-E card that is NOT properly mounted. the various bus types they depend on tend to be very sensitive to shorts if the contact is not complete.

frying a slot and/or card is quite common in that case.

 

[aenemic]

I've poked the dead carcass of my computer a bit more but nothing at all happens.

it kinda sucks to know it could've been the network card I installed that shirtcircuited everything, but I guess I will never know. I'm not even 100% sure that it wasn't properly mounted, it just kinda felt like it wasn't.

anyways, I've just ordered parts to build a new rig. let's hope I don't fry these parts first thing I do...

 

[Leon]

Good luck, and fill us in on these new parts.

 

[aenemic]

thanks. this is what I ordered:

Case: Antec Three Hundred

MB: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3, P45, Socket-775, ATX, 2xGbLAN, DDR2, 2xPCI-Ex(2.0)x16

RAM: Corsair TWIN2X 6400 DDR2, 2048MB CL5 Kit w/two matched CM2X1024A-6400 Dimm's

CPU: Intel Core™ 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz, Socket LGA775, 6MB, 1333Mhz

GPU: XFX GeForce GTX 260 576M 896MB GDDR3, PCI-Express 2.0, 2xDVI/HDCP, 448bit

I have an Enermax Liberty 500W psu from my old computer which I'm going to use.

I've chosen the GTX 260 graphics card because it doesn't require much power and seems to perform really well. I was going for a motherboard that supports SLI so I could add another GTX 260 in the future, but I decided against it because of the amazing performance of running crossfire HD4870 cards. so if I decide to get a performance boost in a year or two the 2xHD4870 will probably be really cheap and still performe tons better than my current card. the reason I didn't go for those right away is money, pretty much.

 

[aenemic]

so I got the parts and put it all together on thursday, then installed windows and got everything working on friday. so far I'm having no problems and I'm very satisfied. I haven't really tested its boundries yet so to speak, except for playing CoD:WaW on the highest settings possible (with no noticable drops in fps). I know not a lot of people on here are hardware freaks, but if any of you are going for a new graphics card I'd definitely recommend the GTX 260. it's quiet, it's cold and it's powerful.