10 replies to this topic

[Bug]

Rightio, I've got a major problem (I think) with my PC... and I kind of need it for the next two weeks.

Yesterday I came home to find that my system wouldn't start. Like, all fans connect to my motherboard would work but in terms of anything coming up in BIOS and anything further wouldn't show up on my screen. As I was simply too tired last night to look at it properly, I went to bed thinking it was just a dream or something lol.

The next day (today) I woke up, had a look at it, and kind of got the feeling that it was a capacitor failure. I'm still not 100% certain that it is though. Now, I've been having a look online at symptoms MBs get from capacitor failures and yeah, I don't think I've found any capacitors yet that look like they've bulged out or anything like that. But just to be sure, I think I'll go back and have another look, just incase I've missed some.

I've had my motherboard for around 1 & 1/2 years to 2 years now, with no problems, whatsoever. The specs or "features" (what it says in the booklet that came with the MB) are as follows:

Motherboard: GA-7S748 (that's Gigabyte... just letting you know )
CPU: Socket A processor | AMD Athlon / Athlon XP / Duron (K7) | 128K L1 & 256K/64K L2 cache
bla bla bla the list goes on with useless stuff
Chipset: SiS 748 Host/Memory controller | SiS 963L MuTIOL Media I/O
Lol... half of the stuff I've just listed (well... under half) I don't even know what they're talking about.

Anyway, I'll leave it there. If anyone wants me to post other specs incase they might know a bit on the problem, please tell me.

Another problem which I thought might have contributed to the fact of my PC not working like it should was the weather. Being in Australia at this time of year is actually very hot. Yesterday it reached 40-42 degrees celcius (104-107 Fahrenheit approx). Today's not too much better. But what I'm thinking is that the hot weather might have been a reason.

But yeah, anyway, if anyone has any help, please do so.

Thank you so much,
Joshua

[squr3l]

it might be the motherboard, but there are other possibilities for the failure,
first ill ask exactly how far it boots up, does the screen show anything or is it just a flash or something and off
if it isnt the motherboard, it could be the processor or the memory
there isnt much you can do solo to find the cause, youd need spare ram and testing equipment, etc
if you really need your pc you could try to have it repaired but it could be pricy
if you have a good friend who might loan you a pc, you could access your files on it by removing your hard drive and setting it up as a slave drive on your friends pc
good luck finding the problem

[Bug]

Thanks squr3l.

Basically, nothing appears on the screen when I turn it on. Also, you know how when you boot up a PC, the system gives off a "beep" sound in BIOS? Well, at the moment it doesn't do that, and when I try to reset my PC it gives me a series of beeps, no doubt signalling an error or more.

I've also looked around on cards on my motherboard and came across something interesting. My AGP graphics card has a few capacitors with bulging tops on them, which, I'm guessing could be the reason. Because one of the first things that your PC looks for is your graphics card, right? And then it displays your model etc. on the screen before it enters the main part of BIOS, if you get what I mean. So, it could just be a problem with my video card, but I have no AGP cards lying around anywhere so I'm gonna have to ask a friend about that.

Anyway, I'll keep you updated.

[N-sane Noob]

From what you said about the beeps I think it is definetely the motherboard...hmm....I really don't know..You should take everything out like memory and all that and search from something that is not right. Also put it back in again.

[Donna]

Not going to be of much help probably but we had a motherboard go last year but it would still start up in bios mode, had some weird things happening for a few weeks before it finally went kaput so was hard to diagnose. I recall it used to turn itself off 2 -3 times a day at first we thought it was the battery so we replaced that, and one little component kept dislodging itself from the main board. That was replaced and everything was fine for another week then we couldn't get passed startup one morning so we handed to our technician who checked it all, added a new motherboard and it's been fine since.

I'd check to make sure anything hasn't popped out, slightest vibrations in our house on the other PC caused the component to come off our board solved by changing rooms, could also just be a fried a component from the heat.

Your best bet before thinking it's your motherboard is to get someone to look at it that knows what they're doing or knows what to look for.

Where are you in Aus that your getting 42C inside your house

This is a great guide to follow too
http://www.pcguide.c...gen_Failure.htm

[squr3l]

ok since you mentioned beeps, those are codes for different problems, im gona look for a site that can list them for you, but i know that 6 beeps means your memory has been dislodged
my friend drove over about 3 or 4 weeks ago and in the car his memory became loose, wouldnt startup but i removed and reinserted the memory and it was fine
i hope thats the problem because its an easy fix
boot up the pc again and take careful note at the number of beeps and post back

edit: i forgot to mention, gigabytes a good brand im surpirsed it might fail but then again, $hit happens lol

Edited by squr3l, 26 November 2006 - 10:01 PM.

[Stu]

squr3l, on Nov 27 2006, 05:53 AM, said:

ok since you mentioned beeps, those are codes for different problems, im gona look for a site that can list them for you

http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

Quote

No Beeps No Power, Loose Card, or Short.

you obviously have power, so i guess check if everthing is firmly attached and working

if not youre gonna have to do some serious troubleshooting so i hope you have spare parts

my advice? take it to a shop and ask them to fix it.

[Bug]

Stu, on Nov 27 2006, 04:56 PM, said:

if not youre gonna have to do some serious troubleshooting so i hope you have spare parts

my advice? take it to a shop and ask them to fix it.

Mmm... money! If only I had some.

Okay folks, I've checked with a friend about it and they've had the exact same problem. Apparently it doesn't have to be the fault of a capacitor but the motherboard is the cause. What he did was emailed his manufacturar and asked for a replacement (he still had warranty). So, I'm gonna go do the same and see if I can get anywhere.

I'll keep you guys updated.

[Av-]

The same thing happened to me this summer, yes it was hot, but i don't think that is the problem, it should be able to take take 80 degrees c and more. Anyway, turns out one of my memory sticks was fried, because it wasn't inserted properly and it just short circuited i guess. Anyway, if you still have warranty, like i had, make use of it. Don't go mess with it, take out all the costum parts you put into it, because you usually lose your warranty when you mess inside your computer yourself. So don't leave any traces behind, send it back in the original state So yeah, they returned me a wrong crappy pc first, dunno whether it was on purpose, to try me, or not. Anyway, angry phone call, told em i just want my old pc back with a replaced mobo, turns out they already trashed my old pc
But after some discussing i got it back now, took around 3 months total, but it was summer anyway, so it didn't matter all that much. new case, new motherboard and new processor. Cost me around 20 bucks for shipping.

my nightmare

So.... make use of your warranty if you still have it.

[Bug]

Update on the whole deal:

It turns out that it was not the fault of my motherboard at all. It was my video card - which is what I thought in the first place. There were two capacitors that were bulging on it.

Anyway, I don't do too much heavy gaming or anything so I decided to get a second hand 9600XT off eBay.com.au. It should be coming in the mail sometime soon. In the meantime, I'm stuck with a 2mb video card which can only produce 16 bit colour in 1024x768

Thanks for all the help and input you guys gave

[Scythar]

I was just going to imply the same thing, since i got same problem with my new video card, put back in my old one and everything works fine.
Pitty bout the 600-700 $ sent though don't you think: my vifeocard WAS: NVidea 7800 GTX .