[mythtv-users] Hardware death - CPU vs motherboard?

Newbury newbury at mandamus.org
Mon Oct 26 01:30:25 UTC 2009


I recently had a power supply die. Same symptom as yours: nothing on  
post. One fan would pulse and stop. Turned out there was nothing wrong  
with the mb or ram. I was able to get to post using a powerbrick + atx  
adapter ps from a miniitx case. Not powerful enough to run anything  
beyond the bare mb.

Find your local go-to guy or hole in the wall shop and get him to plug  
in a spare ps. You possibly will not even have to remove your present  
ps for the test.
I ended up needing a new ps and had to swap the mb into a different  
case as I could not buy an exact physical replacment which fit. So it  
took about 4 hours: 1 hour travel time, 10 minutes to buy new ps,  
2hours looking/drooling over new 'toys'... And an hour to swap the mb  
and mount the new ps.

Good luck!


Sent from my iPhone

On 2009-10-24, at 12:28, Kawayanan <kawayanan at gmail.com> wrote:

> Well, I just checked to see if I could test the PSU.  I have two  
> others in the house, but either my other computers are sufficiently  
> old to be different (very possible), or the PSU on this Asus  
> Barebones is non-standard.
>
> I can't test the PSU in the way you describe because the BIOS screen  
> never comes up.  It never gets that far (fan spin, nothing else  
> happens).  As for RAM tests, again, I can't get to BIOS, let alone  
> memtest86 (I also use UBCD).  It had two sticks of RAM and neither  
> one worked alone.  On top of that, a brand new stick of RAM didn't  
> work either.  I find it hard to believe all are bad.
>
> I think its PSU, motherboard, or CPU.  The problem is I have no way  
> of figuring out which one.  This may just be the final death of this  
> machine...
>
> Thanks again
>
> On Sat, Oct 24, 2009 at 11:44 AM, Andy Colson <andy at squeakycode.net>  
> wrote:
> George Mari wrote:
> On 10/24/2009 07:35 AM, Kawayanan wrote:
>  >
> [deleted]
>
> My question is whether there is a way to determine if this is a CPU or
> motherboard problem?  I don't have access to a different CPU to  
> test, and I
> don't want to buy a CPU and have it turn out to be a motherboard  
> problem.
> If its a motherboard problem, I guess that means starting over with a
> effectively new system (the Asus is a barebones with most everything
> onboard).
>
> Any suggestions?  My wife and kids are missing DVR. :(
>
> Thank for any help!
>
> It may be a power supply problem.  If you have another system you  
> can temporarily spare, swap PSUs, or move the suspect motherboard  
> into an empty case, if you have one.
>
> Power spikes, in my experience, tend to kill PSUs first, then  
> motherboards, then CPUs, in that order.
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>
> Agreed.  I'v had more power supply's die than anything else. (but  
> moving power supply is lots easer that moving motherboard)
>
> One way I have tested the power supply is by watching the bios  
> screen that shows you the cpu fan speed and power line readings.   
> (Where it shows you 3.5V and 6V, and the fans at 1500 rpm or  
> whatever... not sure what the screen is called)
>
> The voltage should remain steady.  If it jumps (it'll be very quick  
> and hardly ever happen, so you have to stare at it for a while) then  
> its a bad power supply.
>
> To test the cpu vs memory, take all but one of the memory chips out,  
> and run memtest86 on it.  (I use UBCD)  If the pc crashes and dies  
> its probably cpu/motherboard.  If the scan runs ok its probably  
> memory.  Test each memory chip, one at a time by itself.
>
> Also if it smells hot, its probably overheating.  If its overheating  
> you can smell it, and feel it... its really hot.
>
> -Andy
>
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