<html><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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. </div><div>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. </div><div><br></div><div>Good luck!</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Sent from my iPhone</div><div><br>On 2009-10-24, at 12:28, Kawayanan <<a href="mailto:kawayanan@gmail.com">kawayanan@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div>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.<br>
<br>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.<br>
<br>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...<br><br>Thanks again<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Oct 24, 2009 at 11:44 AM, Andy Colson <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:andy@squeakycode.net"><a href="mailto:andy@squeakycode.net">andy@squeakycode.net</a></a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div><div></div><div class="h5">George Mari wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
On 10/24/2009 07:35 AM, Kawayanan wrote:<br>
><br>
[deleted]<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>
My question is whether there is a way to determine if this is a CPU or<br>
motherboard problem? I don't have access to a different CPU to test, and I<br>
don't want to buy a CPU and have it turn out to be a motherboard problem.<br>
If its a motherboard problem, I guess that means starting over with a<br>
effectively new system (the Asus is a barebones with most everything<br>
onboard).<br>
<br>
Any suggestions? My wife and kids are missing DVR. :(<br>
<br>
Thank for any help!<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
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.<br>
<br>
Power spikes, in my experience, tend to kill PSUs first, then motherboards, then CPUs, in that order.<br>
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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)<br>
<br>
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)<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Also if it smells hot, its probably overheating. If its overheating you can smell it, and feel it... its really hot.<br><font color="#888888">
<br>
-Andy</font><div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
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