Dead computer

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I found an old PC in the house so I decided to see if it would work but whenever I plugged it in all I got was the green power light in the front and nothing else, no fans running, no beep, nothing at all. I opened it up and everything seems plugged in and secure.

So my question is - Is the PSU broken or is there something else I've missed?

 

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get a hold of a multimeter and test the psu to see if its ok, if it is then I would say it's your mobo.

 

PSU is the most likely culprit.

 

strip it down, clean it, re-set the bios and rebuild with minimum spec to boot. sometimes theres a small chance it'll work. i dont why but its worked for me several times in the past

Grim

 

can't recommend this enough for testing psu's. This will place a load on the psu, pull the fan on (if it works), test for output and short's.

Simon

 

Nice bit of kit

 

Stripped the computer down and cleaned it out, made sure the ram was properly seated (there is only one stick) then I tried switching it back on but all that happened was the light came on on the front of the case and the CPU fan spins for about a second then stops and then nothing.

 

have you tested the PSU?

 

OK. Put in new PSU and all the fans started spinning but then I got the smell of smoke and then there was smoke coming from somewhere (around the power connector), needless to say I turned it off and had a look but I couldn't see any damage so I turned it on again only to find nothing at all.

I can only assume that I've fried the motherboard in some way and that the whole thing is now just a 5og paperweight

 

had you installed a new hard drive? or reconnected a drive?

If the power connector on a hard drive is put in the wrong way, things can go pop

EDIT: is the PSU on the correct voltage setting?

 

I decided to open up the pc again and make sure everything was plugged in correctly, took out the ram and turned it around then I switched it back on again and it works

 

Postman don't leave this computer on and unattended. It has already proven that it is a fire risk. Can you tell where the smoke came from or the fire itself?

 

Boyce, I've never even seen one of those before. As mary would say," we live in great times with the technology that is out there and coming out"

And you my friend are always a great resource. That is going on the wish list even if I don't work on many computers these days. A girl still has to have her geek toys you know.

 

i hope you mean you swapped the dimms over and not that you actually rotated the memory 180 degrees

you can re-wire the PSU connector red to black and the PSU will work without connecting it to the mobo

Grim

 

I think the smoke came from a dust build up because I hadn't used it for nearly 2 years but you are right I shouldn't leave it on unattended.

 

I just took the ram out and installed it the other way around and made sure it was properly seated (I might have made a mistake whenever I reassembled the pc).