The Players Corner Archive

My friend gave me his computer because it does not work anymore. Now this computer is pretty descent I have looked over the parts and everything for the most part seems pretty clean and most likely in working condition. There is a big problem with it though. It will not turn on. Now I have been working with it for about a month and am not sure what is exactly wrong with it. I have a couple of good websites that explain to me how to fix problems and work things over. I have a little bit of a background also. I know the power supply works. The cdrom, floppy, and all the cards are in working conditions. The on/off switch on the computer works on the front of it. What I have eliminated it down to is the motherboard or the processor. I do not want to go out and blow tons of money on something that may not be the problem. And I am pretty sure the hard drive still works but that should make a difference from what I have read. When I give it power from the supply, there is a red light that comes on the motherboard right by where the network card is. So I know it must be getting some sort of power. Thats why I think it might have to do with the processor, but like I said I want to make sure of it. It has a fan which is in working conditions. But he did leave it on all the time so it may have burnt the chip out. Could someone give me some feedback if they have ran into this problem before or have any idea how to fix it? Is there something just wrong with the motherboard? or is it the chip? Thanks alot

Lord Deprav reg

Nothing on the monitor? No attempt to read a floppy disk?

If there's no attempt to read a floppy disk when you turn your computer on, then it's one of two things... processor is busted, or the ROM chip is busted. Those two things are the absolute most fundamental aspects of a computer so if they aren't working nothing else will work. There's such a little chance that the motherboard is busted unless someone physically scratched it, or opened it and ran some static electricity through it or it was subject to some other really abnormal conditions.

If there is an attempt to read the floppy disk on bootup, then BOTH your processor and ROM chip are functional, so that would be a good thing. You don't actually need a hard drive to run a computer which is why if the disk drive is being accessed then your computer is working.

But if you turn it on, and no floppy drive is being read, and nothing appears on the monitor, then that computer will need new parts and it may be quite a pain to figure out which parts it will need (motherboard or processor or BIOS/ROM chip or any combination) since the consequence for anyone of those three not working is the same.

- Lord Kranar, human Archwizard reg

Hook up the computer to your own monitor and see if it works. If not, then rule that out.

Always rule out the cheapest and/or least traumatic solutions first.

R
reg

Lord Deprav reg

I am guessing it is one of these two. Go out to a computer store and buy yourself a case fan. They should run you about 10$. There is a spot in the MB where the fan should get its power from. Oh yeah make sure you buy a 3 pin fan not the larger 4 pin cousin. If when the fan is plugged into the MB and you flip the switch the fan should spin and stop. If it does this chances are its the processor. If it doesn't atleast spin up then you know the MB isn't getting power through it. In which case I would say a new case or just a power supply is the way to go.

There could also be a million other small things wrong with it from the powersupply not being certified for the processor your are using, which is the case with MOST athlon chips.

Oh yeah smell the powersupply by where the fan is, and check to see if it smells weird, funny, or toasted. If it smells like this it could be sending not enough power to the board.

Personally I would write up the stats and just see what it is and if its worth the hassle.

You can build a pretty nice system if you have a hard drive, monitor, and good video card for about 500$.

I currently just built myseld a kicking system however I need it to play more then Gemstone and DAoC.

I bought:

Athlon XP 2000+
Soyo Dragon Plus
512MB PC2700 DDR
CPu Fan
Case w/power supply
60GB Hard drive

The Proc cost me 250$, MB was 130, RAM was 300 but thats overkill for what you need. I would say 256MB should run you 70$, my case was 99$ and the hard drive was on special at CompUSA for 99$ and was a 7200RPM ATA 133 drive.

If this system is under 800 megahertz it might not be worth salvaging.

Just my thoughts, let me know what it ended up being.

Oh and has for the chance the MB could be busted, there is always a good chance. If this is homemade they could have flashed the BIOS wrong, or got finger oils all over it cauing connections to corrode. There are way to many things to figure in, but the fan thing 99% of the time works for me in the diagnosis.

Buckwheet reg

Also I know you said it might not be worth salvagin...But He basically sold me all the parts for like 50 bucks...which includes his sound card, modem, motherboard, floppy, cdrom, 15.3 gig hard drive, old case, and RAM. So I figured it wasn't too bad of a deal. Even if I couldn't get that to work those parts are always nice to have. I was plannin on buying a 512 stick to put in there also...I like speed.

Another thing I do not have very good expierence with is the video card. Whats are good video cards? Basically the best for your money? Thats out right now. I might as well put one of those in it just for laughs. I probaly will switch over my dvd rom from my other computer to see what its like. And yes I was planning on buying a bigger hard drive for it too...But that is nothing I will be needing until I get a cable modem or whatever we decide to do. Well I will wait to see what yah say about the chip before I go out and get one and then I can work from there. Thanks again.

Lord Deprav reg

Lord Deprav reg

Celeron is like a Geo Metro.
Duron is like the 4 door Geo Metro
The Pentium III is like a small v6
Then Pentium 4 is like a v8
The Althon is like a v8 on NOS.

They range in price with the Pentium 4's being the most expensive. Chances are the board you have will not be compatable with anything other then a Celeron or a Pentium III. I can assure it will not accept a 2.0ghz.

I would reccomend that if you are looking at buying the parts and making it yourself that you go with a Athlon system. Main reason is that the lower priced athlons are just as fast but it most cases faster then the same Pentium chip, but they are less money.

Here is what I would recomend that you get.

Get a motherboard with the VIAkt266a chipset on it. Should run you about 130$.

Grab a Athlon 2000+ or the 1900+ which should be around 190-250$ depending where you go.

Get 512MB PC2100 DDR from Crucial.com. Should run you about 150$

Get a GeForce4 MX from bestbuy for 179.99 unless you want to opt for the GeForce4 TI 4600 which is 400$.

Soundblaster Audigy X-Gamer for 99$ from BestBuy.

And if you have a CompUSA by you this week, atleast in MN, they were running those 60GB 100$ drives. I would get 2 of those, but you could live with 1 maybe?

Also make sure you got the Antec case that Best Buy sells for 99$. It should have Profession Series on the box, and be in a brownish box instead of a blue or green one.

Thats all you should need.

Buckwheet reg

Even though they do 3 less instructions per cycle than the athlon, it might be wise to go with the newer p4, long term wise. I think the current socket A specs wont be able to crank much more hz out of the processor before it melts, while the newer p4s I believe will be able to get some more juice out of their technology.
Just my personal opinion though, the intel/via/amd debate is like a ford/chevy/honda etc. debate.

What it comes down to is personal preference/bias/brand loyalty and cost.

Hands down best CPU for your money in my opinon is the via 933 mhz CPU, the new ones run real cold, reminicient of the Celeron 300s back in the day (like 65 bucks too)...

Best video card for your money is the Geforce2 mx200 , 56 bucks-- its about a year old but still flies through any game. If you MUST get a direct x 8.1 card i wouldn't go for a ATI based card (radeons) , technology wise their great, but they have horrible drivers (ati is known for that anyway).

the question is, do you want a budget system that still plays any game out currently really good , or do you want a high end system thats the fastest out right now, or do you want a system that has the highest upgrade possibility (in the 6-18 month range, thats all you can hope for with computers)

'lood

'lood

reg

Buckwheat gave you some solid advice. I'm an AMD fan myself.

I'm not sure if you're wanting to go with bargain for the performance or if you're looking at performance without worrying about price. If you want to get something you'll be happy with and save some money I'd suggest the following.

kt266 motherboard $130
Athlon Tbird 1.2 - 1.4Ghz $50-$90
sdram 256mb $40
SoundBlaster Live $25

Buckwheat's setup will have you drooling. The above is just an idea for some alternatives to keep costs lower. reg

Lord Deprav reg

Lord Deprav reg