[dustygal]

please help if you can.
last week my computer would not shut down with start, turn off etc., so i started to turn it off manually when i smelled something hot. i immediately unplugged the computer. the nest morning i turned puter back on and the safe mode screen came up first then everything seemed to be fine for a few minutes but then the screen went black and i smelled hot again and unplugged again. i called a tech i knew and he said it was probably the power supply. i let him replace that and he said the puter was fine and brought it back. after using it a couple of days i discovered i had no sound and now no printer either. don't know yet if anything else is not working. my sound will reinstall but device manager says device cannot start code 10. it is enabled and the drivers are updated. also i get an error message that reads:a usb device has exceeded the power limits of its hub port, unknown device. i have tried and tried to reinstall my printer and it will not reinstall.
is my puter gone to pot? should i trash it? will it cost too much to fix?
please help
thanks in advance
dustygal

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What motherboard do you have? Do you know? Or perhaps you could just tell me what CPU you have if you don't know the motherboard.

[SirKenin]

What motherboard do you have? Do you know? Or perhaps you could just tell me what CPU you have if you don't know the motherboard.

[dustygal]

hi sirkenin
i just ran pc sizard and this is what it says i have. mainboard - trigemcomputer, inc imperial (emachines T2692)
chipset - intel i845G
processor - intel celeron @ 2586 Mhz
memory - 256 mb
i hope that is the info you need.

[SirKenin]

What it sounds like, and unfortunately this is without a visual inspection, is that a capacitor burnt on your motherboard. This would certainly explain the problems that you are having. You would have to do a visual inspection of the motherboard to determine this for certain, but it might be confusing for you to do. If you feel brave enough, the capacitors are those tall blue or black things sticking out of your motherboard, mostly around the CPU, that look like a pop can. You can do an inspection for bulging or blackened capacitors to see if you can identify the problem. Alternatively you can take it to a shop and get them to inspect it.

[dustygal]

thanks, that's what i was afraid of. can just the burned parts be replaced or does the whole board have to be replaced. do you know how much a motherboard normally runs. is it hard to take the board out? also do you think mu usb bus port is damaged?

[SirKenin]

Well, it is possible to replace a burnt cap, but I don't think I would bother with it. It might cost more to replace it in labor than it would to replace the whole board, depending on which board you choose.

It isn't hard to take the board out. A good tech can take one out in 5 minutes or so.

Motherboards range in price between $50-200 USD, depending on the brand and features.

I don't think the USB is damaged. I think it is the caps in the mobo powersupply to be honest.

[troppo]

normally buring parts is the first sign of a bad or faulty PSU

the capacitors sirkenin is talking about usually only go when the computer had been severly overheated

i would first cheack your power supply just by "sniffing it" to see if thast where the burnt smell is coming from.

or you could replace it with another one and see if your system will boot. but if you smell the burning smell again immediatly turn the thing of and its probably best to unplugg it from the wall.

also if capacitors have over heated its better and eaisert to replace the entire board. to see if teh capacitors have overheated on teh top of them there is a punched (K) this ;'K' is there to allow for the expansion of the electrolytic fluid inside them if the capacitor has overheated then the 'K' will be raised and bulging

but i would doubt that for staters cheack your PSU

troppo

[SirKenin]

I think this is where it is demonstrated that is important to read the previous posts before replying.

The PSU has already been replaced with a brand new one. It is now most likely that one of the caps was burned and the board needs to be replaced.

[dustygal]

sirkenin
if the board is replaced, can it just be plugged in or are there settings that have to be made to it first? is it possible that i could take out the board and replace it myself. i am good at handyman type things. i had planned to be a computer tech at one time but never finished taking the courses. fot a good job instead.
thanks for your help

[SirKenin]

You should just be able to plug the new board in, although there is an exception to that rule. If you use a different brand with a different chipset, Windows will more than likely not boot up. You can try to do a repair install first, but if that fails you will have to do a full reinstall. There is a trick to doing it without all that, but it's hard to explain. You have to add a key into the Registry to show hidden devices in the Device Manager, delete the Bus Master drivers before you shut down to install the new board, install the board, reboot the computer, let Windows install the new devices, show hidden devices in the DM and delete them all. It's a bit of a pain in the butt.

If you use the exact same model or use a board with the exact same chipset then you could get lucky.

[dustygal]

a little more complicated than i hoped. i'm sure i could do it but i'm not sure i'm up to takcing it.
thanks for your help
dustygal