[Mak]

hey guys, any help/advice would be so great.

I was copying some files from my cd drive to my desktop and my computer just turns off suddenly. When I try to boot back up, i noticed that the computer just hangs. My cd drive's busy light is on, as well as the computer's busy light and nothing else is going on. The screen is completely black and blank, it doesnt even go to the bios setup screen either.What could be causing this?? a friend of mine told me that it might be the memory or my motherboard, but i wanted to get second opinion before i actually go out and buy a new one. any help/advice would be appreciated. thanks.

I'm currently running windows XP Pro service pack 2
1ghz pentium 3
512MB SDram


thanks again.

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turns off, as in all the way off, no power, or did it try to reboot?

[gerryf]

turns off, as in all the way off, no power, or did it try to reboot?

[Mak]

it tried to reboot it, but my computer is weird, it's always been like this but even when i try to shutdown the computer, it just tries to reboot back on, but when that problem happened it turned off and then it tried to reboot, and that:s when the problem started.

[gerryf]

I am leaning toward your friend's second guess (mobo) or fried CPU.

You said you were copying, which is fairly intense activity.... any beeps at startup?

Any smell? Open your case and ground yourself, but take a sniff. A fried CPU is not terribly noticeable but it does give off an acrid kind of odor.

What kind of motherboard? Any beeps at start up? Any lights on the back of the case (some have green and amber trouble lights)

[Mak]

I opened my computer and checked but there's no smell at all and no beeping at startup. It does seem like the harddrive is not loading though, I'm assuming that usually when you turn on your computer within a minute your harddrive should start loading files to get ready to boot up the OS, but the harddrive is not making any noise and it just hangs. the only light that's on is the reading light on the cd-rom drive (green light) and the busy light for the computer (red light) and they just light up until i turn off the computer, nothing else happens. the motherboard i have is the MS-6315 version 5.1. well that's what it says on the motherboard. thanks for your quick reply!

[gerryf]

the four lights I am referring to are on the back of the case, or on the motherboard itself...MS-6315


actually sounds familiar for some reason.....who makes it? MSI?

[Mak]

I didnt see any four lights, i turned the computer on with the case opened, i checked the back and on the motherboard but didnt see the four lights. i just looked up the motherboard and it's made by MSI. if the motherboard is dead, would the cards that's attached to the motherboard still work? because it seems like my nvidia geforce 2 video card that has a fan on it is working. or would it work even if the motherboard itself is dead?

is tehre anyway to check if my motherboard is dead?

thanks again.

[gerryf]

did you make this yourself or buy it...I cannot find that mobo...my guess is that this board is a system board from some big maker not available to general public.

Looking at mobos from that time period, I can see they don't have the diagnostic lights....but they should have a bios beep code...see any wires running to a small speaker in your case?

To determine if the motherboard is good or bad, once again does it pass the sniff test. Get a flashlight, look closely for burned or melted spots. Generally, the best way to test a motherboard is with new memory, cpu and videocard. (known working parts).

The cpu is easier to detect because you can usually see a burn mark on it if it is bad.

Memory rarely goes bad (assuming it was good to being with).

The lack of beep codes says CPU to me....even with a bad cpu, a computer will still have power so the fans will spin (sometimes).

[Mak]

i got this computer from a friend, donno where he got it from but i just actually unplugged all the cord that comes out from the powersupply and i saw a brown burn mark on the side of the power supply. not a big portion but maybe about a size of a quarter. other than that i didnt see any burn mark, but the powersupply seems to be working fine, the fan on the powersupply is spinning and working. if it's the cpu, this might be a dumb question but what does the CPU look like on the motherboard??

[gerryf]

wait...does the psu smell at all..

A power supply as three different power rails--12v, 5v and 3 volt

One rail can go and cause odd problems. You said it does not sound like your harddrive is spinning. ground yourself, then rest your finger on it and hit the power button...feel the drive vibrate?

12v handles anything with a motor.
5 handles the power switch and....hmmmm, nothing else anymore...
3v covers the cpu, video, etc.

Your power supply could blow a 12volt rail (and maybe 3volt rail) and do what yours is doing....

[Mak]

the powersupply doesnt smell at all, and when i turned it on while i had my fingers on the harddrive, i didnt feel any vibe, didnt even seem like the harddrive was turned on.

[gerryf]

but the cd-rom light blinks? does it vibrate?

[Mak]

the cd-rom light just stays on, doesnt blink at all, the green light stays on the cd-rom drive without blinking and the cd-rom drive doesnt vibrate either.

[gerryf]

sounds like the 12volt may have blown then....fortunately, this is easy to test since removing a powersupply from another computer and testing your rig is pretty straight forward....all you need to do is remove the large connector from poewr supply to motherboard and plug in the other....you don't even need to install it in the case....just hold it in your hand or set it on some books....just don't touch it metal to metal to avoid a short.

[Mak]

Im going to my other place to grab fmy other computer and I will try that but once I do that how will i know if it's the 12v is the one causing the problem??