[Pink Fairy]

Hello. My old PC with Windows XP had an unfortunate incident recently. My brother had a digital camera hooked up to it via USB cord (hich we had done many times before BTW)and I guess he moved it accidentally and the battery cover of the camera came open. Sparks flew out, and the monitor's display suddenly disappeared. He just did the first thing he could think of and unplugged the whole PC.

 

When we plugged it back in, it seemed to turn on, but there was nothing on display on the monitor. I opened the case and checked inside, but nothing looked or smelled ou of place. I tried using the monitor's power cord, but it didn't work. Sometimes it wouldn't turn on no matter how long I hold the button, and when it does turn on, no lights on it flash or anything, although at first the lights on the keyboard still flashed like it used to when it would first boot up.

 

Is there any way I could fix it? There was data and settings I never got to back up in it still, and I would like to still be able to use my AIO 922 Dell printer, which really bummed me out when I saw that it didn't seem to work with Windows 8 on my new PC.

[Advertisements]

Make and model of the PC please. 

[RKinner]

Make and model of the PC please. 

[Pink Fairy]

Where would I find that information?

[RKinner]

On the bottom or back

[Pink Fairy]

The maker is Dell. There's a sticker that's scratched off but I can still see 'OU7' does that sound like the model number?

[RKinner]

It might be part of the model number.  Is it a desktop or a laptop? 

[Pink Fairy]

It's a desktop.

[RKinner]

OK.  Disconnect the monitor from the PC and open up the PC.  Turn it on and observe the fan.  Does it spin up?  Also look at the fan on the power supply.  Does it turn when you turn it on?  Are there any lights on the motherboard.  Does the motherboard have a number?  Find the USB plug that did the sparking and follow the wire on the back of it.  Does it plug into the motherboard?  Can you unplug it?  (Remember where it goes)

 

I assume the monitor has its own power.  If you plug it up to the wall does it light up at all?  Ideally it should complain that it doesn't have a signal.  Does the monitor have a part number on it?

[Pink Fairy]

I have not had time to open the PC yet but yes the monitor works fine still, I've used it with the new PC.

[terry1966]

see if this solves your printer problem on windows 8 :- http://en.community....3528/t/19474169

 

seeing how you have a new pc and you just seem to want to get some data off the old pc have you thought about simply removing the hard drive and connecting it to the new pc so you can copy your data across?

 

a docking station like the one in following link is probably the easiest way to connect the hard drive to the new pc without having to open up the new pc. :- http://www.amazon.co...00N1S46SA?psc=1

 

[Pink Fairy]

OK.  Disconnect the monitor from the PC and open up the PC.  Turn it on and observe the fan.  Does it spin up?  Also look at the fan on the power supply.  Does it turn when you turn it on?  Are there any lights on the motherboard.  Does the motherboard have a number?  Find the USB plug that did the sparking and follow the wire on the back of it.  Does it plug into the motherboard?  Can you unplug it?  (Remember where it goes)

 

 

 

The PC doesn't turn on anymore when I plug in, but when this first happened, it would sometimes start up (the light would go on, the fans would turn) it just wouldn't appear on the monitor. As of now though, there's still one light on on the motherboard.

 

There's a lot of numbers on the motherboard, but there's a prominent one printed in white: E210882. 

 

The USB the camera was plugged into was in the back, it appears as a little metal box inside that's sitting directly on/over the motherboard.  Also, I don't know if I just didn't notice last time or what, but when I take the cover off now it has a faint smell like molasses..

 

 

 

seeing how you have a new pc and you just seem to want to get some data off the old pc have you thought about simply removing the hard drive and connecting it to the new pc so you can copy your data across?

 

a docking station like the one in following link is probably the easiest way to connect the hard drive to the new pc without having to open up the new pc. :- http://www.amazon.co...00N1S46SA?psc=1

 

Yes I have thought of that and I'll probably have to do that in the end, but I don't know if i need to get an IDE/PATA or SATA or what size. Here's pictures: 

 

Here's the USB box, it's the smaller one:

[terry1966]

 

Yes I have thought of that and I'll probably have to do that in the end, but I don't know if i need to get an IDE/PATA or SATA or what

you have ide/pata drives in that pc, notice the wide ribbon cables, a sata drive has a narrow cable, here's some images showing the difference between the 2. :- https://www.google.c...iw=1150&bih=808

 

the dock i linked to in earlier post can be used for both an ide/pata drive and a sata drive so as long as the drive still works then you should be able to get the data off it easy enough using that.

a cheaper option is to use something like this :- http://www.amazon.co...6CAH5RTWYQP4VNH

 

[Pink Fairy]

Thanks so much. Is there a way to tell what inch size I would need before actually removing the hard drive?

[terry1966]

sorry no idea what your talking about when you ask what inch size you would need, so can't really answer you but here's some more info that may clear things up for you.

 

hard drives come in 2 sizes 3.5inch and 2.5inch, 3.5inch drives are for dektops, 2.5 are usually for laptops, but can be used in desktops and most ssd's are 2.5inch in size.

 

your drive is a 3.5inch ide/pata drive.

 

both the options i've linked to for connecting a hard drive to a pc,

the dock :- http://www.amazon.co...00N1S46SA?psc=1

and adapors :- http://www.amazon.co...6CAH5RTWYQP4VNH

can be used with any physical size hard drive and also any connection type ide/pata and sata drives.

 

these will enable you to take your hard drive out of the old pc and then connect it to your new pc so you can copy any needed files, pictures, documents, etc onto the new pc from that old hard drive.

 

Edited by terry1966, 25 August 2015 - 04:09 AM.