[GRLUG] dead computer

[Cprossu]

I see all the hard stuff has been discussed. Make sure your cmos battery
has the correct charge/isn't shorted, I've had ECS boards refuse to post
due to that before (it will be a CR2032 lithium button battery on your
motherboard between the pcie and pci slots). If it still doesn't boot with
a battery swap, try the clear cmos jumper. Like others here I'd check the
few electrolytic caps on the motherboard (Actually scratch that, report
back of the solid caps that are installed on that board are 'through-hole'
or not, I wonder if these are the badly made 'lytics from a while ago that
were made to 'look like' solid caps), then swap out the ram, then try
another power supply. I'd try a video card too for the heck of it, even if
it's an older PCI one. The good news is that if it is your motherboard, you
can pick up something fairly cheap (like $55) off of newegg or something
(I'd recommend like a Asus M6A78L-M Plus), and if it ends up being your
ram, 4gb of kingston ddr3 1333 is currently going for around $30. Either
way cheap fix.


On Mon, Dec 16, 2013 at 12:30 PM, danwiddisii at gmail.com <
danwiddisii at gmail.com> wrote:

> Patrick,
> Sounds good - good luck and have a merry Christmas!
>
> Sincerely,
> Dan
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 16, 2013 at 1:02 PM, <patrick at upmerchants.com> wrote:
>
>> I don't really consider it "bad" news, just "inconvient" news.
>>
>> Running off my backup system right now.  But will have to get the main
>> system fixed as it funs "everything" for me.  Everything being a kvm host
>> to what I play with these days.
>>
>> Am ordering a memory stick from tigerdirect.com today.  Really cheap
>> with all the sales going on.
>>
>> Will try the motherboard next if the memory does not fix it.
>>
>> Will see what happens.
>>
>>
>>
>> Quoting "danwiddisii at gmail.com" <danwiddisii at gmail.com>:
>>
>>  Sounds like a system board. I've seen those exact same issues on various
>>> amd/Intel systems. No video is a pretty typical indicator of a bad board.
>>> You may want to check the  capacitors. Sometimes the old caps leak and
>>> cause weird issues. I've been able to bring a board new life by replacing
>>> them. If it has the old style capacitors you'll see them peaked on the
>>> top
>>> sometimes with discoloration.
>>>
>>> There are still quite a few that have main frames. We work on a wide
>>> variety of systems and architectures.
>>>
>>> Sorry for the bad news.
>>>
>>> Dan
>>> On Dec 16, 2013 10:55 AM, <patrick at upmerchants.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>  I've been doing this kind of stuff myself for over 40 years, but it was
>>>> mostly ibm 360/370 type equipment.  The pc type stuff has just been from
>>>> about 1999 / 2000 when I started with Caldera linux.
>>>>
>>>> You said mainframes also.  Are there many sites in GR still running big
>>>> blue?  I did some contract programming at Meijer's in 1997 / 1998.
>>>>
>>>> Also forgot to mention that when I power on the computer I get a "No
>>>> Signal" message on the monitor.  So that should mean someting too but I
>>>> don't know if it is helpful.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Quoting "danwiddisii at gmail.com" <danwiddisii at gmail.com>:
>>>>
>>>>  Patrick,
>>>>
>>>>> They usually do - however I've seen them not beep as well - I don't
>>>>> mean
>>>>> to
>>>>> be cryptic - but I've seen just about every type of failure out there -
>>>>> it's fairly typical to have them not beep on memory errors now days.
>>>>>
>>>>> If you can get it to power up to post and it crashes - (if you can)
>>>>> try to
>>>>> download and burn that memtest86 disc and see if it'll boot off that -
>>>>> if
>>>>> no luck you'll just have to work one thing at a time.
>>>>>
>>>>> You may want to pick up a static strap (to protect parts/pieces while
>>>>> swapping them out) - you'd be amazed at how a small amount of static
>>>>> electricity can affect parts.
>>>>> If you have a friend with the same type of memory see if you can work
>>>>> out
>>>>> testing with their memory. That might save you some money.
>>>>> Tigerdirect/Newegg have great deals on memory/system boards during the
>>>>> holiday's so that may be a good time to upgrade/replace anyway.
>>>>>
>>>>> Hopefully you'll get things worked out. I wish I could help but my
>>>>> current
>>>>> pc is a little older (not to mentioned packed) since we're moving to
>>>>> Florida next week :)
>>>>>
>>>>> Good Luck!
>>>>>
>>>>> Dan
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
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