> > > > A Gentoo desktop of mine won't turn on anymore. I was hoping it was > > > > the power supply but I've installed a new one which doesn't fix the > > > > problem. Is there a sure way to know if the motherboard needs > > > > replacement or if I have two dead power supplies? > > > > > > Hi there, > > > > > > I work on PCs for a living, mostly peoples' home computers, and in > > > the case of a "dead pc" the cause is nearly as often something else > > > as it is a dead PSU. > > > > > > Causes such as a duff CD-ROM drive or a damaged USB connector are > > > surprising but not uncommon, so reset the BIOS (using the method > > > described by Volker) and if that doesn't work unplug as much as > > > possible from the motherboard - you'll surely need the CPU & RAM for > > > it to post, but you may wish to swap out the RAM at some point in > > > your diagnostics - and unplug most everything else. That means > > > drives, PCI cards, USB devices, stuff connected to the USB & serial > > > headers, graphics card if possible. Also don't connect the power > > > supply to any of the drives, or anything else that you're not > > > currently using. > > > > > > I've seen cheap power supplies take out the motherboard when they go. > > > Sorry if you find that to be the case. > > > > I removed everything from the motherboard and even tried another CPU > > that used to run on that same motherboard. No luck. I can't test the > > power supply in my P3 router because the CPU power plug is different. > > > > I should have said before that every couple times I try to turn it on, > > the CPU fan spins about 2% of a full rotation and some of the LEDs > > along the back light up for a second. > > > > Would you guys say it is most likely the motherboard at this point? > > > > - Grant > > > > > > > > -- > > > > gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list > > > > > > I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say this is an Emachines PC. Am I > right?
Not Emachine actually. I built it about 1.5 years ago with parts from the lowest bidder. - Grant > Emachines, when the PSU goes bad, have a habit of taking out the > motherboard, too. Hooking the old PSU up to a new motherboard fries the new > one. I fried 2 motherboards (not Emachines supplied) back in my early days > doing this (PSU wasn't Emachines, either). So, it can happen with other > PSU/motherboards. If the motherboard has a status light and it isn't even > coming on, then the motherboard is dead. Even bad CPUs I've damaged still > allowed the motherboard, fans, etc. to power up (though nothing came up on > the screen). Good info, thanks Mark. - Grant > - Mark Shields -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
