Mobo / PSU fried? getting desperate :(

[roxorzmcownage]

specs: athlon 3000+ barton 1 gig / ram 350w psu via chipset nvidia 128mb agp graphics card creative pci sound card no warranty as i scrapped it together myself. its not even a year old. So, I get home from work and turn on my comp, everything boots fine. I sit down for a minute to watch tv, come back and its turned off. I try to turn it back on, and nothing. No fans, no lights, no beeps. (yes, I did check the I/O button, made sure everything was seated right and plugged in securely) Change the power cord. Nothing. Switch the surge protector. No result. I open up the case and watch as I hit the on button. The cpu fan moves just a tiny hair every 5 or 10 times I try to start it. Ok, I figure its probably the power supply. I dig up an old psu, hook it up to the mobo and hit the switch. Frikkin smoke rolls out of my board. Not a whole lot but it was definately visable. So I yank the cord out of the wall, disconnect it from the board, set it on the table by itself and plug it back in. After a fireworks show, there's one final pop and the smell of hair perm fills the room. Oooookay, probably should've tossed that one out a long time ago. I looked over the motherboard, no scorching, melting or any evidence that I just fried it (maybe its salvageable?) So I take the PSU out of my girlfriends hp desktop, hook it up and bite my lip, but still, no lights or fans. I mean even if my mobo was fried, the fans and drives should still kick on right? Well, mine was a 350w unit, hers was only like 200 I think, maybe it just didn't have enough juice to start it up. Also, it was in a P4 desktop and I did hear something about P4s needing special PSUs. Then I put mine in hers, no dice. Again this could be due to the fact that it may need a different type of unit. Put her original psu back in the hp and it cranks right up. Maybe my switch is faulty? I know the on switches go bad sometimes, and I haven't been able to rule out this possibility, but I'm not completely sure which wire leads to my on switch so I can't really try to bypass it by connecting the pins. I need this computer for work and I'm getting kinda nervous. Ok so now that you have my life story, here are my questions - 1. Does smoke necessarily mean your mobo is garbage? 2. Is it possible that my girlfriends power supply wouldn't crank it up because it was just too weak? or maybe its strictly for P4s? 3. Even if the motherboard was fried, shouldn't a working power supply start up your drives or turn on some lights? 4. If indeed it is a faulty switch, could everything lose power even while the computer was already running? 5. And what color usually are the wires that connect your on button to the mobo, so I can try to bypass the switch? And is there anything I should know before I do? If anyone can answer any of these, or even give me some advice on what to do next, I would be eternally greatful. Thanks

[The Aixtase]

2. Is it possible that my girlfriends power supply wouldn't crank it up because it was just too weak? or maybe its strictly for P4s?

P4s do need a seperate 4-pin power supply (sometimes 8 with the latest mobos and LGA775 sockets) but PSUs (i think) are not specific to a certain CPU even though some processors might require a special plug. About your girldriend's PSU...I know that if a P4 doesn't get the power it needs, the machine won't crank up. Maybe compare your girlfriend's computer specs with your own and see if there's a difference in power requirance. Hope this chart helps you. Sorry i can't help with the other questions. Good Luck!

[richh0323]

specs: 1. Does smoke necessarily mean your mobo is garbage? 2. Is it possible that my girlfriends power supply wouldn't crank it up because it was just too weak? or maybe its strictly for P4s? 3. Even if the motherboard was fried, shouldn't a working power supply start up your drives or turn on some lights? 4. If indeed it is a faulty switch, could everything lose power even while the computer was already running? 5. And what color usually are the wires that connect your on button to the mobo, so I can try to bypass the switch? And is there anything I should know before I do? If anyone can answer any of these, or even give me some advice on what to do next, I would be eternally greatful. Thanks

1 If you're board smoked , it's gone, most of the electronice are put in by a machine you won't be able to repair it. 2 You can check the power supply with a meter if you have one, the voltages are +3.3V/ 26A +5V/ 35A +12V/ 15A -12V/ 0.8A -5V/ 0.5A +5Vsb, 2.0A In order for it to turn on the computer you need to send the 5 volt signal to the computer, this is the stanby voltage. See the link for information on power supplies. http://computer.howstuffworks.com/power-supply.htm 3 P4's use a connector for the CPU, some of the newer ones have SATA power connectors too. 1x ATX 12V 4-pin for Pentium 4 CPUs connector 1x ATX 20-Pin Motherboard connector I doubt that the power supply is good, now but you will need a new motherboard