Hardware malfunction...need help

I went out of town for the weekend and turned my pc completely off (shut it down and turned the switch on my power supply off). When I returned and tried turning it back on, my tower would light up for a few seconds and then stop. It seemed as if it was trying to warm up. In the past it has flashed a couple of times and come on. This time it flashed in much shorter intervals and would not turn on. To avoid damaging my pc I turned it completely off now and am trying to figure out what to do. My questions are:

Am a right in assuming this is a power supply issue?

If so, when I replace it will there be any damage done to other parts of my pc like the hd, motherboard, etc.?

If not, what could the problem be?

Do you hear a beep or any beeps on starting it? And does it POST? What's on screen sir?

Do you hear a beep or any beeps on starting it? And does it POST? What's on screen sir?

CUDGEdave

No beeps. No. The screen never comes on. The only sound is the fans coming on as the tower flashes.

Sounds like a Motherboard or maybe a PSU issue if it isnt staying on for long. If it was RAM or CPU I would imagine you would still get some post error noises.V4LENT1NE

Yeah,Sounds like the mobo has had it,Otherwise you'd get some beeps or bios screen showing.

Thanks for the responses. I built this pc back in 2007 and haven't brushed up on my hardware knowledge since. If I replace my mobo, will everything be fixed or will I have to do something else? Can I salvage the rest of my PC? Could you also suggest a mobo?

Here are my main specs:

Q6600

Nvidia 8800 GTS (i think or a similar model)

4GB RAM (i think DDR2)

Asus P5K mobo

I have been planning on upgrading my video card anyways. Could you guys give me some suggestions on this as well? I want one that will work with the setup I have. I'm not looking to get the newest or best one available...just the best for the setup I have.

Thanks for the responses. I built this pc back in 2007 and haven't brushed up on my hardware knowledge since. If I replace my mobo, will everything be fixed or will I have to do something else? Can I salvage the rest of my PC? Could you also suggest a mobo?

Here are my main specs:

Q6600

Nvidia 8800 GTS (i think or a similar model)

4GB RAM (i think DDR2)

Asus P5K mobo

I have been planning on upgrading my video card anyways. Could you guys give me some suggestions on this as well? I want one that will work with the setup I have. I'm not looking to get the newest or best one available...just the best for the setup I have.

cmpepper23

Hey there...It

You could get this motherboard perhaps

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4008499&CatId=1572

or this

http://www.amazon.com/MSI-G31TM-P21-Intel-Micro-Motherboard/dp/B002HKHP5Y/ref=pd_sxp_grid_pt_0_0

(My board is very similar to this second option, details in my sig)

In terms of a video card for your setup..perhaps this

http://www.amazon.com/nVidia-GeForce-9800GT-PCI-Express-ZT-98GES5P-FDL/dp/B003DTMLZW

I went out of town for the weekend and turned my pc completely off (shut it down and turned the switch on my power supply off). When I returned and tried turning it back on, my tower would light up for a few seconds and then stop. It seemed as if it was trying to warm up. In the past it has flashed a couple of times and come on. This time it flashed in much shorter intervals and would not turn on. To avoid damaging my pc I turned it completely off now and am trying to figure out what to do. My questions are:

Am a right in assuming this is a power supply issue?

If so, when I replace it will there be any damage done to other parts of my pc like the hd, motherboard, etc.?

If not, what could the problem be?

cmpepper23

Thanks for the responses. I built this pc back in 2007 and haven't brushed up on my hardware knowledge since. If I replace my mobo, will everything be fixed or will I have to do something else? Can I salvage the rest of my PC? Could you also suggest a mobo?

Here are my main specs:

Q6600

Nvidia 8800 GTS (i think or a similar model)

4GB RAM (i think DDR2)

Asus P5K mobo

I have been planning on upgrading my video card anyways. Could you guys give me some suggestions on this as well? I want one that will work with the setup I have. I'm not looking to get the newest or best one available...just the best for the setup I have.

cmpepper23

While the Q6600 isn't horrible by any means, it is showing it's age if you do a lot of gaming. If you're not a big gamer, then no need to really upgrade from it. You would have to spend money on old technology and find a LGA 775 motherboard to support that CPU.

If you wanted to get something newer, you'd need to get a motherboard, CPU and RAM. For example:

• CPU: i5-2500K - $219.99
• MB: ASRock P67 - $154.99
• RAM: G.Skill 2x4GB DDR3 1333 - $46.99

Or if you want something from AMD that'll provide decent performance and cost a little less:

• CPU: Phenom II x6 1090T - $169.99
• MB: ASRock 970 - $109.99
• RAM: G.Skill 2x4GB DDR3 1333 - $46.99

Both are just examples, you can find less expensive MBs and possibly RAM for each setup or buy more expensive parts.

If replacing my psu does not fix my problem, then I will build a new setup salvaging what I can. It looks to be more cost efficient as I don't want to pay for old tech.

I looked at the suggestions and will go with something similar to the intel one. For the money what is the best cpu (I guess like the q6600 of this generation of cpus)? And what video card will allow me to play ME3 with good settings? I know that information isn't out yet, but you can speculate. I 'm not wanting to max it out or anything like that. I have a 19 in monitor and play at 1400 x 900. I'm not a heavy pc gamer, but I do want to finish ME with my same save file. I mostly play older games on my steam account and Civ IV.

Also how do I go about recovering everything on my hd? Will I have to run the same OS in order to use it? I am asking a lot of questions, but this is the forum I came to for info when I built it and had success with that. I don't want to make a new thread for every question. Thanks.

If replacing my psu does not fix my problem, then I will build a new setup salvaging what I can. It looks to be more cost efficient as I don't want to pay for old tech.

I looked at the suggestions and will go with something similar to the intel one. For the money what is the best cpu (I guess like the q6600 of this generation of cpus)? And what video card will allow me to play ME3 with good settings? I know that information isn't out yet, but you can speculate. I 'm not wanting to max it out or anything like that. I have a 19 in monitor and play at 1400 x 900. I'm not a heavy pc gamer, but I do want to finish ME with my same save file. I mostly play older games on my steam account and Civ IV.

Also how do I go about recovering everything on my hd? Will I have to run the same OS in order to use it? I am asking a lot of questions, but this is the forum I came to for info when I built it and had success with that. I don't want to make a new thread for every question. Thanks.

cmpepper23

the psu will most likely fix your problem, your motherboard isn't old enough to die on you yet and the error messages you gave are very common for a faulty psu. A faulty motherboard will mostly not do anything at all or give you blue screens. I can't see why you wouldn't keep that q6600, it may only have 2.4 ghz , it still is a good quad core with decent cache. If i was you i would overclock it to 2.6 ghz or 2.8 ghz , that's only a small overclock, it won't give you instability and some extra speed you may want. If you buy a new mobo, new cpu and ram that's better than a q6600 you will be paying 250$ minimum. Buying a new videocard depends on your budget. A hd 6670 costs 120$ and is a good card , the hd 6870 is 180$ but is also a good buy, so is the hd 6950 which cost 220$. If you want nvidia you can go for a gtx 460 or gtx 560. That brings be to the psu, I would buy a least a 550 W from corsair, antec, seasonic, thermaltake or coolermaster. As for your harddisk, we can discuss that if you decide what to do in case your motherboard is broke, but again it's unlikely.evildead6789

Before this happened my plan was to get a new video card and heatsink/fan so I could ovcerclock my cpu a little. I am going to replace my psu, and if it works I'll upgrade my vc and oc my cpu as you suggested. My current psu is a 600w from OCZ Technology. I'm definitely going with a different brand this time. Thanks for the help, and if it doesn't work I'll be back to discuss how to recover my hdd.

[QUOTE="evildead6789"]the psu will most likely fix your problem, your motherboard isn't old enough to die on you yet and the error messages you gave are very common for a faulty psu. A faulty motherboard will mostly not do anything at all or give you blue screens. I can't see why you wouldn't keep that q6600, it may only have 2.4 ghz , it still is a good quad core with decent cache. If i was you i would overclock it to 2.6 ghz or 2.8 ghz , that's only a small overclock, it won't give you instability and some extra speed you may want. If you buy a new mobo, new cpu and ram that's better than a q6600 you will be paying 250$ minimum. Buying a new videocard depends on your budget. A hd 6670 costs 120$ and is a good card , the hd 6870 is 180$ but is also a good buy, so is the hd 6950 which cost 220$. If you want nvidia you can go for a gtx 460 or gtx 560. That brings be to the psu, I would buy a least a 550 W from corsair, antec, seasonic, thermaltake or coolermaster. As for your harddisk, we can discuss that if you decide what to do in case your motherboard is broke, but again it's unlikely.cmpepper23

Before this happened my plan was to get a new video card and heatsink/fan so I could ovcerclock my cpu a little. I am going to replace my psu, and if it works I'll upgrade my vc and oc my cpu as you suggested. My current psu is a 600w from OCZ Technology. I'm definitely going with a different brand this time. Thanks for the help, and if it doesn't work I'll be back to discuss how to recover my hdd.