PC died overnight?

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I normally leave my PC on for weeks at a time. It's perfectly cooled, and has never had any problems before. However I left it on for a weekend a little while back while it was copying a large chunk of files (about 9 gigs) to another PC over a network. It doesn't look like it finished copying the files, so I assume it died during the transfer.

I came home to find it off. The power button did nothing at first it seems. I removed the case, and found when I apply fresh power (remove all power to the system, turn off the Power Supply, and then replug it back in turn it on and press the power button) it seems to give the CPU fan a little jolt as it twitces. Just enough to move but not enough to move to the next locking position.

My assumption was my power supply maybe died or something damaged it so it's too weak to run the system, I tested the system with only the board and power supply and still same results. I put a brand new 520W power supply onto the board and the powersupply (which has LED's) lit up and died after a split second, just like the CPU fan does.

What can I test next? I figure my motherboard died, but is there anyway to check and make sure that's the only thing before I go dish out the money for a new board? I figure if it's the board and chip I might as well upgrade the system.

I'm currently running an ECS mobo (P4S5A/DX) with a P4 2.2ghz chip. The originaly power supply was a 300W, the new one I'm testing with is a 520W.

Thanks =)
 
are you sure this happened on its own,is there a chance that someone else mught have opened your case?'cause what you are describing is something very common that happens when the mobo is getting earthed touching the case,it should be worth a try to take the system out and try it on a different surface.if you have already tried that than please ignore my suggestion and accpet my condolences on the demise of your system or a part of it.

lets see if this happened on its own,there are 2 things that could have shorted out due to a power surge or something.one there is a chance that its only the psu thats trashed,if you've got an older one try that for a moment.it might have blown a fuse check the fuse if its accessible.do you use a ups??if yes than that could have protected the psu and shorted out itself so check its fuse.now if you were using a lan or even have a lan card attached to something without a router/modem or a switch in the middle there is a chance that lightning might have caused a surge(dont laugh...it happens)in the lan and your board got fried.so the first thing you'll have to do is siolate the problem,use any old parts that you got lying around to find out the fault.
good luck
 
Follow Up

The machine was never touched by anyone other than me after the problem happened. I figure the machine most likely died from the massive amount of work it was doing. Probably some sort of failure in a circuit somewhere on the motherboard. Every other part of the machine seems to be working fine when I take them out test them. When the mobo is attached to any powersupply though it makes the power supply go a little funky.

I think I had a problem like this once before when a processor melted due to the CPU fan stopping. My dillema is should I just buy a new board for my P4 478 and hope my chip still works, or go out and upgrade my board and chip to a new setup. My boards out of date anyways and could use a new one (6 years is old when you really get into it).

I'd hate to buy a new mobo only to realize the chip is bad, or was the only real problem. Then I would have to buy another p478 chip which is not something I'd like to do.

If I don't get any more progress on this problem I'll post what my result is (if I got a new board and it worked) so that anyone with this problem in the future might be able to troubleshoot it easier.
 
I think the answer for you is to go for a new board and chip... AMD is probrably the way to go.

When you say you were transfering over a network, was it lan or internet? I would be inclined to think that it was the board as the power button is detected on the board, and then the board instructs the power supply to provide power....

What other components have you tried replacing???
 
do you have any way of checking your cpu,a friend,relative anyone who has a 478 pin mobo,if not then try a local pc repair guy who might check it for you.if all the above fail then browse around for a retailer/etailer with a good exchange policy so that you can order a 478 pin and exchange it if it doesnt work.
but 6 year is pretty old,the cost of fixing/checking it out(mobo) might not be as productive as simply getting a new one,at the top a medium line cpu+mobo should cost you somewhat around 200-250$ range depending on your choice of course.so now you decide.
 
lb746 said:
The machine was never touched by anyone other than me after the problem happened. I figure the machine most likely died from the massive amount of work it was doing. Probably some sort of failure in a circuit somewhere on the motherboard. Every other part of the machine seems to be working fine when I take them out test them. When the mobo is attached to any powersupply though it makes the power supply go a little funky.
It would make any PSUs new or old going a little funky.
lb746 said:
I think I had a problem like this once before when a processor melted due to the CPU fan stopping. My dillema is should I just buy a new board for my P4 478 and hope my chip still works, or go out and upgrade my board and chip to a new setup. My boards out of date anyways and could use a new one (6 years is old when you really get into it).
If I were you, might as well do the upgrade for the effort which will required.
lb746 said:
I'd hate to buy a new mobo only to realize the chip is bad, or was the only real problem. Then I would have to buy another p478 chip which is not something I'd like to do.

If I don't get any more progress on this problem I'll post what my result is (if I got a new board and it worked) so that anyone with this problem in the future might be able to troubleshoot it easier.
Take the processor to a shop and having them test it instead of youself. Don't try your relative or your friend hardware in your mobo with no clue of what is actually wrong, a bad mobo can kill your relative hardware as well as it would kill yours.

Try the mobo by itself with your PSU, no CPU, no memory, no keyboard, nothing else at all... It will power-on without shutting down when there's no dead, bad components on the mobo shorting out logic voltages. The POWER_OK signal keeping the PSU from shutting down originated with the logic voltage monitor on the mobo itself. This is called MINIMUM CONFIGURATION for power-up, its job is keeping further more hardware from getting killed.
 
This sounds like a power supply problem .Check the motherboard for signs of shorting look at the ATX connector itself .. I would try your powersupply now with your motherboard as was stated this would be a good place to start with. Face it cpus dont really just die is more then likely ps or motherboard goes bad first.
 
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