e-Machines suddenly conked out, probably PSU

[El Presidente]

Someone at work has an e-Machines computer that suddenly conked out as she was playing solitaire (I know, the processing power required for solitaire could have fried the CPU ). I took a look at it and there is a "sizzling" noise coming from the power supply. So I figured that the power supply bit the dust and got a new one and put it in. The only thing the computer does is to light up the power LED on the front of the case. I've cleared the CMOS (by removing the battery and using the jumper), I held the power button down for a long time, I've checked all of the capacitors to see if any had bulged due to a power spike, and I've removed all PCI cards and still nothing. The only sign of activity coming from the computer is the green LED on the front of the case. None of the fans even start to turn when the power button is hit.

My guess is that whatever took out the power supply also fried the motherboard, but I'm posting this to see if anyone else has another idea.

 

[howard_hopkinso]

I agree it does sound like the mobo is dead.

Only other thing I can think of is the psu may not be compatible with the computer.

What I mean is, some oem computers use a psu that is wired differently. So if the psu goes bad, you can`t just pop in a generic psu. This probably isn`t the case, but I thought it worth a mention.

Regards Howard

 

[El Presidente]

Thanks for the tip. I think I'll just replace the mobo.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

I took a look at it and there is a "sizzling" noise coming from the power supply. So I figured that the power supply bit the dust and got a new one and put it in.

Every time I've heard that kind of noise from the PSU, it's been because of a short circuit somewhere, causing the PSU's internal protection to kick in.