Lockup and No Restart

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I can't say 'first-hand' what happened - I was out of town when my wife had the lock up. The computer locked during normal operation and will not restart. No posting to screen...nothing - monitor displays "no connection". I had upgraded to a high-end video card and added 512MB ram about two months ago. When starting, the main power light is on and the HDD indicator lights but nothing else - doesn't sound like it is spinning up. When I got back in town yesterday - the light to one of the CDRWs was on, but its not making it to that now.

Stuff tried: (i) brought system back to OEM status, removed extra HDD, removed extra DIMM, removed AGP V-card, removed extra CDRW - nothing (ii) reset CMOS - nothing (iii) checked 5/12V off PSU - 5.01V and 11.4V - not confident or knowledgeable enough to check on board voltages. PSU and CPU fans are running as they should.

Should I even try to replace the PSU - I may have over taxed it with the upgrades? or should I chalk it up to a Kentucky Fried motherboard? Is there anything else I can check? Thanx.
 
So when you turn it on, what exactly happens? What lights are on, fans on, beeps, how far does it go, can you get to the bios?
 
Main power light on, all fans on, no beep does not reach the Bios screen. The monitor is giving an indication that it is not connected.
 
The on-board v-card was working when I installed the GeForce a couple of months ago. No signal to monitor with the GeForce in place or when I pull it back out. Check monitor with laptop-it is OK.
 
Yep - I'm sitting at 260-270W - the video card pushes it up pretty high. My wife said it died during a streaming video. I didn't know of that site - very useful. I guess it was only a matter of time for the PS. Do you think it fried anything when it went down?
 
It's possible that it could have fried stuff, but hopefully not.
It's important to get a good psu. It is not very smart to trust a thousand dollar system to a $20 junko psu(it could fry stuff, be unstable). Here is a guide to what psu's are decent, and what are junk. Psu list

I'd say get a 300-350w psu from a recommended brand to be safe/ready for future possible upgrades.

Edit: It depends on your price range but these seem ok.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-103-455&depa=0
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=17-101-508&depa=0
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=17-103-907&depa=0
 
You say you upgraded to a "high end" GeForce video card and added ram. By high end do you mean a 6800 Ultra, or GT? The minimum power requirement for a GT is I think 300 watts and an Ultra is 480, at least those figures are close as I remember. That and the ram you added could very well be the problem.

Also the GT requires an extra power supply cable to the video card itself, and the Ultra requires two, do you have these plugged in if you have one of these cards?

Also make sure some of the cables in your computer have not worked loose. After just doing some major upgrading on my computer, I found out for sure thta if the cables are not plugged in securely, it doesn't work to well. HehHeh. Worth a check anyway.

Edit: And to add to what nv4fultra said, I got the Antec True 430, for not a lot more money and it works fine for me. http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-103-908&depa=0
 
Yeah, olefarte is right, what video card do you have, if you have a 6800 ultra or gt you'll need a bigger psu than the one's I listed above. I assumed you meant performance midrange level.
 
I added a GeForce FX 5200 256MB AGP - My idea of high-end is probably less than some gamers out there. I'm off to purchase a 300+W PS to see if I can resurect the beast. Thanks for all the help - I'll keep my fingers crossed that nothing else was brought down in the crash. Cheers - G.
 
The 5200 is a pretty wimpy card in terms of power consumption, nominally. I use 5200s in a bunch of systems with 250PSUs. However, it is still possible that the PSU did die. They are the most likely component to fail in a computer, right above hard drives and fans. If it is the power supply, you are in luck, as they are fairly cheap to replace. You can get a quality 300-350W psu for under $40, and an ultra-top-notch-kick-me-in-the-face 350-400W psu for under $70.

I would definately take the suggestions mentioned above and replace that first. IF that does not fix your problem, you are looking at motherboard, ram, or CPU most likey. Try the PSU and let us know.
 
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