Which Component is Fried? (1 Viewer)

[Mark Shannon]

Ok, so the other day I plugged a USB cable into one of the front ports on my computer case. I had done it several times previously during the day and it worked fine, but this one time, the entire computer shut down when I did it. I tried turning the computer back on, and it would go on then off, repeatedly until I switched the power supply off.

Figuring it was the surge protector that was malfunctioning, I plugged the computer into another power bar, and this time it would turn on, and stay on. The only problem is, there's no video on the monitor. Also, I notice that one of the case fans isn't turning (weird, because the other one that's connected to the same power lead is turning fine). I connected the fan directly to the mobo, and it worked fine, but sitll no video.

To check if it was the monitor or not, I tried another monitor, to no avail. I know the hard drives are still working, because i can feel them spin up when I turn the computer on.

Now I've come to one of two conclusions. One, being that the mobo is shot, because I'm not even getting the BIOS showing up, or two, the video card is shot, and can't display anything at all (which is weird because the fan on the video card still turns when powered on). I can't even try an alternate because my mobo doesn't have integrated video, and I have no extra AGP video cards to test with.

Any suggestions?

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Yes, pull the video card, your keyboard and mouse cords and boot up. If you hear any beeps, the mobo is probably working.

Glenn

 

[DaveNel]

Hello

Here is a couple things you can do. Sometimes a PC will act up like that. Take the cover off the PC take all the cards out then put the needed cards back in 1st, But start with the video card, then sound card, then modem, then any other cards that you have. After you put the different cards in if the PC starts up and runs.. That card is ok then move to the next one.

But just because you hear the hard drive spin up doesnt mean its good. Alot of hard drives that are bad the PC will still recognize them and spin up but will not be usable in windows because of the damage they have. Also if a Hard drive has alot of damage the PC will recognize the drive, But windows will not.

If that doesnt help there may be a jumper on the motherboard to clear the CMOS, make sure the PC is off, change the jumper, turn the PC on for a minute or so, turn the PC off, place the jumper back in the original position, then reboot. That may also help as well..Doing that will also reset passwords that are on PC's. Let say you have a PC and you forgot the password, or you buy a PC with a password you dont know what it is. Well just find the cmos or password jumper follow the above instructions and you are set. But this doesnt pertain to laptops though...

 

[Mark Shannon]

Thanks Dave, and Glenn.

unfortunately the only card I use is a video card (I use integrated sound and networking cards), so trying seperate cards wont do me too good I don't think.

Is it normal for a video card to be fried, but the fan on it still turns?