computer down

After freezing constantly for months my computer won't turn on any more. I can hear it powering up and the LED lights on the front come on, but the monitor has nothing to display. I've been told freezes are most of the time caused by hardware problems. I think the problem started the same day I woke up after leaving my computer on all night and my display had a weird ghosting effect on dark areas. I opened up my computer and found a fan not working, which I replaced. Then I replaced my video card and the display problem was fixed. I'm thinking that the fan broke and the video card and somthing else fried. The freezes never happend at the same time, somtimes I could use the computer for an hour, somtimes it wouldn't get past the windows starting screen. Soooo, any ideas on what parts I might need to replace to get this thing running again?

 

have you ran memtest?

IMHO ... might be best to save some frustration and buy a new PC ... maybe keep the drives and the video card

 

I would run memtest if my computer would turn on. I don't have the money to buy a whole new system, and I rely on this machine for school and work. What broken components would prevent this thing from starting up?

 

mobo, ram, graphics card, psu
do you get any beeps?

 

What fan was not working before you replaced it?

List your system specs or the brand and model with model number.

Freezing can be any number of things hardeware or software, what you need to do first is get it to post(power on self test) or display the logo, if you give us specs so we know what we are working with we can try and help.

Rick

 

It's an Alienware running WinXP SP2 Pentium 4 1400MHZ with 512MB RDRAM, 45 GB hard drive, my new graphics card is a radeon ATI 9600, and the mother board is intel DBG850. The broken fan was the side casing one. Before it stopped turning on I had virus scanned it a million times with mcafee, got rid of spyware, defraged it, scanned the disk for errors, used norton system works to test my processor and RAM. I went through all programs running and turned off everything non essential. I also got a temperature monitor program and all temps were normal. I pretty much did everything I could think of. Does this help at all?

 

yes that is very helpfull, I don't think the side case fan going bad had alot to do with it, I was just checking to see if it was the cpu fan cause that would.

I have never used Norton products other than ghost and was not aware they could check cpu and ram but if they can and your cpu and ram passed then I would first try another psu if you are getting no post, if you are getting a post then maybe the hd

Rick

 

I don't know how much I trust the norton tests, but the ones I ran came back clean. Can you tell me more about this post thing you keep mentioning. My friend donated me an old hard drive of his, could I use this to test my machine? I don't think my computer will turn on anymore than it has (no beeps to answer another question) if it doesn't turn on do I have any other options than calling (and paying for) a tech. And can he do anything more than tell me I'm screwed. And don't make fun of me for this, but whats a PSU? I'm in enough trouble, I don't need anyone to rub it in.

 

Power on self test (post) it is a series of tests the computer runs before windows loads and is usually listed on the screen, some computers will just show a logo when doing the tests.

Power supply (psu) basiclly it take 110v and reduces it down to voltages the computer can use, it is usually located in the upper rear of the case its the part you plug the power into.

You mentioned installing a new video card did the computer show anything on the screen since installing the new card?
You need to get something showing on the screen before trouble shooting the hard drive (HD) so answer the above and we'll try from there.

Rick

 

I installed the new video card about a month ago. It fixed this weird kind of 'ghosting' effect anywhere there was a dark area on the screen. The video card installation seemed to go fine. It still froze with the same regularity after I installed it.

 

Hi There,
I don't want to smash your hopes, but, couple years ago I lost the fan on my unit and it caused the power supply to overheat and that eventually caused one by one my "a" drive, and the second harddrive, and my zip 100 drive to fail!!! Wrong voltage!!!
I found a guy to come to the house and he put a new power supply in and had to give me a new A drive, new zip drive, and I had a old hardrive he used...and he added a second fan to unit in case the other fan went out...By the wy I found a guy breaking into the business and gave me used drives he had, which saved me alot! He also came to my house, as he was working from home! Found him in the newspaper adds!

You may want to just find a cheap computer someone is selling in your area or, as I did recently bought 2 computers from ebay and beefed them up to 2 great computers myself...

Good Luck,
Sincerely,
Tinkertoy

 

Then likely not the video card. Can you try another monitor?

Can you borrow a psu and try that?

 

By The way!!! A second fan in all units will help the system and be a backup to the unit regular fans!!! And it could also be that your monitor has puked???

 

I bought a new monitor as well, it was working fine before this so that can't be the problem. I'm sure psu differ greatly, how can I be sure one I switch in is the right one?

 

Any ATX 350w or greater will work to test, it should have this info on top or side of the psu.

I am not saying to run out and buy one as this may not be the problem, but would be something to try and eliminate first.

If you have one and all the connections to the mobo are the same I would try it.
If you would find the psu as the problem we can recommend one later

Rick