Computer Messed up in shipping (don't know problem)

Okay, so I just moved and had my computer shipped to me...

My system specs are
Soyo KT400 Ultra Platinum MoBo,
AMD Athlon XP 2800+
778 (or whatever) megs generic RAM
Radeon 9200 Pro 256 vid card...

Now, in shipping, the heatsink, fan came off, and was rolling around when I pulled it out of the box. I put it back on, after re-bending the clips back into shape, and tried to boot it. no go. the beep is eiher one long continuous beep, or two long beep with a short pause (I can't really tell) I tested with both sticks of memory in all slots, and flashed the bios for the same boot result.

Is this something I can fix, or should I collect shipping insurance?

 

Check to make sure that all cards are seated. Also, listen to the POST beeps, due to that will help clue in what is actually wrong.

http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

If a Award Bios, the 1 long, 2 short means that the video card is in error.

 

If you turned on the computer, had a problem, THEN found the CPU heatsink detached, your CPU is likely fried. Athlons have a temp controller that can throttle back quick enough to cope with a dead fan, but not quick enough to compensate for no heatsink. It will fry in literally a couple of seconds.

Time to try for insurance compansation, and a new CPU if so.

 

Yah, I did check the beep code, thats why I tried swapping around all the memory configurations...it was two long beeps seperated by a short pause, or just one long contunuos beep, so either the memory is messed up (two beeps) or the bios is corrupted/power supply issues (one long continuous beep). After that beep, it just shuts itself down, without post beeps.

Edit: (To GT). The fan was on when I booted up...the computer was set sideways in a box, and when I turned it right side up, I heard the fan fall, so I immediately put it back on before even plugging in my computer, so whatever problems there are are caused by physical damage, not heat.

 

If a heatsink is properly attached it would take one heck of a jolt to shake it loose, was there any visible damage to the case? ed

 

no, the case was wrapped in plasic and packed with styrofoam. The only thing I noticed was cooling grease smeared all over the inside.

 

I f there is no visible damage , i would guess you will have your hands full trying to get a insurance claim. ed

 

Plus, the heatsink had to just be sittin some where in the case, if you didnt know it was off you couldnt have known where it was in the case when you flipped it over, if the wires were still connected to the MOBO, the fan would run where ever it was sitting, Im going with GT on this. ed

 

Right, so I know it will be hard to get an insurance claim, becuase the circumstances are wierd, which is why I want to try fixing it... The computer was never booted while the fan was loose. when I unpacked the computer, I heard something moving around on the inside of the case, and opened it up and found the fan loose (but still plugged in, yes.) I then mounted the fan back on the processor, checked to make sure everything was seated, and plugged in and tried to boot up my machine, which is when I ran into the problem I described in the first post.

 

OK, that eliminates my suggestion about fried CPU. You should always clean and replace the thermal grease/paste any time you mount or re-mount a heatsink, which you didn't mention doing, but even just with the leftover stuff from the original installation, it shouldn't get hot enough fast enough to beep and die immediately as you're seeing, and your beep codes don't sound like CPU.

Power supply is rugged; should not have been damaged in the move, and BIOS problem is not too likely either, as the BIOS chip is normally down low on the board, and is flat; not much chance of getting slammed.

Heatsinks getting knocked loose in shipping is becoming relatively common these days with the larger/heavier heatsinks. I've heard several stories like this one.

Physical damage from the heatsink bouncing around may be hard to pin down. Vid card would be the likeliest culprit IF the case was slammed down in an upright position. Check the top side of the card for any visible gouges or cracks that might break a circuit. If you have access to another card, stick that in temporarily to try.

You mentioned swapping BOTH sticks of ram around. Try booting with one stick at a time, as one may be damaged and the other OK. Check the motherboard manual (download from Soyo's site if need be) and see if there's more than one acceptable slot for a single stick. It's possible the ram socket itself or it's connection to the motherboard got damaged.

 

Okay...so I checked through the enire machine, and I can't really see any cracking, scraping or loose parts anywhere. I also tried booting it with each of the ram stick indevidually in all three positions, still no luck. I'm guessing at this point that I'm kind of screwed.

 

Do you have access to any spare parts (PSUs, video cards, etc.)? This would greatly help you in discovering which part of your rig is refusing to cooperate.

EDIT: Also, my PC was once damaged in a move. After about 7 months of troubleshooting and RMA'ing various fried parts of my computer, I finally traced it back to a damaged PSU, which was probably the reason all my other parts were failing in the meantime. This would be the first part I'd swap.

You mentioned the POST-error beeping, but do you actually get a picture at boottime?

 

Yea I would go with the PSU, for one main reason is that it is a easy cheap swap, and two the Manufactor's PSU's leave alot to be desired. Plus I would check every and all connections, and look for things that the "swinging" CPU Heatsink Assy could have hit. Hope that Helps, and hey best of luck, and don't tip the movers.

 

I would still go with the insurance claim....If the heatsink was slapping around inside your case this would be classified as Internal damage during freight!

I think you have a valid case to put forward, considering this is sensitive electronic equipment we are dealing with here.
Take some .jpg's to support your claim.
After all, it was working before it left. Don't let em off the hook without a fight.

My guess would be a damaged motherboard as a result...it doesn't take much to do this and most times it is not visible to the human eye!

Good Luck...

 

No doubt you have already done this . . . but if not - check all the power connections - especially the mainboard power feeds and the feed running to your hard-drive. With the heatsink and fan banging around in shipment, it's within the realm of possibility that it
damaged a power wire. It has been my experience the cheaper power supplies that some PC's are shipped with tend to have wires pull out of their housings - especially the 4-pin IDE power dongles for optical (CD/DVD) drives and hard-drives. Sometimes this is not obvious, as the wire is still "in" the housing, but not making electrical contact with the hardware. Just a thought.

Once when I forgot to plug in my video card (it's a 9800 Pro - it needs a feed from the power supply to work) my PC acted just like this. Some Radeons use a 4pin IDE type plug, and some use a floppy plug. But from what I was able to find on-line I don't think the 9200 Pro needs supplemental power . . . does it?