O/T Bloody Computers

[Stuart]

PSU bang and flash 2 weeks ago.  Bought new one from eBuyer, fitted it and PC booted up perfectly twice.  On third boot up, monitor shut down as soon as graphics should have kicked in (but started in safe mode OK).  Did a bit of research, suggested faulty PSU not putting enough power to the video card.  Tried it once more before dismantling and this time it froze at "Detecting IDE drives......".

Bit more research and this also suggested faulty PSU not putting enough power to spin the drives.

So bought another PSU, but of course it still freezes at "Detecting IDE drives" and I can tell monitor is still not being driven correctly either as it shuts off between screens.

So the PSU explosion has obviously fried something else but what?  No graphics would suggest video card and no IDE would suggest the hard drive, but could it be neither of these but the motherboard or the CPU that has been fried?

Abit NF7 motherboard

Nvidia Geforce 5200 video card

Maxtor HD

Athlon Barton 2500 CPU

512 ram

Relative computer numpty, so just in case there is someone out there who knows what it might be; would really appreciate some advice on this before I go out and buy the wrong bits or even a complete new machine (and I only built this one 2.5 years ago).

[Cam]

Have you tried the simple stuff like pulling out and putting back in the cards, cpu, leads etc. The odd poor connection can cause mayhem

[pistonbroke]

The best way to test is by elimination / substitution

Try taking / disconnecting bits and see what you get

does the mb have onboard gfx as well as the GF card?

are there any other hardware bits  you can run without or swop with known good ones to check

does it run OK in safe mode ?

[NRW]

Also make sure all the fans cooling vanes are clean of dust and fluff. Did you replace PSU with similar rated one?

[Stuart]

Thanks guys.  Quick update:

I have disconnected the slave HD and both the CD and DVD drives and it now doesn't hang at 'Detecting IDE drives......' but the monitor still shuts down as the graphics should be kicking in.

No onboard graphics and it does start OK and give me a screen in safe mode.  So the HD is OK and hopefully it starting in safe mode means that the motherboard and CPU are OK.

So do I have a video card or driver issues???

It's now telling me, though, that it has detected an Ethernet controller - what the devil?

Edited to add that I originally (and mistakenly) replaced a 400w PSU with a 300W one, but the new one is 500W

[NRW]

Where is the monitor pluggged into?? when you boot up in safe mode

[Boomy]

Does it have a built in network card?

If so and you didn't use it before, it's possible the bios has been reset to factory defaults and it is trying to install it maybe?

A graphics card managing to get into windows in safe mode but not under normal circumstances could point toward a driver issue etc.

Then again, without knowing the various bios settings it's hard to figure out what may be happening.

When you say the monitor shuts down, do you mean the machine resets and trys to boot again, or does the monitor just go blank and that's it?

[Stuart]

Monitor is plugged into the video card.  Just restarted in VGA mode rather than safe mode which gives you a normal screen but in 800 x 600; then when I try to change the resolution to 2048 x 1536 for my 19" TFT monitor, the screen goes blank.  Have just increased to 1024 x 768 OK and will try again once I've posted this.

Edited to say no, no network card.  Definitely not - I built the machine myself.

[NRW]

It will have a network card built into the motherboard. You definitely have a driver issue try going back to an earlier restore point if XP

[Boomy]

It could be trying to run a high resolution at too high a refresh rate for the monitor.

That would result in a blank screen and would also explain why safe mode is ok along with lower resolutions.

Are there any options graphics driver wise you can simply default for now, or any refresh lock options etc that can be played with?

[Stuart]

Done a system restore right back to before the PSU blew.  Just downloaded the latest Nvidia drivers.  I now don't have the 256 colour options and neither do I have the option to increase the resolution above 1024 x 768 anymore.

Edited to say that, Boomy, it was fine at that resoltuin and refresh rate before the PSU blew.

Your help very much appreciated guys.

[NRW]

Sounds like you are getting there though

[pistonbroke]

LCD monitor will only run in certain resolutions afaik

that "could be " the problem

what make model ?

check what res you should be running

[Boomy]

LCD monitor will only run in certain resolutions afaik

that "could be " the problem

what make model ?

check what res you should be running

That is exactly what i was just hunting around looking for.

2048 x 1536  seems like a huge res for a small lcd, i would imagine the text etc is tiny! But then maybe i am just out of the loop  : p

[Stuart]

Yeah I think I mighgt be talking b*ll*cks, but not sure.  1024 x 768 now seems about like it was before but there's still summat different - scrolling down is not as smooth as before and closing windows is lumpy.  But at least it's going again, although I really have no idea why!