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Sunday, October 23, 2011

What the fuck.

My computer was working just fine last night, I played Fallout New Vegas until about 1 in the morning, noticed it took an inordinate amount of time to turn off, but didn't think anything of it.


Now it won't turn on at all. Not even getting to POST. Monitor won't detect a signal and I have to turn off the power bar if I want to shut down the computer.


Goddamn it.


This challenge donation drive may turn into a "help Anonymous Man build a new computer" drive...I'll let you know.

The problem is that the motherboard died. The power supply is fine, the hard drives are fine, and the graphics card is fine. Unfortunately that means I need to get a new mobo, cpu and memory.

So, if you could find it in your heart to help me out with that, I would really appreciate it right now. I have the money to get the replacement parts regardless of what happens, but it is an expense I wasn't really expecting.

The good news is that when I get the parts and set up my computer (hopefully with Windows 7 as well), future streams will be much less taxing on the new CPU, since I'm looking at a Core i3 or i5.

In any event, I probably won't be streaming tomorrow, and maybe not for a couple of days, but I will be working (on paper) on other stuff in the meantime.

<b>Worth Noting:</b>  Any donations will still go towards the 12/24 hour challenge (I updated the goal counter on the right to reflect the two separate goals), and the stand donation rules regarding Cursed still apply: if you donate, you are entitled to request an addition to the game.

19 comments:

  1. Probably just need a new motherboard... Sorry to hear that you're having problems.

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  2. If you can still hear a beep sound when turning on it might be just the graphics...

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  3. You probably have a number of IT people in your following, a suggestion might be to get talking with them as you've got quite a number of reasons a computer will fail to turn on. The wording I'm getting from ya is that there is still power to the PC, but there's a disconnect in the components. Replacing one component can be an easy fix, and your files will be fine.

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  4. Could be a bad power supply. Or just a cable thats worked itself loose in machine itself. I had a cooling fan built into the side of mine that vibrated so much that one of the main power cords worked itself loose one day that when I went to turn it on none of my hard drives were detected.

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  5. Are you running on the stock power unit in your computer?
    Many people buy new components for their computers and plug them in, but most companies only put in one that is strong enough to run what they originally put in. So it overloads the power source eventually. Nice thing is you can get a bigger power unit from the store for 40-100 dollars. Your average computer should have at least a 600w power source to avoid any issues. I use a 1200w one in my computer, but I also run a lot of hard drives in mine.
    Something to look for, does your power unit have a light on the back of it? if it does and it doesn't light up when you turn on your computer or is a different color, then you know it is the power source.

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  6. If or when you do open it up, check the capacitors (the cylinders on the motherboard), if the tops are starting to bulge then they are going bad and you may want to look into a new motherboard(system) even if it is only a problem with the powersupply currently.

    After confirming whether it's the motherboard or powersupply (or both) when booting, make sure your hard-drive(s) aren't clicking when powered, as losing those are the last thing you want. (When buying parts, buy an external hard-drive enclosure that's compatible with your drive, so that if something other than the hard-drive dies and you have a second system (or buy a new one) you can just pull it out and put it in the external and still have access to all your old files).

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  7. That happen to me once when a fly decided my motherboard is a good place to live.

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  8. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233142

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128520

    Three items, with enough power to handle pretty much what you could think of.

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  9. or try to replace the CMOS battery if you are not sure its 100% dead .worked for me a couple of times

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  10. If you aren't going to overclock, I don't think it is worth paying extra for an i5-2500K. The i3's are good for a budget, and the i5-2300's or i5-2400 are good deals

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  11. I would look at a AMD cpu if you are not looking for the highest performance possible. The Phenom II x4 or x6 are a very good value.

    If you get Win7 x64 get 8GB+ of ram. Ram is cheap these days and Win7 does a good job of using extra ram to cache things it thinks you will need soon.

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  12. Difference is 10$ between 2500 and 2500K, where you get an easier and stabler time with the turboboost.

    It's not expensive either, if you go for less it's just cheapskate syndrome.
    It's like 30$ difference between them, skim on one of the most needed thing in the system just to save 30$? The 2500K is literally the best bang for the buck on the market to date.

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  13. Dude before you go tossing your MOBO out, let us know one thing: does resetting your CMOS work?

    Here's what you do. Unplug your power supply. Find that little watch battery on the board. Pull it out. Then put it back in. Now try booting up your PC. If it boots, your BIOS resets and you'll need to set the date and time up and boot priority if you were running a non-standard, then you should be fine! It doesn't affect your HD at all.

    Give that a shot first. My roommate JUST had this happen to him last week.

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  14. If it's just the Mobo that derped, why do also throw out the CPU and the RAM? Can't you just put it in the new Mobo, or are you switching socket or format?

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  15. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1241992&CatId=4910

    ^Try this if you're still looking for a comp deal.

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  16. That's a H61 mobo, not p67 or z67, it won't be able to utilize the full potential of the 2500K.

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  17. Well if you're certain the mobo is dead, best to make a proper investment of it. 2500K or Bulldozer (new AMD) are a fair bet.

    Might be the CPU and ram from the (now) dead machine are fine, might be able to recoup some money there.

    Probably worthwhile grabbing a UPS while you're at this too. #1 cause of early component failure is brown outs.

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  18. As much fun as it would be to have a Core i5, it's out of my price range. I'm going to get a Core i3.

    And to answer some other questions: I have to replace the mobo, and my CPU and memory are out of date, so I have to upgrade those to match the new motherboard.

    I'll be placing the order today, so hopefully the parts will be here Wednesday, Thursday at the latest.

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  19. id atleast go for a i5 since you do gaming.

    it sucks when that happens.

    Just a note about psu: I have an i7, 3x GTX570's and a 1200 watt psu. with 2x 24"displays conencted to my ups, the max wattaged i used is 970 watts. so minus 60 watts for teh display, i think the computer consumes 900 watts playing fear or the witcher 2 on maxed out graphics. everythign else about 500 watts

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