Broken pc help please.
 

Lad at work gave me his pc to look at as it was powering down after 2 or 3 seconds after being turned on. I started off by giving it a good old clean out as it was thick with dust. I removed the fan for the cpu and it was 100% blocked.
If you look in the pic below, there is a 4 pin atx connector which i have unplugged. The pc remains powered up with this unplugged but as soon as it's plugged in, there is a small flash and the pc cuts out. Am i right to assume that this is the power supply for the cpu and if so - with the symptoms i explain, does that mean that the cpu is toast, hence the cutting out?

https://i742.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1286230840

Its the power for the fan for the CPU I believe.

If it shuts down, must mean a safety device is shuttinmg it down to prevent damage. I think there is a short somewhere, possibly the fan?? Try replacing the fan.

The cpu fan still goes with it unplugged???

Oh right, on mine it has a cable for the fan you see..I can't see it doing that if the cpu is knackered though...

Hi matey this is 4pin ATX for CPU fan.I'm sure you are removed thermal compound from CPU and now your PC is in closing loop(just check BIOS and temps and you will see how temps raising and this is just for prevent damage against overheating and knackered CPU ).If this is problem you must buy some thermal compound/paste from your local PC shop/online PC shop and apply paste on your CPU/Heatsink

And here is picture how may look your cpu fan
http://www.frostytech.com/articleima...Dstock_bot.jpg

I can't even check the bios/temps as nothing will appear on screen. The cpu fan has it's own connector.
The 4 pin plug in the picture comes direct for the PSU if that changes anything :)

Is this a fairly old computer? That plug will be the CPU power cable.

What I would do first is take the motherboard out the case and bench test it to rule out a case short

Don't know how old it is but runs Vista and has a quad core processor if thats any help?
I'll whip the mobo out later and see how it goes.
Could a blocked fan toast the cpu?

Get the model number off the MB (or from the BIOS) and Google it. There's usually loads of info on the old interweb about stuff like this.

Dave

Hi matey this 4pin ATX plug is for CPU or CPU VOLTAGE,just plug in to socket which is near to CPU fan and after this your PC will start again without problem

:Suspiciou

:Suspiciou

Most mobos have a thermal switch, which will shut the computer down when the CPU reaches a critical temperature, so I personally wouldn't be suspecting the CPU at this stage.

I would whip the board/PSU out, rest it on a non conducting surface, unplug the HD and anything else not needed, all but one stick of RAM and go from there, if you have taken the heatsink of the PSU, you will need to apply some thermal compound before you start testing.

I had this one time before on a pc I built myself... turns out I'd put one of the case power switch leads in the incorrect unmarked motherboard connectors. I should've plugged it in he one that looks identical and immediately next to the one I did put it in. Think it was the earth.

Dedrater - are you saying that the pc simply will not function unless i get some thermal compound?

Brun most of the info on here is duff apart from dedrater. That plug is an additional power supply to the board which will help stabilize things on new motherboards. Think its called atx 2.0 but not 100% on that.

If the pc wont boot up at all to go into bios then its not cpu overheating. you would be at least be able to get into that. My guess is that it is a generic power supply and that it has gone faulty. Your only problem now is if you plugged that back into the mobo with the power on (to the cpu) hence the flash, this could possibly cause damage to motherboard components (unlikely to affect the cpu though)

Hope this helps

Hi Brun you are removed any thermal compound/paste from cpu or heatsink?
If not,that's will be maybe just PSU(which cost from 35£ to 90£)

If there are flashes coming from the motherboard then one of two things is occuring.

1. The Power Supply is faulty.

2. The motherboard has a short.

If its 1 then no problem, just test with another power supply.

If it 2 then it is very likely the motherboard has already died, they are not the most resilient of devices.

Where exactly is the flashy coming from, is it from the 4 wire plug or from somewhere else on the motherboard?

Double Post!

It came from the 4 wire plug thingy as soon as it was plugged in :)

tip for you, when plugging stuff in make sure its powered off at the mains :D

try another psu, easier than removing the motherboard, you will probably find it will sort the problem

That would lead me to think that the power supply is at fault, but it could still be the motherboard.

The next course of action will be to try a known working power supply.

When you connected the 4 wire plug, did it flash without having to press the power button?

Also, did any of the other fans turn when the 4 wire plug was connected or the power button pressed?

Something up with me browser I think!

lol computers eh! :lol1:

Seems to be this forum only though, others are not making double posts!

Gotta love the thermal compound advice :lol1:

The fact that flashes of electricity seam to be coming from the motherboard would suggest to me that thermal compound is not going to do FOOK ALL!

:lol1:

:lol1:

Half expected somebody to suggest that it needs some bigger case fans, a faster hard drive, and 2 perfectly matched memory sticks, made in a factory where they are matched by how many times an employee touches them, otherwise they run at unbalanced speeds :D

As mentioned above what model mobo is it?

This one :thumb:

Mate, just try a different power supply and take it from there.

its scary some of the "advice" given in this thread :lol1:




ps surely it needs 3 matched sticks of ram :D

Never mess with another man's pc/car/girl-friend/wife...

LOL

dunx

P.S. remove board shake all the loose screws out of it, and try it powered up, resting on the kitchen worktop - if it's clean and dry :lol1:

P.P.S. Two sticks for a 775 !