Power Outage

[Kayl]

Hey, after the power outage my gf's comp stopped working . I'm wondering what could've fried? Mine still works , but I wasn't using it at the time. Any thoughts?

[3rd gen noob]

what happens when you try and turn it on?
if nothing at all happens, it is probably the motherboard

best advice - take it to a repair shop

[Kayl]

I told her to take it to the shop, but I'm just curious. When I push the power button, the light on the cd drive goes on for a split second, but that's it. And it won't go on if you push it again, you have to wait a little while for that small sign of life.

[RPerry]

just some quick questions in case.....

Is it plugged into a surge protector?
if so have you either unplugged, or turned the power off on the surge protector itself?

I know these sound like dumb questions, but I live in Central Florida, which is know as the lightinging capitol of the world, when my power goes out, I must reset my surge protector in order to power up the PC

[3rd gen noob]

well, unless you hadn't figured out, it's not looking good

if it was a cpu problem, then the system should still attempt to post, however, it sounds like the motherboard is gone

which is gonna be expensive...

[harrycary]

Unplug it from the wall for awhile(if you haven't already done this).

While it's unplugged, remove the CMOS battery from the motherboard. It looks like a shiny nickel and pops right out with a paperclip or small screwdriver. Keep it out for 10-15 minutes and than reinsert it.

If that doesn't work and you want to troubleshoot it a bit yourself I would try swapping your power supply for hers. The power supply is the first place a surge will hit and/or damage.

Beyond that it may be more serious and expensive.

I work in the repair industry and that's what I would recommend my customers do first.

[Kayl]

Thanks Harrycary, I'll try that tomorrow morning. It was in a power bar so I wasn't sure if the outage could've surged it anyway. I plugged it in other outlets with the same results, so I know its f**ked. I just don't know how bad.

[Schmiggy_JK23]

maybe instead of taking off the cmos, he should just try to reset the cmos jumper first?

[balamm]

Originally posted by Schmiggy_JK23+20 August 2003 - 04:40--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Schmiggy_JK23 @ 20 August 2003 - 04:40)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> maybe instead of taking off the cmos, he should just try to reset the cmos jumper first? [/b]

That and a digital multimeter would have been my first recommendations.

<!--QuoteBegin-harrycary
I work in the repair industry and that&#39;s what I would recommend my customers do first.
[/quote]

No matter how many times you repeat that, I&#39;m still not really convinced

[lynx]

If the cd light comes on for a fraction of a second, then you are obviously getting power to the machine, but it just isn&#39;t going anywhere.
The power supply will shutdown very rapidly if

• 1) there is an overload
  2) there is no &#39;+5v good&#39; signal being returned
  3) the power supply itself is faulty

You could try removing the power leads from all the auxilliary components (disk drives, usb etc) so that there is just power to the motherboard. If it works, plug the items back in one at a time until you find the faulty part.
If there is still no luck then the problem is either the power supply or the motherboard, you can then try the ps from your machine with her mobo, if it still doesn&#39;t work then her mobo is faulty, if it does work then her power supply is faulty.