Freeze ups->White Screen after post->Monitor going on and off

[Snee]

@SaYian: Can't be that, 'cos all the wiring's been the same since we installed the g-card for him, and that was a couple of months ago.

Thanks for the input, though.



I know Skizo, I reckon it might well work, but it's pretty weird the way it behaved.

I've tried two other monitors and they didn't do they same.

[Snee]

Thanks lynx, I thought it might be something like that, I've seen the caps go twice, on his old mobo and my old one.

^I meant this, not that I'd seen them go twice on his current mobo

[lynx]

Can I be sure it isn't the CPU then?

I've never seen a partially failed CPU. I suppose it is theoretically possible, but I doubt you would be getting the symptoms you describe.

[Snee]

Ah, thank you.

Going straight for a new mbobo then.


Once we've tested that other PSU, anyway.


Today it isn't even posting, btw.

[Snee]

Ok, found that the psu to mobo connector had burns on three pins.

The question is, does this have to do with the psu or the mobo?




Even more annoying is that it currently works with either psu.

[Snee]

Anyone have a good, safe and easy way to quickly check if the psu is all right?

It appears stable as anything if voltages in BIOS and usdm are to be believed (as long as the board posts, anyway) and it's not exactly old, and it's been working brilliantly for months, but there's that small matter of the three burnt pins on the atx connector and the no-posts.

Shouldn't something be fluxing if it was buggered?

I was going to try a voltmeter, but then I realised I don't have one (slight oversight there, plan-wise) and I've never had to use one on a psu before, either.



The thing is, that testing the other psu told us nothing. It didn't post right before we swapped, but when my brother swapped back, just to make sure, everything worked just dandy.

He had it running for quite a bit, without any issues at all.

This is just like the other "fixes" we've found. They work for a while, just enough for us to start to think "hey, that was it!", and then it breaks down again.

I was looking for similar issues and found people saying that epox boards have notoriously dodgy connectors, could it be something silly like the connector having come loose a little, and that when we swapped psu we pushed it in firmly again?

'cos that would be annoying as flukk

[lynx]

I assume that as far as you know the burn marks were not there originally. If they were, that could be the complete source of your problem and cleaning them up should solve it.

As long as they have not been caused by dodgy crimping of the connectors onto the wire, there is no way that the PSU could cause the burn marks you describe. They can only be caused by arcing or by excessive current at the site of the burn. Since the wires would melt before excessive current could burn the connectors they can only have been caused by poor contact betwen the motherboard and the PSU cable.

I'll take your word for it that epox boards have a reputation for dodgy connectors, I haven't heard that, but it makes sense that removing and replacing the connector would cause rubbing between the metal surfaces and could clean them up enough to make a "good" contact.

That sounds like the case here, but personally I would do as much as possible to thoroughly clean up all the pins and sockets, not just those showing burn marks.

Of course it is possible that there is still some other underlying problem, but since you have no way of tracing it there's really no point in worrying about it atm.

[Snee]

Thanks a lot, lynx. That was very helpful.

I know, without a doubt that there were no burns on the PSU when I recieved it (I was the one who ordered it for him), and I'm also fairly certain that there were no burns on the mobo when we put it in.

We'll clean the pins for now, but he's probably going to buy another mobo, just in case there's more to it. He does quite a lot of his homework (programming and such) with that computer, so I suppose he figures he'd rather do these things now, so he's sure he has something that works for next term.