What shall I do?

[subbu68]

I built a PC about three months back.

Intel DG33BU Mobo, Intel E6750 proc, 2 x 1GB,800Mhz Kingston RAM, WD 1 x 80 GB and 1 x 500GB HDD, LG 20X DVD RW etc. MS Vista home premium is my OS. I use the onboard video and sound.

I already had problem with the rear port of on board sound. (there is a post in the forum)It is not resolved yet.

PC worked last night without problem. This evening a couple of hours ago I wanted to use the PC, but has no Video and USB keyboard does not light up. I checked all connections, removed the webcam and booted. It came on after a coupel of attempts. Now again it stopped. Tried removing the CMOS battery and waited and rebooted. No Video, no keyboard. All fans on. HDD light blinks. When I put a CD it is detected.

Where do I start to trouble shoot?

What could be the problem?

Thanks in advance.

Subbu

[chunkylover53]

What are the specs of your Power Supply? Brand, wattage, etc.

[subbu68]

It is AC Bel, 450W.

I also have the one that came with my Gigabyte case - a 350W one in case i need to try on.

The standby rail is on. I believe others are also on as the HDD is 'purring', so too the DVD, fans. Mouse is lit up (USB on PS2 with PS2 adaptor). As i wrote it came to life when i plugged in only the KB and mouse with USB webcam and external DVD writer disconnected. I thought it might be ok. So switched off and conencted back everything and tried - no luck even today morning (here).

Subbu

[subbu68]

It is set right now.

Pulled out both RAMS and put in one by one. No luck

Removed and Pushed in all connectors - no luck.

Disconnected second HDD - no luck

Removed the battery and left for an hour , put it back - no luck.

Then removed the unsuspecting PCI Modem - left for sometime and LO it came to life.

Then put it back - connected to the net now using the PC to type this message.

I had connected the phone line to this modem and the parallel port of the modem to our laptop so that we could use either of the two computers (my wife is comfy with the laptop that has XP).

The laptop when connected to mains has a voltage on metallic parts enough to give a slight shock to you if you touch and you are grounded. I have not been able to find out why. (My friend also said of the same with his.) Perhaps that voltage was freezing my PC through the connection to the Modem.

Subbu

[The Wise Monkey]

Hmm, weird... :/

I'm sure someone else had a problem with a wireless LAN PCI card as well - perhaps your motherboard had some issues with the driver installation, or the contact between the two was bad.

Something like that anyway. Glad you got it working though. :)

[subbu68]

Yes a bit wierd. :confused:

Perhaps over the time of 3 months some capacitor on the mobo must have got some residual charge enough to freeze the PC because of this leaked voltage from laptop .

But what is still not clear to me is that surge arrestors on the Modem could not gound this voltage. Maybe the voltage is so low that the voltage cannot be grounded through the SAs.

I have to now unplug the laptop and plugin the PC to the phone socket when I want to use it for net browsing so that I can keep my better half happy ;) as well as to avoid zapping my PC.

Subbu

[jefuchs]

Suggestion:

Boot from a Linux live cd. If everything works okay, then you know it's not a hardware problem. Could just be Windows doing what it does best.

[subbu68]

Thanks jefuchs, Next time it stops I woudl try what you suggested.

It is working fine now. Please see my earlier post.

I take care not to plug in the modem cable of my 'shocking' laptop to the PC modem's extra socket. I have to keep changing them on the wall socket though. It saves the headache of trouble shooting the PC.

Subbu