stupid fucking computer

[retro]

Came home from work tonight and my computer had rebooted. No big deal, so I logged back on... and it froze. So I powered it down, started it back up again... and now it won't post. Reseated everything from memory all the way to the CPU, disconnected everything, no dice. So the only thing I can come up with is a motherboard problem, but I don't find anything physically wrong with it... and I've never had a motherboard just up and fail like that before.

Suggestions? I'm trying to find another motherboard lying around here, but I don't think I have something that'll handle my Phenom II.

Sigh, I swear... if it's not one thing, it's another in my stupid fucking life.

 

[HK]

You leave your computer turned on all day?

 

[Rachie]

I feel for ya - computer problems bite big time. Serious love/hate relationship with technology.

 

[retro]

You leave your computer turned on all day?

Yep, been doing it for the last 10+ years.

 

[Darrell]

I'm no electrician but I had a similar problem when I had a PC, and it turned out to be my power supply. I would turn it on, and it would spin the fans, but didn't have enough juice to power the MB. I ended up opening the case and using a multi-meter to determine the power supply was pretty much toast.

 

[retro]

The PSU could potentially be the issue... though given what I have, the chances of that being the case are far lower than it being the motherboard. Unfortunately, I don't have another PSU with the proper power connectors to be able to test that theory... nor do I have a multimeter. By the time I could test it, I will have missed my window of being able to get it delivered on Monday, which leaves me with quite the conundrum.

 

[Darrell]

The PSU could potentially be the issue... though given what I have, the chances of that being the case are far lower than it being the motherboard. Unfortunately, I don't have another PSU with the proper power connectors to be able to test that theory... nor do I have a multimeter. By the time I could test it, I will have missed my window of being able to get it delivered on Monday, which leaves me with quite the conundrum.

I thought every man owned a multimeter. It's a good way to prevent electrocuting yourself. I suggest you invest in one someday.

 

[retro]

I've had one for years, I had to use it on a fairly regular basis when I was with my last company... well, when I was project managing and installing equipment at new locations anyway. But it "mysteriously" disappeared on me when I was on vacation a while back and I had left my toolkit at work. Granted, I left it under my desk and didn't figure anyone would've stolen shit out of it... but then again my boss seems to think that anything in the building is fair game for him. I asked everyone in the office if they had seen it the next time I needed it, and nobody claimed responsibility for having taken it. I've also seen my boss with my own personal pens... and they're relatively expensive pens, well as far as pens go. So I've taken to keeping anything that I might need, but don't want to disappear, in my backpack or messenger bag that I bring in ever day.

 

[AUFred]

Reading the header. I thought this was a dana thread. Sorry about your ordeal.

 

[darkcgi]

one of my favorite moments and quotes in movies I love this actor
[video=youtube;fcp1XddAIlo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=fcp1XddAIlo[/video]

 

[Darrell]

Reading the header. I thought this was a dana thread. Sorry about your ordeal.

The lack of the words tits or bitch in the title didn't tell you it wasn't Dana? :jk

 

[darkcgi]

The lack of the words tits or bitch in the title didn't tell you it wasn't Dana? :jk

......................:24:

 

[Mystic]

try resetting the battery on the MB just leave it out for a few...sometimes that can help if you find everything comes back alright then buy yourself a new battery.

 

[darkcgi]

make sure your fan isnt stopping intermittently
I have had my cpu fan run and then just stop and then run when i reboot it and just stop
and when it stopped my computer rebooted everytime

 

[retro]

try resetting the battery on the MB just leave it out for a few...sometimes that can help if you find everything comes back alright then buy yourself a new battery.

A bad CMOS battery isn't going to cause the computer not to POST. That being said, I already reset the CMOS via jumper, and it didn't work. For those that don't know, a jumper CMOS reset is the exact same thing as removing the battery. All it really does is reset the BIOS to the default settings. The battery also keeps the internal computer time.

make sure your fan isnt stopping intermittently

I have had my cpu fan run and then just stop and then run when i reboot it and just stop
and when it stopped my computer rebooted everytime

Seeing as how the computer won't POST any longer, it's not an issue with the fan. The reason your computer would reboot after your fan stopping is because without the fan (unless you have a fanless heatsink) the processor core would get too hot and therefore lock or reboot your system. Alternatively, your BIOS could have been set to immediately initiate a reboot if it sensed that the fan had ceased working.

Background: I've been building computers since I was 15 (over 13 years now), and I've been working in IT for 10.

I'd know if the CPU fan wasn't working, especially since I had a Win7 widget telling me my exact core temps all the time. Basically, the only time I've ever seen this problem was when I was being stupid and updating my BIOS without a UPS attached to the computer, the power went out during the update, and I bricked the BIOS as a result. Without an operational BIOS, the motherboard can't issue or process instructions, the conductors and such still work to deliver power, but there's no communication within it... it's basically the initial brain of the motherboard before the bridge(s) take over for the next layer of instructions... at least that's how it works in layman's terms.

 

[AUFred]

i already had a headache retro. thx.

 

[darkcgi]

bye the way i knew why my computer was rebooting from over heatinging the temp sensor
if you dont want help dont ask for it
i love how people always think they know more than other people
woo hoo i got a computer degree im mr smarty pants
ive got an engineering degree in computer science
i can draw your face in full detail blind folded
i can repeat anything i see immediately after i see it only once
i can explain in full detail every freakin thing i saw since i was 1 years old
but hey if i ran around being mr smarty pants i wouldnt know my computer was fucking stupid lol

 

[anathelia]

Obviously it's your video card.

And your hard drive.

You don't know anything about computers. Sheesh.

 

[retro]

I've done pretty much every single troubleshooting step known to man. I've removed every card from the board, and tried to boot. No POST. At the very least, I should have gotten beep codes at that point letting me know if it was a memory, video, or CPU issue... or all of the above since nothing was plugged in. :24: It leaves me with two possibilities... motherboard or PSU. I'm leaning away from PSU simply because it has enough power to run the motherboard and its fans, which are an incredibly low power draw... between 10-15w if memory serves. I have a 650W PSU, so something tells me that even if it were having issues, it would be able to output 10-15w... especially since it can also run the fans, motherboard, and video card when everything was actually plugged in.

That leaves me with the motherboard... since it isn't POSTing, it seems to be the most likely culprit... it's just weird, because I've never seen a motherboard up and brick like that outside of losing power during the BIOS upgrade. I take that back actually, I remembered that I've seen one brick after blowing capacitors. Well, that was one of the first things that I checked, no blown capacitors that I could find.

So, I've used the process of elimination, from the bottom level on up... and am left with the motherboard. What fucking sucks is the fact that I can't get an AM2+ board with 4x DDR2 slots (memory). I need 4x because I have 4x 2GB sticks right now. So that means I have to purchase an AM3/AM3+ board; but my processor is AM2+, which is incompatible with DDR3 memory... but I have my old Phenom II X3 processor (current one is a Phenom II X4) that *is* an AM3. So I'm going to have to lose a core in order to get a working computer again. Which really fucking sucks.

 

[retro]

First of all...

Mystic... please know that I'm not calling you unintelligent or anything of the sort. You were trying to offer some help, and I appreciate it... but what you suggested was unfortunately one of the very first things that I tried. It's always a good idea to pop the battery out or jumper clear the CMOS in situations like this.

and now onto this gem...

bye the way i knew why my computer was rebooting from over heatinging the temp sensor
if you dont want help dont ask for it
i love how people always think they know more than other people
woo hoo i got a computer degree im mr smarty pants
ive got an engineering degree in computer science
i can draw your face in full detail blind folded
i can repeat anything i see immediately after i see it only once
i can explain in full detail every freakin thing i saw since i was 1 years old
but hey if i ran around being mr smarty pants i wouldnt know my computer was fucking stupid lol

I actually don't have a degree... my experience comes from the ground up. I built computers, I worked help desk, and now I'm a systems administrator. I've done troubleshooting on servers far more complex than my fairly basic setup at home. The fact that you suggested a CPU fan being the culprit for a motherboard not POSTing is laughable, and tells me that you quite honestly don't have much of a fucking clue what you're talking about. Additionally, being able to draw someone's face while blindfolded, repeating things you see, and explaining things in full detail doesn't mean that you have a bloody clue about computers. If that's actually the case, I'd imagine that you probably read a computer troubleshooting book about 10 years ago and act as though that's your golden ticket for knowing all things computer related. Guess what else... a computer science degree doesn't mean shit when it comes to hardware. Hey, you may know a lot about software and/or programming... but I'm a hardware fucking guru due to my actual life experiences.

I'm not "Mr. Smarty Pants", I just am incredibly confident in my own knowledge. I asked for suggestions to see if anyone came up with an intelligent idea that I didn't already exhaust. I'm sorry, but your CPU fan idea falls far short of an intelligent suggestion. Take offense if you'd like, but anyone with any sort of real knowledge about the inner workings of computers would say the same thing. But hey, you've got a computer science degree, so you must have the holy grail of computer knowledge in your head somewhere.

I don't "act" like I'm smarter than people... because I don't have to act. Because I am smarter than probably 99% of the population when it comes to shit like this. If that comes across as arrogant, then so be it... but I'm very confident in my knowledge and abilities, and it's not arrogance if it's the truth. Oh, and actually... as far as asking for suggestions goes, I copy/pasted this from a forum with a whole helluva lot of people that are on the same level as I am... I wasn't actually necessarily looking for suggestions here, more of a rant than anything. If someone could provide an intelligent suggestion, then I'd be ecstatic. Unfortunately, that really doesn't seem to be the case here.

If you don't want to be taken to task for your idiotic suggestions... either don't make them, or don't take offense when someone proves that they know a whole helluva lot more than you do on the subject. I wasn't trying to insult you, I was stating that the problem is far beyond something as simple as a CPU fan... especially since I had reboots from CPU fan issues disabled in my BIOS. Oh, and the fact that the fan worked just fine when I booted the computer. Like I said, a fan issue isn't going to prevent a computer from even posting... it's a lower level on the OSI model than that.