My computer box died too :(

squitz

squitz

Member
My pc has had very few problems over the last couple years, but recently i had mobo problems, and eventually the mobo died after i tried to clear the cmos. i got a replacement mobo from Adam that he had sitting arround unused in exchange for taking him out for lunch :). After installing the new mobo, my computer would randomly reboot, or lock up, or both :( also the mobo's onbord sound had strange mic feedback. Now, as i was going to download and run a couple tests, it shuts down, nad now when i boot it up, the lights all come on, but i get no beep from the case speaker, and no video output at all. i am thinking of replacing my mobo, CPU and video card since they are 4.5 years old, and doing a minor upgrade. (minor because i am limited to about $350ish) any suggestions/comments/dignostics would be appreciated.
 
Take Adam to lunch as many times as you can for $350 :)

On a serious note, you usually can find good cpu/mobo combo's on the internet. However, a new mobo usually will mean newer memory modules than you are using. You might be able to find a decent combo with memory for the $350, or individual cpu/mobo/mem. However, getting a new cpu/mobo combo also means you need to think about the possiblity of a new power supply. Squeezing a video card in there as well could be tight.

A place I have bought from and have always had good experience with is www.mwave.com. I have bought from other places as well, but cannot recall the names right now. I am sure you can get many more dependable opinions here.
 
I was pricing some things out, and was thinking of this CPU and mobo:
CPU:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=14416&promoid=1068
Mobo:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=16165&promoid=1068

my ram should still work in that mobo, and my power supply is an antec true blue 450 watt (might be 400 watt, but i don't think so)
as for video cards i am kinda lost. almost anything would be an upgrade from my Radeon 9500 128MB card. The mobo is PCI-E, but i have no idea what a good card would be. i was thinking this, since it will put me at my budget, but i might be able to go a little higher in price if this card is low quality

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=17609&vpn=256-P2-N436-LX&manufacture=eVGA&promoid=1068
 
I am a bit fan of Nvidia's nforce chip 1-4, so I would recommend the DFI board, a bit more expensive. I have 4 of my 7 systems running this board. It is excellent.
 
With two mobos going, I would seriously check both the PSU (power supply unit) and the grounding of the mobo. Bad power kills.
 
Elwood said:
With two mobos going, I would seriously check both the PSU (power supply unit) and the grounding of the mobo. Bad power kills.
Click to expand...

That's very true. I have had some bad experience with unclean power causing computer woes a couple of years ago.

Though if I were you I would just shop for a new computer. Even the cheapy dell I got a few years ago (one of those $300 dollar deals) w/ built in video ran wow. Mind you not with spiffy settings, but it ran it with vanilla settings at 1280x1024 resolution. This is on a p4 2.6 GHz w/ 512MB of ram.
 
for $200 i could replace my mobo and cpu at about the same level as i currently have and keep my current video card. for an aditional $100 i could get a new video card that is a tiny little upgrade (only because they don't sell the video card i have anymore) and i am considering that because my video card is getting flaky. and in my mind that would be better than getting a generic dell pc (i dislike dell, my brother got one recently). however i don't really want to spend $300 on a machine that is "lower end" when i could spend another $100 or so to upgrade everything to arround "middle end".

i do appreciate the advice i have gotten so far, and i would love to be able to afford that nvidea mobo. the ECS one is nice too, but it only has 2 RAM slots, so i can't put my 512 and 2x 256 in it. i could instead buy another 512 stick of RAM, or for that same money i could buy the nvidea mobo.....but i don't know which would be the better result for my $$

the other problem is that i am not sure what components of my PC are working at 100%, if it is the power supply that killed 2 mobo's then it needs replaced too.....how can i go about testing that without a PC that boots up?

the bottom line is that i am really fustrated with my PC right now, probably because it has become a problem machine over the last couple months. I went through several steps in attempts to fix it, but the problem persisted, and then it died completely before i could diagnose my hardware. this is all ontop of my upcoming wedding on June 3rd, so i don't have copius ammounts of spare time, energy, or money to put into fixing my computer.

sorry about the /rant there...but i think this has turned into a prayer request. i am completely overwhelmed right now, and there isn't really anything stable in my life right now.
 
More than likely the only thing affected from a bad PSU is the mobo and the components on it. Even then it is probably just the mobo.
 
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