Comments on: Disaster In-Progress: Main Rig Down

By: Son Wukong

Son Wukong — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:13:43 +0000

Unplug the usb mouse and keybord and start it up, see if that works.

By: Kristycocopop

Kristycocopop — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:21:52 +0000

I read every advice and they sounds about right and I even ask my fiancé about your conduction being that he works as a Crucit City Tech (sigh).
He said bluntly “Don’t get a dell”.

By: VegettoEX

VegettoEX — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:18:37 +0000

I don’t think you understand. Last week’s podcast is on a hard drive in a computer that doesn’t work right now. I have zero access to the file. (It’s a SATA hard drive and no other computers in the house have anything other than IDE connectors.)

By: Gary

Gary — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:48:16 +0000

Any possibility you could upload this week’s podcast on megaupload or sendspace temporarily so you don’t leave the listeners lingering?

By: desirecampbell

desirecampbell — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 01:55:24 +0000

If you can’t get it up an working, salvage what you can – but I’d try and use what you’ve got laying around before buying anything else.

First off – were *both* the 20 and 24 pin PSU connectors plugged into the mobo? I’ve never seen *both* plugged in (I’ve seen PSUs with a 20 pin, or a 24 pin, or both a 20 and a 24, and some with 20 pin with an extra 4 pin bit that can be attached if needed; but never a mobo that needed *two* separate 20+ pin connectors). I’ve seen stranger things, but not this specifically.

Secondly, it doesn’t sound like the PSU. Listen for any POST beeps – that’ll tell you what’s wrong. If you’ve got power, and no POST errors, it’s probably not your PSU (I’ve had that happen once, but it’s not as likely as other causes). First I’d try swapping out the hard drive for a known working one (the hard disk with Ubuntu on it would work fine) just to see if it’ll get any farther. Next I’d try RAM, and failing that, I’d rip everything out and build it from the ground up testing each part as I went.

By: sarah

sarah — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 09:40:57 +0000

I had a similar problem just last week, Just not to this extent thankfully maybe due to just having your bog standard pc. Mine was caused through the pc crashing so i had a vegeta-like temper tantrum and ripped the plugs out the wall. Windows wouldn’t start then it just went onto a black screen.

I will ask me dad when he comes in what he did, but I do know the whole thing had to be formatted and windows had to be manually put back on after lots of difficulty because the C: drive and the disc drives couldnt detect anything.

I’ll have a word when he comes in from work, but i doubt it will be of any help. Just watch in case it is some horrid virus going about and not down to the ripping-plugs incident.

Good luck! May the Saiyans be with you!

By: Sn4tcH

Sn4tcH — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:22:22 +0000

Can’t help but add to the gloom, but I had that issue too. And it was in fact my hard drive.

By: Tensho

Tensho — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:49:46 +0000

It certainly seems like your main hard drive. Quick way to test: Pop an older hard drive (that is if you have one lying around at your convenience) inside in place of your current master and attempt to install an O/S or distro. If it works with no issues… well, you’ll know what to do.

(Y’know, the fact that your PC froze at exactly the same place during the boot sequence would suggest the problem is the hard drive and not the PSU!)

By: the1payday

the1payday — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:33:48 +0000

Hey man…I happen to work at the Geek Squad in my local Best Buy. I’m not positive off hand if it would have both connection types, but you should go back to Best Buy and see if they have “The Black Widow” power supply in stock. It’s one we use all often and it’s nice for cable management because all of the cables will actually detach from the unit, so you don’t have a bunch of unplugged cables just bunched up in the CPU. You might take a look at it and give it a shot; it might be the one that would work.

By: SSj_Rambo

SSj_Rambo — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:18:32 +0000

Not to detract from the gravity of your computer problem, but will there be any changes to the forum once this “transfer over to the new server” is finished? Less running out of bandwidth, perhaps?

Anyway, sorry about your computer problem, I’ll see if I can find out anything that might help you fix the problem later.

By: TRSTmeIMaDCTR

TRSTmeIMaDCTR — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:43:46 +0000

I did the exact thing before, and the same problem arose. I never figured out the exact cause, but I did find a not so ideal fix. I had to reinstall my OS and return everything to factory settings at the boot screen. Hope you can come up with something better.

By: Adam

Adam — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:33:21 +0000

Damn, that sucks. I’ve had many bad experiences with Dell, like someone else said I would only use them for their monitors and not their computers. I recommend a Mac

And it does sound like a hard drive problem.

By: Battle001

Battle001 — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:59:43 +0000

It does not sound like the power supply,

I’ve had something simillar happen to me and it was the c drive.
I used spinrite to sove my issue.

By: Heath Cutler

Heath Cutler — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:51:39 +0000

It doesn’t sound like your power supply is dead. Does the motherboard have any power led indicator, showing that the motherboard has power? If everything “whirls” when you boot up the machine, then I’m assuming all of your fans have power. I hate to say it, but it sounds more likely that your C: Drive is dead (or wherever your OS is located), possibly through a voltage surge, ironically, from accidentally switching off your surge protector. Your drive could have also been dying anyway, and this just put it over the edge… who knows.

My power supply has died on me twice since I built my computer a year ago, and when that happened, you could hear a pin drop in my office it was so quiet. I also agree with Jeff, I’ve never seen a motherboard requiring both 20-pin and 24-pin connectors. Does it also have a 4pin connector for the CPU?

Anyway, I use Dell for their monitors, not their computers. This is why I now keep a back-up of anything I’m working on on an external USB hard drive, so I can still work on things while my main computer is down. I hope you can get this resolved shortly and as painlessly as possible. Good luck!

By: Herms

Herms — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:58:12 +0000

So there was frigging on the rigging?

….

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

By: Forgotten Hero

Forgotten Hero — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:33:54 +0000

Seems like you have a decent plan, but if it comes down to getting a new computer don’t get a Dell again. They are cheaper sure, but from experience they have crap quality and their PCs always have some sort of failure, as you have now experienced.
That’s my piece of advice.

By: VegettoEX

VegettoEX — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:04:05 +0000

Just out of curiosity, what’s your recommendation? Something I’m considering is just stealing all the working parts from the XPS and having something new built from its ashes. If it was indeed the power supply that died, Hell… mostly everything else should be fine. Steal the RAM, got the new video card coming in… plop it all together onto a new motherboard… thoughts?

By: desirecampbell

desirecampbell — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:50:45 +0000

Shit balls, man. Bad luck. The Dell mobo needs *both* a 20 and 24 pin connector? That’s friggin’ crazy. Proprietary Dell hardware? Good luck.