# Need Help Identifying Which Component Failed???



## Solo (Nov 15, 2012)

I been running this RIG smoothly since only February 2012 until now November 4th (since the date of the first thread below)! Comparing the cabinet pictures you'll see trivial changes. The picture posted in this thread is exhibiting the recent setup, the picture inside the below link exhibits the old setup. After approximately nine months of no problems, when November entered however the problems arise. It happened so abruptly and surprisingly expecting, after closing my browser, I glared at the screen for a few seconds then it happened. My monitor displayed "No Signal" and after a second or so I get the black screen. At this point my head is in the clouds. I began to smell burning of some sort. My PC is still turned on at this point. I pressed the power button for a force shut down. I knew this RIG wouldn't last for very long, but frankly I expected it to last at least two year. I had a few ideas of where the burning happened. I didn't take utmost concern because I did not see any burning marks or such when I investigated inside the cabinet. So I plugged in everything back and turned the PC power on. The PC will still get "No Signal"/Black screen and matters worse it powers on and off in a loop. The loop is about 3 seconds long, In this loop I see the fans activate and deactivate. Unsure, I assume it's either the motherboard or the power supply. Now recently I suspect it's the CPU. Narrowing it down is quite difficult. I can't tell if my motherboard or any component is fried. Perhaps you guys can see something in the pictures I did not see. I've come to the conclusion that nothing is fried because my internal hard drive works perfectly. It can't be my power supply because it's a top notch PSU. But after reading this quote: "#1. just because a power is a 700 watt based psu which gives a 60 amps- doesnt mean it will consume all of it- If a pc requires less, it will take less or else more. If you buy an overpower psu and your system utilises 1/4 part of its potential, its a waste. As a good friend of mine told- the system should use atleast 75% of the power supplies' potential." I doubt myself. Is this true in my case? I got a little reckless and commenced repairing myself. I done every solution I can think of, such as viewing the Mobo for burns, disconnecting unnecessary drives, resetting the bios, revealing the CPU and dust cleaning. I'm not going to get my hopes up. I suspect I added insult to injury when I tried to repair it. It's probably rest in peace for this RIG, but I still need whomever may read this to share some knowledge to what went down here. I recall breathing some burning air when I opened the CPU. I haven't tried booting with 1 ram intact or with different components connected and disconnected. It seems to me it won't help much, but willing to try. How well will a replacement chip or thermal compound do in this situation? At this rate it's a mere miracle if I manage to get this RIG working again. I have a hunch of what happened here, but a hunch is a hunch and I need the experts opinion on this matter. I would appreciate any help identifying this issue, thus I can prevent this issue from appearing again. Pardon the wall of text, my intention weren't to write this much, but to insert as much information as I can. 




This may be the continuation of this thread: *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/pc-components-configurations/152833-need-opinions-upgrade.html (Old Setup Thread)

My RIG specs:

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6700 @ 2.66GHz, 2666 MHz
Graphic Card: SAPPHIRE AMD Radeon HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 PCIE Graphics Card (Link: Amazon.com: SAPPHIRE AMD Radeon HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 PCIE Graphics Card: Electronics)
Power Supply: Seasonic X series x650 gold (Not sure on the watts)
MOBO: IPIBL-LA (Berkeley) Link: Motherboard Specifications, IPIBL-LA (Berkeley) | HP® Support

I will post more screenshots and information upon request. If it will help the troubleshooting anyway just name it.


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## anirbandd (Nov 16, 2012)

is your mobo installed top side down?? and why is the hdd hanging?



> "#1. just because a power is a 700 watt based psu which gives a 60 amps- doesnt mean it will consume all of it- If a pc requires less, it will take less or else more. If you buy an overpower psu and your system utilises 1/4 part of its potential, its a waste. As a good friend of mine told- the system should use atleast 75% of the power supplies' potential."


Wrong. Go to hardwaresecrets.com infact it is recommended to use a PSU that has double the power rating than your rig. the efficiency is generally higher at the middle. 

0. *you need a new cabinet bro. Seriously. *
1. since you obviously dont have a load tester, try and use the PSU on a spare mobo if you have one at hand. 
2. try detaching the gfx card and using the onboard gfx. if there is display, then maybe problem with your card. if not then maybe mobo is gone.
3. i think i see a bit of warping of the gfx card PCB.


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## dead.night7 (Nov 16, 2012)

- Remove graphics plug monitor on motherboard itself
- try using one ram or the other one
- did you put your motherboard headers properly?
- if motherboard in warranty then try to test the mobo at the QC of the RMA Center


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## Solo (Nov 17, 2012)

anirbandd said:


> is your mobo installed top side down?? and why is the hdd hanging?
> 
> 
> Wrong. Go to hardwaresecrets.com infact it is recommended to use a PSU that has double the power rating than your rig. the efficiency is generally higher at the middle.
> ...


I think I'm going to shelve the Radeon HD 6870 for the meantime. I plan on buying another Radeon of the same or 6xxx series for a dual combination insertion onto crossfire mobo. 
Before I even plan that, I need to verify whenever the video card still works. If the video card fan actives, it means it works it still works right?

Overall I'm been thinking about a new rig. I'm also thinking about what components I can shelve from my current rig. So from what I'm looking at, the mobo is fried and as for the other components? You tell me.
I tested the hard drive with a USB 2.0 to IDE SATA adapter and works. So if the hard drive didn't get burn, then all the damage, if any is leaning torwards the mobo. I heard of fried mobos that fries every component connected to it.



anirbandd said:


> is your mobo installed top side down?? and why is the hdd hanging?


Well I did unscrew the mobo in search of burns. I wanted to install the mobo the other way around, but the cabinet didn't let me. Haha about the hard drive, it's actually quite sturdy inside, it's not hanging or putting any strains on the cables. It's a temporarily thing. Look at the old image of the cabinet. You'll see the hard drive was inside this:


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## anirbandd (Nov 17, 2012)

gfx card fan is runnign doesnt necessarily mean card is okay... there maybe a problem at the output, which leads to no signal coming of the card. again, can be a mobo fault. 

and you said: 





> The PC will still get "No Signal"/Black screen and matters worse it powers on and off in a loop. The loop is about 3 seconds long, In this loop I see the fans activate and deactivate.


maybe a problem in the PSU. thats why i am asking you to test the PSU seperately, on a another mobo. though the PSU is a Top Class PSU, faults may happen.

And the mobo IS top side down?? gawd... what kind of cabinet forces the user to install the mobo upside down???

if you do upgrade you may wanna consider upgrading your

1. Cabinet [top priority]
2. Mobo
3. proccy


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## Solo (Nov 18, 2012)

anirbandd said:


> And the mobo IS top side down?? gawd... what kind of cabinet forces the user to install the mobo upside down???


Hahaha that's HP for you, they limit customization on their pre-builts. I bought this RIG in 2008 from HP. Of course I'm not buying a HP never again.


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## anirbandd (Nov 18, 2012)

i see. 
Eich Pee.


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## CarlonSamuels (Nov 18, 2012)

As Anirbandd said it would be a good idea to update your cabinet 
It is quite sad


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## Solo (Nov 19, 2012)

Thousand thanks to my PC technician friend who fixed my problem with no charge, what a bud. He fixed the Mobo somehow and the graphic card was pointed. I replaced the Radeon 6870 with my old Graphic card Nvidia 210. Now he has my 6870 and I have my old 210 card. Turns out the graphic card was too much for the Mobo. Another problem with the ram pins. Now it can only hold same brand ram. Overall this RIG is in no shape to upgrade and meddling. Thank you guys for helping. Here is proof View attachment 7720 
This conclude this thread.


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## doomgiver (Nov 19, 2012)

upgrade the motherboard too, while you are at it.

actually, if you overclock the cpu, you might get a couple of more years out of it. 

and why do you have a gt210? your current psu can supply a second 6870, get that gpu back, man.


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## anirbandd (Nov 19, 2012)

Solo said:


> Thousand thanks to my PC technician friend who fixed my problem with no charge, what a bud. He fixed the Mobo somehow and the graphic card was pointed. I replaced the Radeon 6870 with my old Graphic card Nvidia 210. Now he has my 6870 and I have my old 210 card. Turns out the graphic card was too much for the Mobo. Another problem with the ram pins. Now it can only hold same brand ram. Overall this RIG is in no shape to upgrade and meddling. Thank you guys for helping. Here is proof View attachment 7720
> This conclude this thread.



attachment not working!?

what problem with ram pins? Which brand ram?


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## Solo (Nov 26, 2012)

doomgiver said:


> upgrade the motherboard too, while you are at it.
> 
> actually, if you overclock the cpu, you might get a couple of more years out of it.
> 
> and why do you have a gt210? your current psu can supply a second 6870, get that gpu back, man.



Yeah I got back, My friend assisted to trade back the video card because he doesn't game. The two cards were successfully replaced. I'm going to look into the overclock subject in a moment.



anirbandd said:


> attachment not working!?
> 
> what problem with ram pins? Which brand ram?


I have three samsung 1GB rams and a 2GB crucial ram. One of the slot won't read, hence I can't remove the useless slot because my RIG needs all slots occupy. I'm amazed this trivial problem was the cause of the boot failures. My mobo can only hold a maximum of 4 ram cards. 3 of the 4 actually reads, one slot must be relayed. In the end I only loss 1GB of ram, no crucial loss. Here is a reupload.


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