I bought my son a Barebones PC with an Athlon 1200CPU for Christmas 2001. We upgraded the graphics card about a month ago (64MB Geforce II) , and last week we put a new Soundblaster soundcard (PCI 512). The day after we installed it, my son turned on the machine and a strong burning smell started. The heat built up so fast that the plug was hot. He asked me to look at it. I tried turning it on but this time there was no power at all (no fans, lights, or anything turning on), I figured it was the power supply. I exchanged the power supply (under warranty) the next day, and the computer turned on. The same burning smell began, and the hard drive (80gig Western digital 7200rpm) would not boot up. It was obvious that the hard drive was causing the smell. The BIOs would not recognize it. I have another PC, so I place the hard drive in there to double check that the hard drive was dead, and sure enough, nothing happened except that it got real hot.
Well, I got an RMA number to return the hard drive, but rather than wait for a new one, my other computer needed an extra hard drive. So I went out and bought a new 60gig Western digital. I place this in my son's pc, and although the fans and the light on the MB are on, I do not get a signal to the monitor from the pc. The hard drive is spinning and on, but since I do not get a signal to the monitor, I can't boot up.
I've taken out the graphics card (I hooked the monitor to the original integrated graphics in the MB)and sound card. Still nothing. I've changed out cables, made sure the memory (512mb ram)and other connections were installed. Still nothing!
What the heck is going on here? If I had to guess, I would say my motherboard is burnt out. What could have caused this, and why did the MB seem to work until I tried to place a new hard drive in there? Or is it something else? I'm afraid that once I change out the MB, it will be the CPU and then memory.
Any help is appreciated. My son has always look at me as a Master Geek, but as you can tell, I'm just a neophite geek and first timer.

I agree with your first diagnosis. I am afraid that the mobo is gone! what has caused this it`s hard to say. Probably the first power supply went crazy and burned the mobo or maybe a very bad spike from the wall did all the job. and in this case you would need a good surge prtector. Do you have problems with other power appliances?


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#!@$*%.....just format the damn C:

Well, I had a $1.99 surge protector on the wall with a little green light. I did notice that the light had turned yellow, but that could have happened months ago. None of the other appliances (monitor, printer) seemed to have been effected. I did get a new surge protector though. (I use to not back up either, until I lost a hard drive!)
Ok, if the power supply, hard drive, and motherboard are smoked, what are the chances that the CPU and memory are not damaged?

It could have also been the other way around...the hard drive could have seized and taken out the power supply, in which case the damage would be to the 12V leg of the PSU and probably the IDE components.....try the hard drive as primary master on the secondary IDE channel and see if you get anywhere there...doubtful but worth a shot.

But it seems likely that the motherboard is toast and the CPU would at least be suspect, memory too. The memory should be easy to check, just drop it in another machine, the CPU can be swapped too if you have a machine it would fit into...(if it is an AMD processor then another AMD machine).

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

One thing you might consider is getting a post code card that can plug into a PCI slot - it will give various error codes that might help you to pinpoint exactly where the prob is - might be worth a shot

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Old dogs CAN learn new tricks

Thanks everyone. Since it was under warranty, I took it back to where I bought it. Since it was a barebones, they would not replace the motherboard, but wanted to give me an equal replacement barebones computer. Unbelievable as it may seem, they didn't have anything in stock that was equivalent, so they upgraded me. I went from a SIS 730 chipset, to a KT333 Chipset (KT3 Ultra motherboard) in a full size black case. They even switched out the SDRAM memory to DDR memory. Talk about luck!
Only problem I have now is the processor shows that it is a ~900mhz AMD processor. But I installed 1.2 AMD processor. What happened to the 300mhz?

John...

PC has booted with a 100 Bus Speed. (Default setting)

Ease into BIOS and change the setting to 133 Mhz for the
CPU and you'll be good to go.

Save & Exit.

What a stroke of Luck.





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I spent a lot of money on women... liquor... motorcycles.
The rest I just wasted.

[This message has been edited by ranchdog (edited 06-01-2002).]

Thanks Ranchdog! Worked like a champ!