Lights are on but nobodys home

[Steve Baron - KB3MM]

The part about hydrogen gas is really wild !

"Greg" > wrote in message
...
> For those that might be wondering... it was blown capacitors. More info
can
> be found here...
>
> http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2003Feb/bch20030207018535.htm
>
> "Greg" > wrote in message
> ...
> > A funny (hardly) thing happened today, the computer got
> > choppy, hesitating and failed. I had a lock up and was
> > forced to hit the reset button and that was the last I
> > saw of windows or anything for that matter. Turn the
> > power back on and the HD spins up and light comes on, the
> > cd's power-up, no floppy (might be a bios setting, but
> > can't get to bios), blank monitor. And that's as far as
> > it gets. HD light stays on. Can't boot from CD or floppy,
> > tried. Pulled cover and unplugged HD, restarted, same
> > result, HD light stays on but HD completly unplugged,
> > what's up with that? So what's the deal? CPU/MB shot?
> > This computer was rarely shut down and was pretty much on
> > 24/7, used primarily for internet, e-mail and text
> > documents.
>
>

[Greg]

A funny (hardly) thing happened today, the computer got
choppy, hesitating and failed. I had a lock up and was
forced to hit the reset button and that was the last I
saw of windows or anything for that matter. Turn the
power back on and the HD spins up and light comes on, the
cd's power-up, no floppy (might be a bios setting, but
can't get to bios), blank monitor. And that's as far as
it gets. HD light stays on. Can't boot from CD or floppy,
tried. Pulled cover and unplugged HD, restarted, same
result, HD light stays on but HD completly unplugged,
what's up with that? So what's the deal? CPU/MB shot?
This computer was rarely shut down and was pretty much on
24/7, used primarily for internet, e-mail and text
documents.

[philo]

"Greg" > wrote in message
...
> A funny (hardly) thing happened today, the computer got
> choppy, hesitating and failed. I had a lock up and was
> forced to hit the reset button and that was the last I
> saw of windows or anything for that matter. Turn the
> power back on and the HD spins up and light comes on, the
> cd's power-up, no floppy (might be a bios setting, but
> can't get to bios), blank monitor. And that's as far as
> it gets. HD light stays on. Can't boot from CD or floppy,
> tried. Pulled cover and unplugged HD, restarted, same
> result, HD light stays on but HD completly unplugged,
> what's up with that? So what's the deal? CPU/MB shot?
> This computer was rarely shut down and was pretty much on
> 24/7, used primarily for internet, e-mail and text
> documents.


it does sound like a motherboard failure...
but there's always a chance that it was just the powersupply

[CJT]

Greg wrote:

> A funny (hardly) thing happened today, the computer got
> choppy, hesitating and failed. I had a lock up and was
> forced to hit the reset button and that was the last I
> saw of windows or anything for that matter. Turn the
> power back on and the HD spins up and light comes on, the
> cd's power-up, no floppy (might be a bios setting, but
> can't get to bios), blank monitor. And that's as far as
> it gets. HD light stays on. Can't boot from CD or floppy,
> tried. Pulled cover and unplugged HD, restarted, same
> result, HD light stays on but HD completly unplugged,
> what's up with that? So what's the deal? CPU/MB shot?
> This computer was rarely shut down and was pretty much on
> 24/7, used primarily for internet, e-mail and text
> documents.

The things that are on the critical path to at least reaching
the BIOS setup screens are generally the power supply, the CPU,
and the motherboard generally. Lots have people (including me)
have had trouble with leaking capacitors, and I would check for
those. Some manufacturers will repair the leaking capacitor problem
at nominal cost, since it apparently stemmed from criminal activity
by persons at one of their suppliers (and so presumably they can
recoup those costs via agreements with the supplier in question).


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[Greg]

Great! Thanks for the info. Got to go dig a hole in the backyard...

[Greg]

For those that might be wondering... it was blown capacitors. More info can
be found here...

http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2003Feb/bch20030207018535.htm

"Greg" > wrote in message
...
> A funny (hardly) thing happened today, the computer got
> choppy, hesitating and failed. I had a lock up and was
> forced to hit the reset button and that was the last I
> saw of windows or anything for that matter. Turn the
> power back on and the HD spins up and light comes on, the
> cd's power-up, no floppy (might be a bios setting, but
> can't get to bios), blank monitor. And that's as far as
> it gets. HD light stays on. Can't boot from CD or floppy,
> tried. Pulled cover and unplugged HD, restarted, same
> result, HD light stays on but HD completly unplugged,
> what's up with that? So what's the deal? CPU/MB shot?
> This computer was rarely shut down and was pretty much on
> 24/7, used primarily for internet, e-mail and text
> documents.