Sometime last week or so, I had a serious system meltdown where it was generally percieved that my power supply had eaten it. Previous to this, I spent long hours downloading updates because installing a new video card destabilized my Windows installation and I had to reinstall and re-update via dial-up modem.
Today I was overjoyed that my new power supply had come. I was assured that the other hardware was probably not damaged, so it was my hope that I'd have a fully-operational computer today.
Not so.
The death of my power supply did further damage to another component of my computer. Either the motherboard--or some component therein--is crispy, or the processor is. The current behavior--for the technically inclined--is that after pushing the power button all fans begin spinning, the hard drive lights up (it's quiet, so I assume it's spinning), and everything looks good. Then the processor fan stops (all other fans continue, and the hard drive remains active). Nothing appears on the screen.
I've tried clearing the CMOS and I've tried removing components. Neither gets a different response. I declared Time Of Death at 2:15 PM today, because I ran out of things I could think of to do with it.
The question I ask is this: what do I do? I am presented with a serious choice about what I want to do with this thing. My original intention was to put a little money into this computer until I had the cash to do a serious upgrade to something much nicer. I don't have the cash for a real upgrade, but if I buy a motherboard/processor that's comperable to the dead hardware, I'll feel like I'm spending a lot of money keeping an aging machine alive.
I can survive without a desktop, but I'd rather not. It was my primary computer, with my laptop used mostly to take notes and get work done on the move. I also have a job to think about--I have trouble with holding out for a better machine because I have a job that requires me to do things that I can't on my Mac.
I'm stuck going in circles...
Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
I'm sorry to hear that your power supply didn't die alone.
Do you any geek friends from whom you could scrounge some old parts? Hopefully, you could at least figure out which part is bad.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Was your processor a retail processor? If so, it comes with a warranty.
Posted by WheatPuppet (Member # 5142) on :
Update: My brand-new video card is dead, too. I'll be returning that posthaste.
If the processor is retail, I've since lost the packaging. Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
What kind of processor do you have?
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
Wait. Do you have a mac or a pc?
Posted by WheatPuppet (Member # 5142) on :
I found out the graphics card was fried by sticking it into another computer. It produced nothing but scan-lines and colored silliness.
I pulled the processor off the motherboard, and took a look at it. It has a new, perfectly square, burn mark on the surface of the processor.
I'd say it's crispy.
EDIT: No beeps. It never even loads the BIOS. It's an AMD 2400XP, I think.
[ January 07, 2005, 04:53 PM: Message edited by: WheatPuppet ]
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
The problem with power supply overloads is that it can effect everything. I'd say just get a new mobo/cpu. You should be able to find something decent for under a hundred dollar at pricewatch.com.
Posted by WheatPuppet (Member # 5142) on :
It does look that way. I'm hoping I can drag together enough money to get a dual-processor Opteron machine or something. I really don't want to downgrade because of a stupid power supply. Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Why on Earth would you want an Opteron?
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
Why get a dual processor when, from what I understand, very little code is written for it and very little out there really needs it?
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Any AMD 64 would be plenty for your task, single or double.
Re: dual processor, the operating system will split stuff up by process, resulting in a significant speed boost if one is using more than one even moderately intensive application (which, when one application can use all of one processor, is always, since the OS nowadays can get pretty active).
Posted by WheatPuppet (Member # 5142) on :
Newer Opterons are based off of the Athlon64 builds, rather than the other way around. The SledgeHammer architecture is found in both the 64-FX chips and Opterons.
I'm looking at a dual-processor setup becuase I do a lot of rendering. Dual-processor machines usually provide a 20-50% speed improvement in rendering tasks. It may not be a big deal for a little render, but I've done 9.5 hour render sessions before, and that was for a fairly simple scene. Cutting that down to 4.5 would make me very happy.
Although the Athlon64's are really nice processors. I hope I can afford one of those, at least.
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Mad]](mad.gif)