New
#1
Computer Died - Need to Pick Your Brain
My wife was on the computer last night. Nothing complicated, just her usual Facebook surfing. Suddenly the screen goes blank. It was similar to when the computer goes into sleep mode. Although, the mouse and the keyboard did not have power.
I pressed the Enter key a few times to wake up the computer and nothing happened. Next, I pressed the reset/restart button on the case. Nothing happened. Then I pressed and held the power button on the case. I have it set to power down after 4 seconds. It did not power down. The next step was to flip the power switch on the PSU. And, of course, it shuts down.
After a few seconds, I switch the power back on and pressed the case power button. I here the case fans spin up, the DVD drives activate, listening carefully I hear the hard drive spin up, and then ... no POST. Nothing. Under normal conditions, I would continue to hear the hard drive read. Not this time.
After a couple of repeats of power off/power on, I call it quits for the night. I had just finished a 13-hour day at work and was too tired to deal with this.
Today, I popped open the case and did a visual inspection. No obviously blown capacitors. Case fans running properly. I broke out my volt meter and checked the various power outputs from the PSU and everything was fine. 12.5 volts, 5 volts, etc.
Here's where it gets interesting.
The next step was to remove the RAM one stick at a time and restart, no change. I remove ALL RAM, and the computer reacts the same way. Then, I notice there is no heat generated from the CPU. The heat sinks are cold to the touch. My CPU cooler has copper heat pipes and they were cold.
In a last ditch effort to narrow the problem, I remove the CPU. After rebooting, the computer performs the same way ... no POST.
So, are you thinking what I am thinking? Have I lost my CPU? Or, could it be the mother board? I would love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks.
Joe