My PC just died

[MasterBlaster76]

I'm typing this on my nephew's laptop.

OK, so I went to turn on the PC, it turned on for a split second, then turned off and at the same time a few other electrical items in the room turned off as well. Sort of the thing that happens when you turn on a light and the bulb blows? It triggers one of the switches on the electricity panel downstairs - upon turning that back on, all the other devices are fine but the one that blew remains dead of course.

Going by what I've said, what do you think is the likely cause? My money's on the PSU - although it is a good PSU, a Corsair 650w. Also, I need to find out what the likelihood of any of the components being taken down as well, because if enough of them have it makes more sense to just buy a new PC. Otherwise I'll get it bought to my usual PC shop so they can sort it out.

If the PC is salvageable, then I'm going to take the chance to upgrade the GPU at the same time its in the shop, so any suggestions with a budget of around ?120-200 would be great. I hope the HDD can at least be accessed so I don't have to start completely from scratch. I was meaning to buy a backup external HDD for a while now, but the prices have been so high recently, I was waiting for them to come down.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[puddleduck]

My thoughts would be power supply as well.

Is there literally nothing when you push the power button? No, power of anykind whatsover?

That does seem strange as a good PSU is generally designed to not short out parts if there is a power surge.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

My thoughts would be power supply as well.

Is there literally nothing when you push the power button? No, power of anykind whatsover?

That does seem strange as a good PSU is generally designed to not short out parts if there is a power surge.

Nope - not a thing; it's as dead as a dodo. Regarding the PSU, if it is at fault, I can at least invoke the warranty as it's five years and I've definitely not had it that long. Assuming I can find the goddamn proof of purchase, that is.

So, if it is the PSU, what are the chances it's fried everything? I've had the PSU for a long time, and there have been no problems - I ensured that it had the specs to support everything in the system. I just hope the mobo's OK, if not then I'm just going to get a new system because surely if the mobo's fried, then so is everything on it?

 

[puddleduck]

Yeah, normally a good PSU (which you would hope a Corsair one is) have anti-fry stuff (I'm sure that's the technical term heh).

I think first call of action is to invoke the warranty and get a new one, install it and see what's still working. There is always the risk unfortunately that it has taken out other parts too Gutted for you dude, that's a right kick in the nuts.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Thanks for your help mate. Maybe Corsair aren't what they were? I had a Corsair RAM go wrong on me not long ago as well (the system was falling on its face with BSODs every few minutes, so I tested with Memtest 86 and that found literally thousands of errors!) As you said, you'd expect a very good PSU to come with something to guard against this sort of thing! I probably won't be going with Corsair in future.

I have been thinking about a whole new system for a while now though - so if enough of this one has bitten the dust then that's just the excuse I need.

Yep, sure is a kick right in the apples.

Edit: When invoking warranties, they send you a brand new one, yes? I wouldn't want a 'refurbished' one. If that's the case, then I could buy a new PSU from the shop and make an agreement with them to sell them the new Corsair when it arrives. That way, I limit my down-time. Otherwise, I'm sitting around for God knows how long waiting for Corsair to sort out the RMA process. I found it faintly ridiculous that such a large company don't have a RMA centre in the UK - no, I had to return the RAM to the Netherlands!!

 

[puddleduck]

Haha, be honest you dropped it in a full bath deliberately

I was a big fan of my OCZ ram. Although you can get good ram, or at least lots of ram, for very little these days. With the right sort of motherboard you can give yourself plenty of upgrade potential. I know Corsair ram certainy had a reputation as sometimes being reputation over substance, but I have to be honest I'm about 5 years out of date of being actually up to date with everything.

So I guess if you were to go for a rebuild, something along the lines of an i5, 8-12gb of Ram, and then whatever you can stetch to gfx card wise

Err, yeah they should, but obviously you wouldn't know if they didn't

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How well do you know the shop? Could you take it down and just get them to hook up a PSU for you to check everything is still working?

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Oh you are of course welcome

Also when you get in touch with them to get it replaced, try and make a big fuss about how it blew your motherboard and will now force you to build a new PC. Never know, might speed them up/give you a free .... mousemat

 

[MasterBlaster76]

That's the annoying thing - they used to be literally down the road from me, but now they've moved further into town, which makes things much more awkward. My PC weighs a bloody ton, so getting it into town without calling a taxi (more expense), wouldn't be easy. Before, they just turned up here, popped the machine in their car, we'd drive down to the shop, get the issue sorted out, then bring it back home usually all within the same day.

It's not as if the system is hopelessly out of date, otherwise I probably would just go with a new one. No, the only thing that really needs changing is the GPU.

 

[iridescentt]

Sucks that you can't run iso tests on your parts (ie. Motherboard) in the meantime. Hope it all goes well bro -- should invest in a PSU, their pretty much essential if your packing heat in your PC. You could pick up a solid Belkin one for around 15 quid (if my currency rate conversion serves me right ).

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Thanks.

?15 for a PSU, you say? That's got to be wrong, I've always heard that if you buy a PSU that's too cheap, it's going to cause you problems. This PSU is (was?) a Corsair 650w, that cost something like ?60 so it was certainly a good solid PSU.

If I do end up going for a new system, how's this from DinoPC.com?

NEW! Alioramus 2500K OC @ 4.3Ghz

I think that's a pretty meaty beast for that sort of money - I'd be delighted to get a machine like that for just a bit over ?700; as well as that, it has a very cool name . RAM's a bit low, but I can always buy more later on - or I can customise it before buying it. I don't really know much about that PSU make - what's their reputation? And how does that GPU stack up?

Their PCs also come with a 3yr warranty, which is reassuring. I've always said, if a company puts a decent warranty on their product then that demonstrates confidence in it. Look at Sony and the PS3 for example - one year warranty - and the PS3's reliability isn't the best in the world is it?

As I said, it all depends on how the components in my PC are after the PSU blew, if that's what it was.

 

[Chewie]

In my experience you can get a much better computer buying the parts yourself and then building it yourself/getting someone to build it for you.

I'd agree that it was the PSU that blew. It might have taken down stuff with it because if the PSU surges it's not very good for the rest of your computer - it killed my RAM and HDD when it happened to me.

 

[puddleduck]

Even if not building the whole thing, have a look at something like Novatech.co.uk for their basic bundles. Even if only to get an idea as to the price you could mostly build your own for.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

In my experience you can get a much better computer buying the parts yourself and then building it yourself/getting someone to build it for you.

I'd agree that it was the PSU that blew. It might have taken down stuff with it because if the PSU surges it's not very good for the rest of your computer - it killed my RAM and HDD when it happened to me.

Yep, that's my fear - after all, the PSU is within the system, so it's bound to have taken something with it. If it's the HDD, is there any way at all to retrieve any of the data? Not too fussed if it's the RAM, because that was borked in any case and I was in the process of RMA-ing it back to Corsair.

One thing about my system is it weighs a bloody ton - are there any cases out there that are light, yet durable and spacious, with good airflow etc? Do you really think I could get a similar system to that DinoPC for less than ?700? Especially when you take into account the prices of HDDs at the moment. If it comes down to a new system, I'll get some quotes and compare them with that DinoPC model. I suppose one thing the DinoPC one has in its favour is the three year Warranty? I'm sure that's not the case with any self built system, surely?

 

[puddleduck]

That actually to be fair seems fairly good value considering what it comes with.

It is certainly likely, but remain hopeful. The hard drive of all components may well be the most salvageable.

Well take this for example - Novatech Barebone Bundle - Intel Core i7 2700K - Corsair Vengence 8GB DDR3 - Gigabyte Z68X-UD3-B3 Motherboard - Novatech Gaming Case & OCZ ZS 750W PSU | BB-I7278A That's some serious power needing just a GFX card and a Hd.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Indeed - apart from the three year warranty, one of the things that's drawing me to that DinoPC is the 60gb SSD - I definitely want an SSD in my next system. Unless they're overrated of course - do they really speed up a system that much? On top of that, it appears to come with its own copy of Windows 7 - doesn't that mean I could pop my current copy of Windows 7 on amazon or somewhere and get a tidy few quid for it - or can they only be used on one machine?

I'm becoming more and more pessimistic about my old machine - knowing my luck, the surge probably took out the motherboard and if that's the case, there's no two ways about it - I'll get a new machine, because if the mobo goes, you need new RAM, new CPU, new GPU, pretty much everything.

Having said all that, the Novatech you just linked to is a seriously beefy machine. If spending a bit more gets me a machine I don't have to touch for a good few years, then it makes sense.

 

[puddleduck]

*whistles*

The iForce V2