Country Fried Motherboard
Yesterday was a day of electronic failure. I had to go home early to meet a technician about some cable issues we’d been having. We got a new DVR box since the old one wasn’t recording properly, and learned that we had lost certain channels like MTV because Comcast had switched to digital signals and this interfered with the channels that the building’s security feeds are on. Since Comcast is a notoriously slow bureaucracy, it may be weeks before this issue is resolved. The technician did give us a hotfix to allow us to watch the analog signal for MTV by switching inputs, but all the analog channels cannot be DVR’ed.
In other wonderful news, my computer’s motherboard is completely fried. I can’t even get to BIOS; I just get a string of beeps and no signal to the monitor. I suspect that the fan on the motherboard has been failing and this led to some overheating issues. Either way, my computer won’t even turn on. Since I had been considering a new computer, I think I may choose that route instead of attempting to swap in a new motherboard.
Again, I don’t really want to spend that much for the computer, since I’ve found that I typically end up just replacing computers instead of upgrading them. I’m looking for a reasonable processor, 2 Gigs of RAM, and a reasonable video card (something along the lines of a GeForce 7900 GS perhaps?). I don’t want to build the computer, and I think I want to stay away from AMD after some input from Octos. I suspect that Dell might have the best package, and I could get a cheaper computer from them and buy the graphics card from another vendor, but any suggestions would be welcome. I have to admit I have had some issues with Dell in the past, although Velius vouches for them. I don’t need any special CD/DVD drives, monitors, or input devices, but that’s probably all I can salvage from the dead PC. This looks like as good a time as any to try out Vista, so I will need to buy the OS, and I want to make sure that whatever graphics card I get can utilize DirectX 10.
Of course right before I went to sleep, I went to turn on a light, and the bulb blew out. It really was just that kind of day.
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By Velius, 03/27/2007 @ 9:20 am
That certainly sucks. I haven’t really researched computers for a while, but hey, something to do. It’s at least good to know that the Directron machine lasted a good 3 years before dying
By Kabitzin, 03/27/2007 @ 11:10 am
I was considering just going for a cheapass Dell e520. My concern is the power supply, and I have heard they are not that easy to replace. The e520 has an anemic 305 watt power supply, and the XPS 410 has a 375 watt power supply.
With either one, I would start with whatever crappy video card is included with the system, since I don’t play anything that needs intense graphics just yet. I would just replace the graphics card if I felt it was necessary, but it would be difficult with the low power supply. But with the way things have been going, I would probably just end up buying a new computer when that time comes.
Any thoughts?
By Kabitzin, 03/27/2007 @ 12:38 pm
I am kinda leaning away from Dell… Do you still recommend Directron? I was looking at this base with the following upgrades:
$485 Base System
+_83 Upgrade for Two 1GB DDR2 667
+_30 Upgrade for 250GB Seagate Hard Drive
+105 Upgrade for Vista Home Premium on DVD
===========================================
$703 TOTAL before taxes and shipping
This is very comparable to the price I get out of Dell, except it has a better processor, power supply, and GFX card. It deeply upsets me that the OS is such a large chunk of the price. Perhaps I should stick with XP (I have the disc already)? Is there any way to get it cheaper without sacrificing more performance?
By Catnipped, 03/27/2007 @ 1:26 pm
I’d say just go with XP unless you really really want Vista. It is nicer looking thats about it. That and it eats up power like crazy. Besides, if you are gonna spend the money for a OS, you might as well buy a Dell, as they don’t charge as much for it I think. I bought 3 computers from Dell over the years and I never had any problems with it. Are you sure it is your motherboard that is fried? Could be your graphics card, one of the machine here at work just did that yesterday, and it is basically teh same thing, long beeps and no signal to the monitor. But it turns on.
By Kabitzin, 03/27/2007 @ 1:39 pm
It is kinda disturbing to hear this criticism of the OS coming from you… I am thinking I will skip out on Vista for now, and then when I get it, at least it will be cheaper.
I had a friend who does tech support help me through some diagnostics, and removing the RAM and/or the GFX card had no effect on the beeps.
By Kungfucius, 03/27/2007 @ 1:46 pm
I’ll second Catnipped’s suggestion. If you have a spare graphics card lying around, take your current one out and put the other one in and see if it’ll boot. I’ve had 2 electrical storms take out the graphics card in 2 computers but leave everything else intact.
As for building vs buying from Dell, I think it’s at the point where the savings you get from building a computer isn’t that significant anymore. Unless you’re really anal about specific parts and want to OMGOVERCLOCK your PC, buying from Dell isn’t that bad. As for the power supply issue, the quality is more important than the claimed wattage it outputs, and I think I read somewhere that Dell actually uses pretty high quality power supplies, so upgrading your graphics card later probably shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
By Kabitzin, 03/27/2007 @ 2:01 pm
I ran it through Dell, and to get a similar model, the price is almost the same (~$740) except that I don’t have the option of not taking Vista, the GFX card is significantly worse, and I think the processor is a bit slower (Intel E6300 Core 2 Duo 1.86GHz vs. AMD Athlonâ„¢ 64 3200+).
I definitely DO NOT want to build my own system, I just want to customize it to have certain components. I don’t plan to do any overclocking.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a spare graphics card, but even with the GFX card removed, the series of beeps was the same.
By Catnipped, 03/27/2007 @ 3:19 pm
for OS, if you are not in a hurry I suggest you wait til the dx10 cards are affordable, then get it with Vista, this way you will get the most out of both, and you know they will patch this thing up like crazy for the next couple months anyway.
I still think you should try putting in a different graphics card just for test. Can’t hurt.
By Ender, 03/27/2007 @ 8:49 pm
I think Kung and Catnip’s suggestion is worth a shot. Removing critical components isn’t a good test of whether a computer is broken; you actually have to replace them to negate their culpability.
Alternatively, since you don’t have a spare gfx card, it might be easier just to plug your Radeon into someone else’s computer and check if it works.
By the way, many computers will not start if the keyboard connection is loose (on the offchance that you were using your mouse like a rat-flail…)
By Kabitzin, 03/27/2007 @ 9:26 pm
The problem is that I can’t really check the GFX card. It is an AGP card, and no other computer in the house has an AGP slot. Additionally, I do not own any other AGP GFX cards…
Also, my mouse is wireless, and thus cannot be rat-flailed.