Need any help?

[NV-MY-VT]

I'm new to JC, and the way I see it is, I get a fair bit out of this site. I don't really know much about cars, so ever opportunity to learn I take.

But what I DO know about is computers. I'm working fulltime as a network administrator, I have training in building of home networks, PCs, laptops, servers, websites....bits of everything really.

So to give back to the JC community, I'm happy to answer your questions, I don't know everything, but If I can help, I will!

Cheers guys, look forward to hearing from you!.

[savage1987]

As luck would have it I DO in fact need help.

My gaming PC is a $2500 vegetable right now, will be closer to a $3000 vegetable once the next batch of parts arrive


I need to do some more testing with removing components, but at the moment it looks like a graphics problem.

Worked fine til I decided to drive it sydney-townsville in the back of the car as a complete tower. I am really hoping I haven't killed a 6870 ...


will get stuck into it tomorrow I think, and keep you posted, see if between us we can't nut it out

[NV-MY-VT]

As luck would have it I DO in fact need help.

My gaming PC is a $2500 vegetable right now, will be closer to a $3000 vegetable once the next batch of parts arrive


I need to do some more testing with removing components, but at the moment it looks like a graphics problem.

Worked fine til I decided to drive it sydney-townsville in the back of the car as a complete tower. I am really hoping I haven't killed a 6870 ...


will get stuck into it tomorrow I think, and keep you posted, see if between us we can't nut it out

Look, you sound like you know enough to get yourself by, so all I can really tell you is some issues I've had in the past.

I've seen heaps of transported PC's shake things like RAM, GPU and even CPU's lose. Recheck all your connections inside the case. I mean REALLY check them. Also, sometimes a USB port can have a single bent pin, and will short out with itself. I know it seems stupid, but just check INSIDE your USB ports, make sure they all look identical, nothing bent, nothing out of line.... It can stop a machine from even powering on.

The other thing I've seen is sometimes a screw rattles lose, or even maybe some other conductive thing, and just nicely sits below the motherboard, shorting it out. Often this damages nothing, but stops the system from booting. Try pulling everything out of your case, setting your mobo up on a block of wood, plugging everything in and trying it. Don't bother screwing it down, just give yourself a chance to test parts ect. ect.

Finally, try using diagnostic tools where possible. It saves you the pain and strife of pulling systems apart or replacing the wrong parts. Look into the "Ultimate Boot CD" and "Hierens Boot". Both are feature packed, free tools I use for testing in my workplace.

If you're still getting no joy, post here again and we'll nut it out.

[savage1987]

Look, you sound like you know enough to get yourself by, so all I can really tell you is some issues I've had in the past.

I've seen heaps of transported PC's shake things like RAM, GPU and even CPU's lose. Recheck all your connections inside the case. I mean REALLY check them. Also, sometimes a USB port can have a single bent pin, and will short out with itself. I know it seems stupid, but just check INSIDE your USB ports, make sure they all look identical, nothing bent, nothing out of line.... It can stop a machine from even powering on.

The other thing I've seen is sometimes a screw rattles lose, or even maybe some other conductive thing, and just nicely sits below the motherboard, shorting it out. Often this damages nothing, but stops the system from booting. Try pulling everything out of your case, setting your mobo up on a block of wood, plugging everything in and trying it. Don't bother screwing it down, just give yourself a chance to test parts ect. ect.

Finally, try using diagnostic tools where possible. It saves you the pain and strife of pulling systems apart or replacing the wrong parts. Look into the "Ultimate Boot CD" and "Hierens Boot". Both are feature packed, free tools I use for testing in my workplace.

If you're still getting no joy, post here again and we'll nut it out.

Shaking loose seems to have been a winner .. I took out the cards and unplugged the storage HDD to go back to basics. Testing each card independently showed they were OK, testing in crossfire went fine, and plugging the HDD back in didn't upset the system either.

Should have done this months ago!!!


USB pins bent: I have actually had this issue before in a PC I bought cheap, wouldn't power on and had me stumped. Went to check all the plugs for the front panel were correct and one felt warm!! Alarm bells rang and indeed a bent/broken USB socket in the front was the culprit. Easy fix, although the HDD had also failed in that one .. Caviar Black fixed that up nicely



Feeling pretty happy I didn't have to go to the extent of bench testing the pc outside of its case - it took me the best part of a full day to run the wiring how I wanted it in there in the first place!!


cheers
sam

[NV-MY-VT]

Good man, I'm happy that helped.

yeah, taking everything out can be a pain, but I mean, worst case scenario, you take out everything and it allows you to conclusively eliminate what is still working or not working, potentially saving you hundreds of $$$.

Anyway, good luck with it all, and any more issues, I'll be watching this thread.

[savage1987]

Startup issue - Windows 7

[NV-MY-VT]

Looked into the above, hope my advice helped.