PC Showing No Signal!

Bradley Lind

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Hey guys,
Thank you for taking the time to read my post!

Last night I left my PC on, to awake to find it was off, and wasn't displaying anything on the screen.
Naturally I restarted the computer, and checked the PC's cables were all connected to no avail.

I then tested the monitor with my laptop finding that the monitor worked perfectly, leaving the fault to be down to the computer.
I then realised that when starting the computer, no bleeps could be heard. I then began performing a bleep test on the PC, so I decided to open it up, and remove the RAM so that it would (or should at least) make the bleep/s, but no sound emerged.

Not hearing the bleeps made me instantly assume that the motherboard must've been fried by a power surge as that is what should normally make the sounds, right?
(Frequent in my household, 6 people in a houseshare, 7 fridge freezers, an electric boiler, electric power shower, 5 TV's, 2 PC's, 6 laptops, godknows how many mobiles, all on one circuit. I know that is ridiculous, direct your remarks to my landlord.).

Thinking that it had then been a power surge I immediately left to my local Novatech, to buy a replacement motherboard (the exact same model), I have now spent the entire day re-building my pc around this new motherboard in a new case and STILL it fails to work AND the still no beeps (Must be a silent board).

I have tried the following:
- Removing the power cord and holding the power button for 40 seconds
- Removing the CD drive
- Disconnecting the HDD (To see the BIOS, which still didnt show)
- Removing the graphics card
- Leaving the unit alone for half an hour
- Removing the CD drive/HDD/graphics card all together

My PC often (Before last night) disconnects random parts of itself such as a USB device or the graphics card, I believe this is down to not enough system power, but the PSU couldnt be the cause of this error could it? Even with so much removed?

Just to clarify, the monitor shows NO sign of anything, no manufacturers logo, no BIOS, nothing; however the fans/HDD/LED's on the case all still work.

My motherboard:
http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/motherboards/intelsocket1155/h61chipsetmicroatx/h61m-p31w8.html

The problem first occured it was put into a 5 gang extention lead along with the monitor, fridge and my mobile phone, with one slot to spare.

The PC was a pre-built PC World, 'Advent' model which I got whilst I was working at the store (was employed by PC World/Currys for about 4 months).
I have since changed a few of the parts, but haven't changed the PSU yet
It's a 450watt "Channel Well Technology" PSU which I imagine isn't exactly the best of PSU's.

No surge protector on my line
I have no spare PC's to test with, only a laptop....so is there a way to test it using this PC?

Also, I am unsure of what category this kind of question should be under as I am yet to determine the source of the problem, I am sure if it is in the wrong catagory, the mods will move it for me :)

Thanks everyone! :)
Oh, and lastly, this was my specs (I took this about a month before it had the error, but hadnt changed any specs since.)

FNmrkEv.png
 
Since you've changed the motherboard, I can only think it's the PSU that's gone belly up. If it's faulty well it's faulty, removing any number of components to lighten the load isn't going to change that if it's 12v rails have failed.

Replace the PSU and get yourself a surge-protection powerstrip (ie a brick of multiple power sockets). I wouldn't dream of running my PC equipment without one.
 

Bradley Lind

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I'm a uni student, so today, having an IT class I asked my IT professor if he had a multimeter I could borrow to test the power supply as I thought it was broken, he walked out the room and returned with a brand new PSU in box, handed it to me and told me that I could have it.
Works great!
Installed it about 20 mins ago....however for the first 10 mins or so the disk usage was at 100%?
Now its on about 30-40% or so at a steady rate, with the top disk resource hogger being the 'Service Host' processes I have?
And my my RAM is on 45% when all I have open is Chrome, is this normal for my specs?

I honestly don't bother paying too much attention to those statistics unless I'm lagging hard, I have an error or am trying to find a viruses process to terminate then delete it
 

westom

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Learn from the experience. First, you did shotgunning. Kept replacing good parts until something worked. You did not identify the problem in but a minute. Then only replace the defective part. An example of why the better informed say, "Work smarter; not harder."

Second, most IT people have no idea how hardware and electricity works. So shotgunning is their only diagnostic method.

Third, you never learned what was defective. You do not know what that defect was. And do not know if you only cured a symptom. A consumer magazine created defects in computer. Then took that computer to repair shops. Most only replaced the PSU and never fixed the defect.

And finally, plugging a computer into a surge protector does nothing for what may have been your defect. And in some cases can even make future damage easier. A completely different device, also called a surge protector, is for those rare transients (maybe one every seven years) that might cause appliance damage. Not just to a cojmputer. Potentially to anything in the house. Informed IT people install that other solution and do not waste money on power strip protectors ... that do not even claim to protect from typically destructive surges. But again, so many recommendations are based only in hearsay and not in how electricity really works.

One final point. Normal is for a defective supply to still boot and run a computer. Only a meter can identify that defect. Using a meter now to confirm that supply probably will not cause crashes month or years from now can also teach better diagnostic knowledge.
 

Bradley Lind

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Well there's know way I could've done anything other than 'shotgunning' as I didnt have a multimeter to test the PSU, and my motherboard didnt have a 'beeping' feature installed, so there was no way of me identifying the problem any sooner...but I'm just glad the problem was solved.

As for the "IT people" comment, I agree with you 100%, a majority of my teachers and professors all throughout my education seem to have little to no complex knowledge of hardware, it is the same with myself.
If I were able to have reached a BIOS screen, I have no problems with troubleshooting, but once the screen had gone, I was lost for what to do.....

Pretty bad for me considering I'm actually an Engineering student aswell.

Since the PC has been repaired I have run various programs to search for defects on the system, checking the hardware itself and nothing has been shown to be wrong; as for the slowness I was experiencing on my PC, I updated all of my drivers and installed all of windows updates, and have since regained the speed of my computer.

So is there any particular surge protector that anyone would then recommend? I have been looking online into purchasing one, but haven't found one I deem to be reliable looking.
 

westom

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A power controller (that controls the PSU) also decides when a CPU is permitted to execute. If the CPU does not execute, then no BIOS can exist and no beeps can occur.

Multimeters are ubrquitous. Sold in big box hardware stores for about the cost of a hammer. Sold in Walmart for $14. £7 in Maplin. Even $5 some tool stores..

BTW, also review the system 'event' logs. Windows detects defects. Logs the information. And then works around the problem.

Surge protectors adjacent to appliances do not claim to avert damage from destructive types of surges. In facilities that cannot have damage, those protectors are not used. Protection means no surge current is anywhere inside a building. Facilities that suffer even direct lightning strikes without damage use a less expensive and well proven 'whole house' solution.

Surges are a current source. That means voltage increases as necessary so that the current will still flow. Any protector that tries to block or absorb that surge simply suffers a voltage increase. Voltage increases as necessary to blow through that ineffective solution.

A completely different 'whole house' solution means current connects to earth without ever entering a building. Then hundreds of thousands of joules dissipate harmlessly outside without even damaging the protector.

Key to protection is the most miportant component; that absorbs energy. Single point earth ground. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground. That means better earthing AND a low impedance (ie 'less than 10 foot') connection. That is how protection was done even 100 years ago.