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Dead motherboard? Tricky challenge!!!

vanesaurus
Level 7
Hi guys!

My computer died and I'm not sure what should I do now. I don't really know that much about computers, I'm new in my city, all my friends that have solid knowledge on this are far way and trying to help me via Skype or Ventrilo, but we are all out of solutions. Sorry for my mistakes, english is not my mother tongue.

Config:
Motherboard: ASUS Crosshair IV Formula
Video: AMD ATI FirePro V4800
Hard drive: Western Digital Caviar Green 640GB 64MB Cache SATA
Memory: Kingston 4 GB DDR3
CPU: i really don't remember but it's not bad
Power supply: Thermaltake Tr2 tx 750
Case: Thermaltake Element G

About a month ago the cpu fan started to sound forced. I opened the case, cleaned the dust as good as I could without touching too much, checked for obstacles but I didn't found nothing. I was told that it was normal that this generic fans would go bad and that I would have to change it soon. One day, (i live in Rome and it is summer, so it was a specially hot day, even with air conditioning), about a week ago, my computer just turned off. I wasn't doing anything special, working in Illustrator (I had just finished a lol game though). I turned it on again, and after one minute or so, it turned off again. All the lights in the motherboard where on, (leds and stuff), but nothing happened. At some point I recall moving the case and then the lights went off too, and it wouldn't turn off (had to power down the power supply).

I though that the heat might have been too much and didn't turn it on until next day, but with the same results. I opened it, and it had a red light in the motherboard that said CPU (according to the Crosshair manual, it is the cpu that is giving problem). But since it could turn on and load windows, even open a program (all that you could do under one minute), I figured I could be some heating problem, and I took apart the fan, cleaned it (it had a rug of dust, which explains the forced sound), cleaned the plates with clean dry cloth, applied thermal paste. When I tried to turn it on again, the motherboard turned on the lights of start and reset, but they fainted inmediately. Nothing ever came out of it again. I cleaned everything of dust, even the fan of the video card. I also checked the memories but the computer would turn on just the same, and turn off eventually. I tried turning it on without video card and nothing. The hard drive is ok because i tested it in another computer. There are no damaged or burned components in the motherboard. The power source didn't smell burnt ever, or make a sound or anything. Just silence.

I checked my power supply with an old machine and it didn't work. I bought a cheap one to test my computer, and same result: lights on the motherboard turned on briefly and then fainted. No sound, nothing.

Can someone help me? I'm up to anything that could save my beloved motherboard!!!

Thanks!
Vanessa
5,540 Views
4 REPLIES 4

sectionate
Level 12
Do you know if your cpu is am3 or am3+? If you removed your cpu and then have issues booting you might have bent a few pins on the cpu.
Crosshair IV 1090T 4093.7 - Crosshair V FX - 8350 Batch # 1243PGT 4.422MHz - 4816.08 MHz 1.5v - GSKILL F3-14900CL9D-8GBSR(x2)1087.6 11-12-10 1.5volts - ViewSonic VX2439wm - Acer GD235HZ - SyncMaster P2350 - PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 8GBD5-3DH/OC - Current Mode: 5760 x 1080 - (retired) ASUS GTX660DC2O2GD5 - Nvidia 3D Vision Wired - HAF 932 - Corsair HX850 - Corsair H100i - latest quakelive.com - Day thirteen 60fps - as always I'm powered by Futurelooks.com

Myk_SilentShado
Level 15
Remove absolutely everything from your case and give it a good clean out, you might have dust under your motherboard short circuiting it.

Mattclh
Level 7
Also if you bought a cheap power supply that could now be an issue as the quality on some are really bad 😞
Asus Crosshair Iv extreme, Pii x6 965 BE , NH-D14, 8 Gb vengeance 1600Mhz 9-9-9-24, XFX 5870 eyefinity 6 edition 2GB, OCZ Mod x stream pro 700w, OCZ Agility3 120g, 1TB samsung, 320Gb WD , Inwin dragon rider.

Well, I never actually took out the cpu, just the fan, and everything is very clean. I tried to turn it on outside the case, placing it over a box and connecting: old power supply, one memory, cpu and nothing. Switched to the new power supply, nothing again. The only thing that happens is that the power and reset buttons light up for a second and then turn off. Then, it's not a short circuit with the case.

I live in Rome, so the idea of sending it to technical support is basically out of the question since I bought it in the usa. Specially when I'm not even sure it's the motherboard.

Ideas?