Desktop crash - help

[LPB]

My trusty desktop died the death on Saturday - I suspect it overheated.

The power supply was dead so I replaced that but when I turned it on it runs for about 20 seconds, beeps and then turns itself off.

I suspect its the motherboard or the chip - is there a quick way of finding out if this is the case ?

The motherboard is an Aopen i915 with an Intel P4 socket 775 CPU 3.4 GHZ.

I dont mind buying a new motherboard or chip or even both, although I am told I would have to buy new ram as all the new motherboards take DDR2!

Any ideas from the experts out there would be very much appreciated,
Thanks,
Lloyd.

 

[Deleted account 220427002]

http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

 

[LPB]

That was quick!

Thanks, will work through that tomorrow,
Lloyd.

 

[Mick_rw]

Before you buy a new M/B.....

My trusty desktop died the death on Saturday - I suspect it overheated.

The power supply was dead so I replaced that but when I turned it on it runs for about 20 seconds, beeps and then turns itself off.

I suspect its the motherboard or the chip - is there a quick way of finding out if this is the case ?

The motherboard is an Aopen i915 with an Intel P4 socket 775 CPU 3.4 GHZ.

I dont mind buying a new motherboard or chip or even both, although I am told I would have to buy new ram as all the new motherboards take DDR2!

Any ideas from the experts out there would be very much appreciated,
Thanks,
Lloyd.

check the CPU Heat Sink and fan are completely clear, if the Heat Sink is blocked with a build up of dust and not allowing a free flow of air to remove the heat from the CPU, and check it is fully seated, either of those will cause the problem you are saying is happening....

 

[LPB]

I have followed the checks on the link sent by Tuned and no joy, also the CPU fan is clean and working fine so I assume I am into a new motherboard and chip.

Can someone confirm that by just renewing the board and CPU the system stays the same as before, OS etc.
Thanks,
Lloyd.

 

[Mick_rw]

Points...

I have followed the checks on the link sent by Tuned and no joy, also the CPU fan is clean and working fine so I assume I am into a new motherboard and chip.

Can someone confirm that by just renewing the board and CPU the system stays the same as before, OS etc.
Thanks,
Lloyd.

I assume you are using XP.
Very basic answers here......

I personnaly would not replace the motherboard and CPU as Intel CPU's are pretty relaible and very rarely fail, I have been out to customers who's PC's have been taken out by major power surges and the CPU soldiers on, do one at a time. Stick with 775 socket.

If you replace the motherboard with the same make and model then you will have no problems.

If you replace the motherboard with a different model but with the same chipset you should have no problems with that, may need to reinstall drivers.

If you replace the motherboard with a different model and different chipset then you will need to reinstall the OS using repair mode. If you use repair mode it will delete the old OS but leave all your programs and documents intact and usable.

Replacing the RAM will depend on what motherboard you buy.