Dead PC - Fixed :-)

[scotherns]

My PC was 100% solid until now, not a single crash (over 3 months). I was just running Firefox when it went black screen (instant off, no errors, noises, or other warning).

It failed to boot when case power button pressed.

Inside the case:

No obvious shorts, free of dust.
Re-seated all component and cable connections I can see - still won't boot.
A green power light on motherboard is illuminated - so there is at least some power.
If I press the power button on case, the APS LED on motherboard flashes blue (just once, not continuously). Case fan spins for fraction of a second.

No post, no beep, no moving fans, no further sign of life. Im assuming its the PSU or the motherboard, but I don't know what to try next.

I put in an on-line query request this morning, but I was kind of expecting an automated response saying it was logged or something, but I've heard nothing so far (maybe I mangled my e-mail address). It's only a couple of hours, so I'm not worried yet :-)

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

Steve

[Ben @ Scan]

Hi scotherns

Please email your build number or invoice number to systemsupport@scan.co.uk I have had a look through todays OLQs and cant find any outstanding that may apply to you as yet

Regards

Ben

[scotherns]

OK, Done.

[Ben @ Scan]

Hi

Our engineer has received a PSU today and will be in touch to arrange a visit with you

Regards

Ben

[scotherns]

My PC is now up and running again. The engineer was available last week (it would have been fixed within two days), but I wasn't available until yesterday.

The Corsair 600W PSU was swapped for a Coolermaster GX Bronze 650W. A slight upgrade, but runs a bit noisier (nothing major, it's still much quieter than my last PC).

The cable routing inside is just as pretty as it was originally :-)

Excellent service, I'm very happy with the way Scan handled this.

Cheers,

Steve

[scotherns]

The new power supply has now begun to get noisier. It's no longer a constant hum, it rises and falls - it's very noticable. The original system was very quiet - I chose all the components specifically to get a low noise system (whats the point in my buying 3 super quiet fans if the power supply now drowns them all out?)

Is there anything I can to fix this? Or do I just need a better quality power supply?

[Ben @ Scan]

Hi

We replaced the 600 Watt Corsair with a 650 Watt Coolermaster as the 600s were out of stock at the time and these are slightly louder, please confirm if you need another onsite to replace the PSU for another 600 Watt model and we will arrange this for you

Regards

Ben

[scotherns]

Hi Ben,

A replacement would be excellent, thanks very much!

I don't mind if it is 600 or 650 watt, but it needs to be good quality and quiet (both at least as good as the original) :-)

The sound from the coolermaster is very inconsistant - sometimes its fine (even under reasonable load), and other times it sounds as if its about to die (rising and failing loud noise, very distracting).

What are you likely to replace it with? I've heard that there have been a lot of failures with the Corsiar 600's. I like to know as much as I can about the inside of my PC's :-) If there is a 600 or 650 supply that you recommend that costs more but is quieter and more reliable, then I would be happy to pay the difference.

Cheers,

Steve

[Ben @ Scan]

Hi

I have arranged to send a PSU to the engineer and it will be the Antect 620 Watt

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/620w-...et-fan-atx-v23

Regards

Ben

[scotherns]

Hi Ben,

that sounds perfect, thanks very much for this.

Cheers,

Steve

[Ben @ Scan]

Hi Steve

Alistair will be in touch to swap the PSU next week

Regards

Ben

[scotherns]

Hi Ben,

new power supply fitted, and sounds much better. Next question - I have been getting BSODs (under fairly light loads, not running any heavy games or anything). Its a STOP 0x0000124 error. I never got these with the original power supply, but got a lot with the first replacement (which makes me think it is the overclocking, and that the PSU can't provide enough constant power). I was hoping the new one would fix this, but got another today.

The event log has the following events that seem relevant:

1)The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x00000124 (0x0000000000000000, 0xfffffa8009c4c028, 0x00000000be200000, 0x000000000005110a). A dump was saved in: C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP. Report Id: 102711-7956-01.

2) The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

So, do you think this is likely to be the overclocking, or something else? I can send you the minidump if you think this is likely to help (the last line is 'Probably caused by : hardware').

How do I go about removing the overclocking to see if this helps?

Cheers,

Steve

[Rob @ Scan]

Hi Steve,

If you could send the the contents of your C:/Windows/minidump folder to systemsupport@scan.co.uk Please include your invoice / build no. and a link to this thread

We'll be able to look at your settings and see if any tweaks are needed tomorrow

If you want to load the standard profile for now, hit del on startup to enter the BIOS, then if its a gigabyte board press F12 to load from profile and select the standard profile.

If it's an Asus board in the BIOS, go to advanced mode then go to Tools and then O.C profiles and "load from" profile 1 (standard)

Then F10 to save and exit

Regards,

Rob

[scotherns]

No problem, minidump files sent. I have an MSI board, but I'll look for somethign similar to the gigabyte/Asus advice in the bios.

Cheers,

Steve

[Rob @ Scan]

Hi Steve,

Received your mail this morning.

I've mailed you directly through your query with some amended settings and instructions on changing profiles for the MSI board.

Let us know how you get on!

Regards,
Rob

[scotherns]

So far, so good - not a single BSOD since I applied your changes. I'll let you know if any do occur, but the changes have certainly helped a lot.

Thanks!

Steve