Ideas to trouble shoot a loopy computer?

[delta_charlie]

Hi all, I had a PC that was working fine until I tried to do a net install of a Linux distro when a bad thunderstorm blew in and knocked out the power. Don't know if there was a surge as nothing else in the house had any problems. The trouble now is the computer will not stay up if trying to install an OS. (tried 3 different - just blacks out and goes back to a reboot. Something strange I found is it will boot a Ubuntu CD and will run the memtest program. The memory passed the test so I would think the CPU and memory is ok. The DVD and the HD were removed and installed in another computer and a dual boot Windows 7 and Fedora 17 were installed with no trouble. Might it be a bad MB? What could go bad on a MB that would still allow a memtest to run? Thanks for any ideas, DC

 

[Bongu]

Power spikes are good for killing the power supply on a PC. Have you tested all the outputs on it yet?

Sent from my Timex Sinclair using SatelliteGuys

 

[mike123abc]

Check to be sure the aux power connector on the memory board for the CPU is in place.

Check to be sure the CPU fan is spinning, and properly seated

Sounds like a power or heat issue. Too much draw when all the CPU is being used (power connector) or the CPU overheats when stressed.

 

[delta_charlie]

Power spikes are good for killing the power supply on a PC. Have you tested all the outputs on it yet? Sent from my Timex Sinclair using SatelliteGuys

Hi, thanks for the reply. Did not think of testing it but it does seem like a good idea. What's the best way to test it? Use a DVM and back probe the MB power conector while the computer is running and adding a load to see if it the voltage drops and the computer blacks out? I think there is suppose to be 12 and 5 volts DC. Any idea of what the range should be? I guess it could also be leaking a bit of AC? What would be a good way to test for that? Thanks, DC

 

[delta_charlie]

Hi, thanks for the reply. Did not think of testing it but it does seem like a good idea. What's the best way to test it? Use a DVM and back probe the MB power conector while the computer is running and adding a load to see if it the voltage drops and the computer blacks out? I think there is suppose to be 12 and 5 volts DC. Any idea of what the range should be? I guess it could also be leaking a bit of AC? What would be a good way to test for that? Thanks, DC

Looks like I just answered my own question by searching with google on "testing computer power supply with multimeter" Lots of youtube videos and one of the better links I found. How To Manually Test a Power Supply With a Multimeter Will give it a go when I get the time. Hope this helps someone, DC

 

[harshness]

It could be lots of things. Memory tests aren't particularly exhaustive when it comes to testing BIOS or CPU function.

Something else that loves to be mysterious is the display system. If there's a problem with the display RAM, you might not see it with just a console up. Windows in particular, is pretty inextricably tied to your display hardware and if something goes wrong there, many spooky things can happen (or not happen).

 

[avg1joe]

Sometimes an old version of Puppy Linux on cd that runs completely in memory is handy for testing computer components without a hard drive hooked up at all. Other linux live cds may work but I'm more familiar with Puppy.

Have you tried a different hard drive or tried deleting all partitions or wiping the hard drive and starting over?