So I bought a new computer today, and it, uh, failed.

2008-12-15 00:50:38

#1

Spark: liquid fluoride thorium reactor; +874|6940|Canberra, AUS

CPU: Intel Q8200 (not OC'd of course)
Mobo: EP43-DS3
RAM: G-Skill 2x2GB 1066MHZ 5-5-5-15
GPU: Palit ATI Radeon HD4870 1GB
HDD: Samsung 750GB 7200RPM 32MB cache
Case: NZTX Tempest
PSU: Gigabyte 720W (can't remember exact model)

I was gonna get it assembled at the shop, but my brother said "no, I'll do it", so meh.

And guess what?

First thing: Thing starts up fine (like, all the fans come on etc. etc.) but nothing shows up on monitor - it just sits at standby (standby, not 'no signal') We try it again a few times, reseat GPU, different monitor, same result.

I then go to POST test it, I turn it on again, and... a tiny flash of light and a puff of smoke from somewhere on the Mobo. Thing shuts down. Turn it on again: everything works as before, except the CPU fan isn't turning - at all. Mobo seems undamaged.

Gonna take it back tomorrow, get new parts and get the shop to assemble. Kinda annoying, though.

The paradox is only a conflict between reality and your feeling what reality ought to be.
^{~ Richard Feynman}

2008-12-15 01:12:28

#2

CrazeD: Member; +368|6938|Maine

Mobo is dead.

2008-12-15 01:12:59

#3

max: Vela Incident; +1,652|6833|NYC / Hamburg

sounds like something shorted out and later broke

_{once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, " give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404.}

2008-12-15 01:21:25

#4

Catbox: forgiveness; +505|6981

ouch... rma... could be bad moboard? or something was connected incorrectly or loose?

Love is the answer

2008-12-15 01:31:36

#5

Spark: liquid fluoride thorium reactor; +874|6940|Canberra, AUS

[TUF]Catbox wrote:
ouch... rma... could be bad moboard? or something was connected incorrectly or loose?

I'm thinking bad connection, yeah.

The paradox is only a conflict between reality and your feeling what reality ought to be.
^{~ Richard Feynman}

2008-12-15 02:15:46

#6

GC_PaNzerFIN: Work and study @ Technical Uni; +528|6680|Finland

this is why you don't assemble PCs if you don't know what you are doing...

3930K | H100i | RIVF | 16GB DDR3 | GTX 480 | AX750 | 800D | 512GB SSD | 3TB HDD | Xonar DX | W8

2008-12-15 02:17:19

#7

Spark: liquid fluoride thorium reactor; +874|6940|Canberra, AUS

That's... what I told him.

The paradox is only a conflict between reality and your feeling what reality ought to be.
^{~ Richard Feynman}

2008-12-15 02:22:00

#8

CrazeD: Member; +368|6938|Maine

Well you're the one that let him, it's your fault tbh.

2008-12-15 04:25:26

#9

baggs: Member; +732|6470

You aren't the first person to have a component blow up within five minutes of using it and you won't be the last, i wouldn't be so quick to blame anything other than the parts first. Of course, the last time my mate blew something up he said he knew what he was doing, alas i found that he screwed the mobo direct to the chassis...no spacers...at a cost of 3 PSU's.

2008-12-15 06:55:13

#10

BlackKoala: Member; +215|6590

Check to make sure he used the spacers between the board and mobo tray...

2008-12-15 06:59:14

#11

Varegg: Support fanatic :-); +2,206|7075|Nårvei

One should be suspicious when the guy saying he can do it doesn't use the installation manual that comes with the mobo ...

Wait behind the line ..............................................................

2008-12-15 07:20:21

#12

Freezer7Pro: I don't come here a lot anymore.; +1,447|6463|Winland

Varegg wrote:
One should be suspicious when the guy saying he can do it doesn't use the installation manual that comes with the mobo ...

I haven't used a mobo manual for years.

It does seem this guy should have.

The idea of any hi-fi system is to reproduce the source material as faithfully as possible, and to deliberately add distortion to everything you hear (due to amplifier deficiencies) because it sounds 'nice' is simply not high fidelity. If that is what you want to hear then there is no problem with that, but by adding so much additional material (by way of harmonics and intermodulation) you have a tailored sound system, not a hi-fi. - Rod Elliot, ESP

2008-12-15 11:30:05

#13

prototype: Member; +52|6577

best to buy all the components and then take it to a puter shop and pay them 50 bucks to assemble it

that way if they break it you are covered

2008-12-15 19:18:26

#14

Spark: liquid fluoride thorium reactor; +874|6940|Canberra, AUS

It turns out that he didn't know about the second power connector on the CPU. Guy at the shop put it in, and it works.

EDIT: In fact the CPU fan shorted out, hence the flash and smoke. Easily fixed, though.

Last edited by Spark (2008-12-15 19:40:10)

The paradox is only a conflict between reality and your feeling what reality ought to be.
^{~ Richard Feynman}

2008-12-15 20:56:26

#15

CrazeD: Member; +368|6938|Maine

How did you manage to short out the cpu fan?

2008-12-15 21:27:32

#16

Catbox: forgiveness; +505|6981

Spark wrote:
It turns out that he didn't know about the second power connector on the CPU. Guy at the shop put it in, and it works.

EDIT: In fact the CPU fan shorted out, hence the flash and smoke. Easily fixed, though.

that was a stroke of luck... nice that it was just a fan getting zapped... glad it's working now...

Love is the answer

2008-12-15 21:59:28

#17

TopHat01: Limitless; +117|6170|CA

I had a similar issue when installing my new PSU, I forgot about the CPU power plug because it was hidden, I spent an hour pulling my hair out, reseating all the components, seeing the CPU and CPU wasn't doing anything...starting to shit bricks thinking I was out of a computer.

and then, I lol'd.

Check out my YouTube channel

2008-12-16 02:34:37

#18

Spark: liquid fluoride thorium reactor; +874|6940|Canberra, AUS

Yeah, he wasn't particularly pleased with himself when he found out.

Because while my parents forked out the money for the comp, he had to pay for the new fan out of his own pocket

The paradox is only a conflict between reality and your feeling what reality ought to be.
^{~ Richard Feynman}

2008-12-16 03:06:31

#19

CrazeD: Member; +368|6938|Maine

I still want to know how you managed to short out the fan.

2008-12-16 18:51:22

#20

The_Sniper_NM: Official EVGA Fanboy; +94|6379|SC | USA |

jamiet757 wrote:
if you see a small flash of light and a puff of smoke coming from your motherboard, why the hell would you turn it on again? Probably fried the rest of your hardware too.

Fail post is fail

2008-12-16 19:13:34

#21

Brasso: member; +1,549|6896

Freezer7Pro wrote:
Varegg wrote:
One should be suspicious when the guy saying he can do it doesn't use the installation manual that comes with the mobo ...
I haven't used a mobo manual for years.

I use it for the mobo header connectors. Those things are too. Fucking. Small.

edit: and yeah, how could the fan have "shorted" out if it wasn't connected to anything?

Last edited by haffeysucks (2008-12-16 19:14:25)

"people in ny have a general idea of how to drive. one of the pedals goes forward the other one prevents you from dying"

2008-12-16 20:38:35

#22

Spark: liquid fluoride thorium reactor; +874|6940|Canberra, AUS

The_Sniper_NM wrote:
jamiet757 wrote:
if you see a small flash of light and a puff of smoke coming from your motherboard, why the hell would you turn it on again? Probably fried the rest of your hardware too.
Fail post is fail

Indeed, I'm using it now

The paradox is only a conflict between reality and your feeling what reality ought to be.
^{~ Richard Feynman}

2008-12-16 22:47:16

#23

TimmmmaaaaH: Damn, I... had something for this; +725|6705|Brisbane, Australia

Yay! Sparky can come gaem with us again.

https://bf3s.com/sigs/5e6a35c97adb20771c7b713312c0307c23a7a36a.png

2008-12-16 22:49:35

#24

some_random_panda: Flamesuit essential; +454|6656

TimmmmaaaaH wrote:
Yay! Sparky can come gaem with us again.

What gaem though?

2008-12-16 22:53:17

#25

TimmmmaaaaH: Damn, I... had something for this; +725|6705|Brisbane, Australia

some_random_panda wrote:
TimmmmaaaaH wrote:
Yay! Sparky can come gaem with us again.
What gaem though?

Idk, what does Spark play apart from eve?

None of us really have a communal game anymore.

BF2S Forums So I bought a new computer today, and it, uh, failed.

[TUF]Catbox wrote:

Varegg wrote:

Spark wrote:

jamiet757 wrote:

Freezer7Pro wrote:

Varegg wrote:

The_Sniper_NM wrote:

jamiet757 wrote:

TimmmmaaaaH wrote:

some_random_panda wrote:

TimmmmaaaaH wrote:

Board footer