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Built a computer 2 years ago for my BIL. Nothing extreme. He's not a gamer or anything.
It died. No signal to monitor. I told him to just take it to a computer store - Computer Universe - and they would be able to troubleshoot it and order the parts.
They claimed that "the computer was too old and they wouldn't be able to get the parts".
Obviously, those people are not real technicians. They don't know how to tell what's wrong with it, so they punted.
BIL is going to bring it over and I am going to make some guesses as to what the problem is and replace whatever I think will get it working. I don't know how to troubleshoot power supply and motherboard and etc, but I thought for sure they would know how......
<shrug> Of course. I had a situation with the computer store offshoot of Radio Shack a number of years ago, where something similar was pulled. I used my best Bene Gesserit voice that could be heard throughout the store to explain exactly what their problem were. I was fortunate to get satisfaction before they went out of business. I also saved a number of shoppers from a worse fate.
Friend took laptop to Geek Squad. Never forget the dollar amount she paid. $189. She tells me it's still running bad. I fire it up and in 30 seconds I find... the C drive is completely full.
How do you give a person that computer back and fail to mention that? Did you really not notice?
AND charge them $189.
Kind of sad. Looking through the internet, it doesn't seem like checking power supplies is all that difficult. And if the power supply checks out and all the fans turn on I am going to replace the motherboard. After all, I know the motherboard is not sending a signal of any sort to the monitor.
One note cautioned me to be sure to check the on/off switch, which sometimes goes bad. Good info.
Makes me crazy. The whole reason I built my own computer was because I could update and repair as I needed. Then I built my BIL's because he wanted one like mine without all the crap-ware.
The good thing is, I get to learn computer repair on my BIL's computer. It's a skill that will serve me well, later, I guess.....
1. Power. Check it. Do you have lights on the power back? Any lights come on the MB? If yes, then power is good.
2. Mother Board.. Another quick solution to see if it will post. Hit the power button, do you hear any beeps or did it even beep once? If yes, then your MB is ok but might still have issues depending how many beeps it makes.
3. Do you have a external Video card? If yes, then remove it and use the vga on the MB. If it comes on then you have a bad Video card. Replace it.
But first thing i would do is locate the cmos battery and pull the power. Pull the battery and wait a few mins. Put battery back in it and put the power back on it. This will default it back to factory ( bios)settings in case you had a virus or something was corrupted.
Kind of sad. Looking through the internet, it doesn't seem like checking power supplies is all that difficult. And if the power supply checks out and all the fans turn on I am going to replace the motherboard. After all, I know the motherboard is not sending a signal of any sort to the monitor.
One note cautioned me to be sure to check the on/off switch, which sometimes goes bad. Good info.
Makes me crazy. The whole reason I built my own computer was because I could update and repair as I needed. Then I built my BIL's because he wanted one like mine without all the crap-ware.
The good thing is, I get to learn computer repair on my BIL's computer. It's a skill that will serve me well, later, I guess.....
STILL glad I built my own.
Install a graphics card and see if that works. Could be the on board graphics shot craps.
1. Power. Check it. Do you have lights on the power back? Any lights come on the MB? If yes, then power is good.
2. Mother Board.. Another quick solution to see if it will post. Hit the power button, do you hear any beeps or did it even beep once? If yes, then your MB is ok but might still have issues depending how many beeps it makes.
3. Do you have a external Video card? If yes, then remove it and use the vga on the MB. If it comes on then you have a bad Video card. Replace it.
But first thing i would do is locate the cmos battery and pull the power. Pull the battery and wait a few mins. Put battery back in it and put the power back on it. This will default it back to factory ( bios)settings in case you had a virus or something was corrupted.
Good check list. Thanks.
I got the computer yesterday, but without the monitor. I turned it on anyway, and it seems to power up with fans turning and the proper lights staying on, etc.
No external video card. From his description, he never saw the BIOS menu. Nothing at all, until the monitor said "No Signal".
I'll keep posting here so those of you with experience can guide me.
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