Had the blue screen of death yesterday on my pc. I didnt even know vista did that... Anyway it booted up again ok but crashed during an update from windows and now just doesnt boot at all. Its on and whirring and light is on the keyboard.... Not sure what my options are.... First thing will be to get m vcds laptop out the car so I have normal internet and not using my phone...

Unplug everything from the back and take the battery out from the motherboard for a minute to reset the BIOS. Put it back and try again.

If you're still not getting anywhere, pull out all RAM, hard drives, DVD drives, graphics cards etc (basically just leaving the power connector and the CPU) from the motherboard and try again.

If it beeps at you, then at least there is something. Connect everything back together one by one and see what's causing it to fail.

If with everything disconnected the fans spin up, but nothing else and no error beeps, then generally it's a dead motherboard.

Sounds like dead MOBO then.:( With all disconnected, the power button just starts the fan going and there is nothing, no noise, nothing. :( The board looks to be a N1996 - probably need a new one... Do you think with everything else the same a replacement MOBO will mean the PC will fire up as before? What if I went for a compatible better one?

Generally if you're replacing it with another board of the same chipset, it will boot fine, but it appears to be down to luck as well. Windows will definitely need reactivating though once you've got it to boot.

Having said that I replaced one a few weeks ago with a completely different chipset and Windows 7 just booted fine. All it needed were the new drivers installing and reactivating.

Sounds like dead MOBO then.:( With all disconnected, the power button just starts the fan going and there is nothing, no noise, nothing. :( The board looks to be a N1996 - probably need a new one... Do you think with everything else the same a replacement MOBO will mean the PC will fire up as before? What if I went for a compatible better one?

That ain't the model number Jase, thats some odd code MSI put on all their boards, you'll have to sniff around the board for the correct number

Could be as simple as a power supply not switching one of the rails.

That ain't the model number Jase, thats some odd code MSI put on all their boards, you'll have to sniff around the board for the correct number

Well, I have the board right out the tower now, and removed the whopping big fan and I still can't see it.

Well, I have the board right out the tower now, and removed the whopping big fan and I still can't see it.

Try in between the white pci slots. http://img.hexus.net/v2/news/msi/DiamondB.JPG

Sorry, no idea. Slowly getting used to this laptop as my "home pc" now so might not bother fixing this. Just need a USB keyboard and it would do the same thing. Here's the board:-

Could be as simple as a power supply not switching one of the rails.

+1 That'd be my suggestion. Seen it quite a few times.

After that a card fault, either memory or one of the PCIs or PCI-E

Well, I would ideally like a replacement MOBO. Any ideas people?

I think the chip is a socket 478 one, but of what sort I don't know.

I'd suggest a bit more testing to find out where the problems is.

Can you blag a power supply just to test from someone? No point in buying a new mobo if the psu is toast and vice versa.

Edited 16 September, 201114 yr by Aspman

+1 you don't want to fit a main board and find a faulty psu take a board out as well.

Looking into complete upgrades now... That's the problem with having a sister IT company, they are very knowledgeable about the latest stuff

I am pretty sure the PSU is OK. It fires up and the fan spins smoothly. Just no beeps/bios.

Looking into complete upgrades now... That's the problem with having a sister IT company, they are very knowledgeable about the latest stuff

I am pretty sure the PSU is OK. It fires up and the fan spins smoothly. Just no beeps/bios.

It's quite common. The PSU supplies several different sources of power to the computer. Different rails. Sometimes one can fail with the others being fine, so the fans spin up but nothing else happens. Easy to test if you have another PSU to hand not so easy if you don't. not sure what you would look for with a multi meter.

Possibly a bit late now but you can have a sniff at the back of the PSU. Sometimes you can smell the knackered electronics.

It is a little late, yes

So, possibly the actual board could be OK? What are the chances of failure on the board, compared to the PSU? Would be good to know if I can just replace the PSU as I could attempt to rebuild it with a new PSU and see if it works.

It is a little late, yes

So, possibly the actual board could be OK? What are the chances of failure on the board, compared to the PSU? Would be good to know if I can just replace the PSU as I could attempt to rebuild it with a new PSU and see if it works.

Trouble is a PSU can simply fail on a voltage rail, or if you're unlucky could have short circuited which could damage the board if it's one of the 12v rails. You wont know without taking a punt and trying a new PSU.

The common one to fail is the 5v switching which pumps voltage to the rest of the board preventing switch on.

Well, if I got a decent enough PSU no harm in trying to put together the same PC again (good practise if anything ) as I took loads of pics as I took it apart. I should be able to rebuild it with the same bits, just replacing the PSU. It looks visually OK but I suppose they all do....

. It looks visually OK but I suppose they all do....

Get your nose in it, does it smell acky, like burnt plastic or owt ??

It is a little late, yes

So, possibly the actual board could be OK? What are the chances of failure on the board, compared to the PSU? Would be good to know if I can just replace the PSU as I could attempt to rebuild it with a new PSU and see if it works.

That'd be my guess. I've replaced a lot more PSUs than motherboards. You'll get a reasonable PSU for not too much from Ebuyer or the like.

Even if you find that isn't the problem it can be handy to have a spare or you can flog it on ebay.

There was no smell from the PSU or board, but then neither have been fired up for quite some time, so not sure how long any smells last.

If your motherboard is one of those equipped with a surface mounted LED power-on indicator ? If so, is it lit-up, with the 13 amp plug inserted in a distribution socket (switched on) and the rocker switch on the back of the PSU in the "On" position ?

If not maybe the 13 amp plug fuse and or the PSU internal fuse is blown. Check those for continuity - disconnect the unit from the mains first ! Ideally you'll need a multimeter to do this or at least some fuse wire, a small battery and a spare torch bulb. If they are OK, then test all the circuits for continuity input and output.

I recently had a break in the connection on a moulded 13 amp, 3 pin connector to a laptop charger. From the outside everything looked normal. Only electrical testing showed that there was a break in the line. Saved me a lot of money - all I had to buy was a new lead for £3.50 as opposed to a £50 charger unit.

Some motherboards shut down on start-up because of faulty CPU fans or a lost connection between the fan and the motherboard. As part of the on-board hardware mamagement package, software in the Motherboard bios senses the fan speed and if it detects either zero speed (Lost connection) or speed lower than the minimum set in the BIOS, it won't let the system start. Uusually, in those circumstances, you get power initially and things start to glow and whirr then it suddenly shuts down during an early part of the POST. Quickest way to test is to get a spare fan with an RPM over the known testing threshold and connect that if it starts there's your problem.

Likelihood is in anything over 3-4 years old that one of the circuits in the PSU has gone AWOL. The air circulation fans of these things pull in so much dust that the cooling passages soon become clogged (These are not exemplars of industrial design in side) and the unit overheats and a winding/capacitor fails.

As said, worth doing a bit of electrical testing first to avoid throwing away kit that is in fact perfectly serviceable.

Nick