I’m so flipping frustrated right now I could just scream. Long story short my PC has been out of commission since Feb 7th. Randomly shut off and never turned back on. Since it was under warranty (through the worst company ever apparently), I’ve been trying to get it fixed. At this point I’ve replaced the motherboard, the cpu, and the power supply. When I turn the computer on, I get only the fans turning on. Nothing else. No bios on the screen, no movement by the hard drive, nothing. I’ve tested the ram sticks to make sure they’re not bad. When I call the company, they finally just said to send the entire computer in. Which, of course, I have to pay for. Is there ANYTHING I can try to get this thing working? I don’t even know what else they could possibly replace. :mad:
The annoying part is that most modern ready-built computers do away with the motherboard speaker/buzzer for some reason. When you have a problem before any BIOS prompt, typically the MB sends signals to that speaker to tell you exactly what the problem is (provided you have the manual to interpret the beeps and boops). Without that bit of data, it’s hard to diagnose what the exact problem is. If you have the manual for your MB (both to learn where the speaker port is, and what the beeps mean) and an old speaker lying around somewhere, that’s where I would start.
I plugged the speakers into the computer in the speaker port and turned them up max and listened but nothing. 
If the machine does not display any initial “splash screen” It is hardware, period.
I had a very frustrating couple months which turned out to be part of a crap batch of power supplies.
I have seen a couple machines with weird issues like case shorts that I was unable to track down.
Well, on the computer I just fixed, it turned out to be RAM. I think you should start by taking out everything and slowly adding them back. Try just the motherboard and PSU first, no drives, cards or RAM. Are you comfortable with disassembling your computer?
Not an actual set of speakers, a “case speaker” - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812201032
Hooks up to a specific 4-pin header off the motherboard, and basically does nothing but beep once or twice during normal startup, or beep a whole lot if there are issues.
Pro tip, unless the CPU is part of a brand new build or you tried to take the CPU out and damaged it, the CPU is basically never bad. Power supplies, Motherboard, RAM, some kind of short/bad insertion in something else, are the most likely in that order on a no-start IMHO.
Well, I ordered one of the speakers. It should be here sometime next week. I’ve tried putting everything back together again, checked for anything that might be causing a short. I did notice that it sounds like the hard drive is being accessed, so I’m not sure if that’s a good sign or a bad sign. I guess I’ll have to wait for the speaker. I’m just so frustrated with everything. This company has provided THE worst customer service/technical support I’ve ever experienced. EVER. It’s horrendous.
Here’s a good step by step procedure to pretty much check everything.
Er… have you tried a different monitor? The HD is being accessed? Does the monitor do ANYTHING?
What you might want, if you can borrow or purchase them quickly and cheaply enough to matter, is a power supply tester and a POST card:
Old joke: Q: how many tries does it take an IBM field support team to replace a malfunctioning disk drive? A: it depends on how many defective disk drives they’ve brought with them.
Is this normal in the USA?
The OP bought a new computer which turned out faulty. .Ok stuff happens
He contacts the supplier and they say send it back - but you pay the shipping. Really?
Then, to avoid paying shipping, he starts rooting about inside. Would this not void the warranty?
Now, instead of taking it to someone who knows about this stuff, and has the tools and equipment to diagnose it, he is setting about it with a screwdriver.
Indeed!
I bought a Zoostrorm* desktop PC just over a year ago (the one I’m using now).
After a couple of months it started misbehaving, looked like RAM failure.
Ran MEMTEST86 that confirmed.
Emailed them with the info, computer was collected (FOC) the following day and returned fixed 48 hours later - Zoostorm is a couple of hundred miles from me.
*I had never heard of Zoostorm when I bought it. It has been perfect since the repair.
I always hate generalizations about “the USA” because a lot of people just don’t realize how huge “the USA” is. For one thing, we have thousands of companies that assemble and sell computers.
For what it’s worth, I bought my computer from a company called iBuyPower and my experience was excellent. The 120mm fan in the back stopped running, out of warranty, I called them up and they offered to send replacement fans if I was comfortable installing it myself, then they sent the entire set of fans in the machine, just in case another one failed I’d have spares.
iBuyPower isn’t even very expensive, either.
Don’t assume that the company the OP got their computer from is in the USA.
bob++, I’m trying to fix it myself because I am just DONE with this company. They’re awful and given how long it’s taken to get this far, I’d be lucky to get my computer back in 2 months if I sent it out.
Funny enough that’s the exact company I’m dealing with.
I’m thinking it might be video card (or motherboard if onboard). This is because of the symptom “hard drive clicking”.
You might be mistaken, though, hard drives can make noise even if they are not being accessed.
Desktop computers are, relatively speaking, easy and cheap to fix. But what you really need to diagnose the problems quickly are two tools, one of which you don’t have.
A phillips screwdriver
Another desktop computer of a similar vintage that works.
With the second computer, diagnosis is trivial. Just start yanking parts from the broken machine and plugging them into the working one. You’ll find the problem the moment you plug in a part and the second machine fails to work.
Then you just send that part back to the manufacturer (if under warranty) or to the garbage if not. Good parts have a 3 year warranty, so either the replacement just costs shipping, or it’s out of warranty and it’s probably cheap.
This is a heckuva lot easier than repairing your car -> but you do need some tools and a little experience.
Could it be something as simple as a bad power switch?
Update. Got the speaker for the mb. Nothing. No beeps. Was able to access the hard drive with another computer, so it doesn’t seem to be the problem. I just don’t know what else to do
You said you replaced the CPU.
Are you sure that the CPU is in the socket correctly (with no bent pins)?
Yes I’ve triple checked that. Made sure the arrows match. I just removed the mb from the case just to see if there was a short somewhere. Fans spun, no beeps though. Even without any ram. Thought maybe my PSU was bad after all. Tried an alternate. Fan spun for a sec then stopped. Now plugging in the first psu, fan won’t spin at all. FML.