PC build
Printed From: West Coast Fieros
Category: Off Topic
Forum Name: Got something you want to talk about.
Forum Description: General Stuff that is not Fiero related. Life, computers, Just Stuff
URL: http://www.westcoastfieros.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2431
Printed Date: 02 August 2025 at 5:52am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: PC build
Posted By: beken
Subject: PC build
Date Posted: 29 April 2011 at 10:46am
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My 1.8Ghz Pentium PC running Windows XP is getting ready to give up the ghost. So around Christmas last year, I donated $15 for charity and bought an "obsolete" PC from my office. This was a grab bag type of purchase as nobody really knew what was inside other than the harddrive was removed (for security purposes). So I hauled it home, bought a 1TB 7200rpm harddrive and opened up the PC to see what was inside.
Turns out it was a great deal. 3Ghz Pentium D dual core CPU, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, 1GB-heatpipe cooled graphics card, Full ATX sized motherboard, lots of piping for moving air around for cooling, 400W power supply. This turned out to be a fairly highend graphics machine, especially considering this is more than 5 years old. So I installed Win7 Ultimate and this machine was smoking fast. I spent the next month migrating stuff off my old PC over, as well as learning Windows7. ...until one night, I powered on the PC and .... nothing. Then I smelled plastic melting. Turned off everything and went to have a look. I asked IT guy at work and he said likely the power supply as the machine has basically been on 24x7 for at least 5 years. The caps are likely dried out and caused a surge. So I went out and bought a 500W power supply, with mail-in rebate, worked out to $30. Installed it and still....nothing. So started out back-tracking. Seems if I pull the P4 fan control power plug out of the motherboard, the rest of the fans come on so I narrowed it down to either the CPU or the fan control heat sensors on the motherboard. I went down to FreeGeeks and bought another Pentium D processor. At $25, it was a fair deal, though there are more modern CPUs that can be bought for very little more from a store now. I installed the "new" CPU and still nothing, so it must be the MB heat sensors. I asked IT guy at work and he said power supply probably sent a surge at power on. He gave me another PC to mine for parts. As it turned out, the second PC uses 2.5V RAM. The second box did not come with RAM. The first box came with 1.8V RAM which is more common now. So there is nothing I can use out of the second box except maybe some connectors. So yesterday, I went to NCIX to ask if there was a MB available that would use DDR2 533Mhz RAM and an LGA775 socket (for Pentium D). The board also needed to be full sized ATX and preferably have 2 PCI-E16 slots for future repurposing to be a full blown media server. I forgot to mention the box had mountings for RAIDed drives too, and lots of them. NCIX guy quoted me $200 for such a board. Seems boards using DDR2 RAM are becoming pretty rare (and expensive) now. So he offered me a bundle deal. Full ATX board with 2 PCI-E16 slots, Athlon 2.8Ghz Phenon Quad core CPU, heat pipe heatsink and fan, and 4GB of DDR3 RAM for $220 and a $15 mail in rebate. So I've got a pretty good gaming computer for around $300. Well, I haven't built it yet. I have all the parts now. I'll have that done "in my spare time". So when I'm done...first dibs to club members...make an offer of a donation to cancer research. I have 3 Pentium D processors, 2GB of DDR2 RAM (KVR533) at 1.8V, a motherboard with onboard sound and graphics that uses DDR2 2.5V RAM (which I can't find) and a pretty decent box, though not as good as the one I'm keeping. This will all become available when I'm done building the machine. -------------  Beken (aka Ken) - bekentech@westcoastfieros.com Original and still the owner of an 85SE 2M6 4spd |
Replies:
Posted By: Colby
Date Posted: 29 April 2011 at 1:26pm
When I got to the part about $200 for a new motherboard I was thinking, you could get a new DDR3 board and RAM for less. It's nice to hear the guy working there had the same thought.  For reference, I have never had processor die on me. If you know the PSU works and that the RAM is good, it's almost always an issue with the motherboard. ------------- 88 Formula 5 speed |
Posted By: beken
Date Posted: 30 April 2011 at 11:18pm
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The problem was isolating where the fault was on the MB and then trying to come to a conclusion on what would cause that part to go.
If I wasn't trying to learn something out of all of this, I probably would have just gone out and bought a prebuilt PC that would meet my needs. Now I have more than I need and am learning a lot too. It's just not worth rescuing broken PCs anymore, is it? ------------- Beken (aka Ken) - bekentech@westcoastfieros.com Original and still the owner of an 85SE 2M6 4spd |
Posted By: kharmata
Date Posted: 02 May 2011 at 1:00pm
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Did you inspect all the fans in the enclosure, sometimes if
they seize up and stop turning they can overheat and short out the p/s supply. First thing I would want to find out is what caused the burnt plastic stinky. I agree it's not likely the CPU or mainboard is bad but guess anything can happen. Sounds like fun, now get online and try Left 4 Dead 2. great Zombie killing action for sure.  ------------- Kevin 08GSXR1000 |
Posted By: beken
Date Posted: 03 May 2011 at 10:43am
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It is possible that the CPU fan got stuck at start-up. But by the time I realized what was happening, I smelled the plastic smoke already. When I pull out the P4 power connector to the mother board, all the rest of the fans start up. So that indicates the burned out part is the temp sensor either on the motherboard or the Pentium D chip. Replacing the CPU with another one didn't work so that's how I isolated it to the motherboard. ------------- Beken (aka Ken) - bekentech@westcoastfieros.com Original and still the owner of an 85SE 2M6 4spd |
Posted By: kharmata
Date Posted: 03 May 2011 at 11:55am
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...but did you see what was melted? ------------- Kevin 08GSXR1000 |
Posted By: beken
Date Posted: 03 May 2011 at 3:05pm
That's the puzzling part of it. I couldn't find anything obviously burned out. Maybe I should have left it plugged in awhile longer just to make sure something really blew out. ------------- Beken (aka Ken) - bekentech@westcoastfieros.com Original and still the owner of an 85SE 2M6 4spd |
kharmata wrote: