Computer Help

[Scrambled]

I have have 2 computers die with in a month apart Too bad it was 2 months ago.

I have been to busy on other projects to try to trouble shoot the problem, but now I have a spare day or 2 to try to fix them.

Does anyone have an idea where to start?

The computers are

Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&amp...amp;modelmenu=1
The processor is an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Processor Socket 939

Where is the best place to start trouble shooting? I know the power supply on the first one is good, one fan is spinning, and a green led is lit on the board.


I am not to worried about the PCs themselves, I just need the info off of the hard drives.



Any ideas???



Steve

 

[tmbrown97]

We'd need more info on the symptoms if you want to get them booted up again... how far do they go (do you see POST (all the stuff on the black screen during bootup or a manufacturer's logo) - does it get to windows but blue-screen, or what does it do? Any signs of life at all? Just because you see a light doesn't guarantee the power supply is good - without a tester you really don't know for sure. I'd say try one out of another computer, but that may not be an option if they're both fried!

If your ONLY interest is the data and you're moving to a new machine, I'd say hit the local electronics stores and get an adapter like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16812816014 - it'll let you plug pretty much any hard drive into any computer via USB so you can copy your data onto a new computer without having to deal with installing the drive.

 

[Monk]

Where is the best place to start trouble shooting? I know the power supply on the first one is good, one fan is spinning, and a green led is lit on the board.

Steve

Fans are 12V and the green light probably indicates a good 5v - Probably means a good power supply - The story is in the POST if it even does that...? I assume the drives can be heard to spin up?

 

[Scrambled]

as far as the POST goes, I only get 1 beep and that is it.

Then black screen, and I can hear the drives spin.

That is it


Thanks


Steve

 

[IVB]

if you have any other machines, it'd be simplest to just plug the drives in there to get the data off.

 

[intozwave]

ASUS uses AMI Bios:

1 Beep - Memory refresh timer error

Reseat the memory.

Replace the system memory with new or known-good memory modules.

Check that the video card is seated

 

[Scrambled]

time for an update--

I have not had much luck with the computer that had the single post beep , but I fixed the dead one.

The dead one made no noise, and there was a lowly green LED on the mother board that would work some times and then fade out.

I checked the wiring, nothing. Checked the voltage going to the powersupply, and it had 120 volts. Checked the output of the power supply-- nothing.

So I changed the power supply. Still did not work.

Just by chance, I touched the short cable that goes from the back of the case to the power supply, and the computer comes to life.

The short cable must have a broken wire inside.


So one down, one to go!


Steve

 

[beelzerob]

If your ONLY interest is the data and you're moving to a new machine, I'd say hit the local electronics stores and get an adapter like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16812816014 - it'll let you plug pretty much any hard drive into any computer via USB so you can copy your data onto a new computer without having to deal with installing the drive.

Ya, I've got one of these (though not this one..it sure got bad reviews) and they're great. It's made all of my old spare HD's into USB drives, which there is almost always a use for.

 

[damage]

i have a bunch of those usb-ide adapters and these racks with removable trays like this http://www.amazon.com/Genica-Mobile-Rack-R...k/dp/B000FA0W80

i mount the racks in all my pc cases, connect it to an ide-usb cable and route that out of the pc. i've got a bunch of ide drives in trays that are now 'hot swappable' sorta. i don't have to deal with 10 different wall warts for 10 different external drives and i don't have to drag around the power supply to plug in my drives when i do backups for offsite storage. when i'm done, i take the tray out and store it.

 

[beelzerob]

So one of your forms of backup is to copy to a harddrive and use that for the "permanent" storage? I had considered doing that, as it's easier and faster than, say, DVD burning, and I've got plenty of spare hard drives laying around. But how well does that rate on the risk scale, as far as safety of the data? One dropped disk, and it's gone?

 

[damage]

So one of your forms of backup is to copy to a harddrive and use that for the "permanent" storage? I had considered doing that, as it's easier and faster than, say, DVD burning, and I've got plenty of spare hard drives laying around. But how well does that rate on the risk scale, as far as safety of the data? One dropped disk, and it's gone?

it's not my only backup. my main server is backed up daily to another drive inside it. everything gets backed up to a nas every other day, to a 2nd nas every week. monthly backup goes on one of these trays and goes offsite. all my HA scripts, source code & development stuff also goes to mozy daily.

if i did it to dvd then i'd never do backups because i don't have time to burn 200GB of dvds - so even if i backed up to just the trays - at least i'd back up.