PC Just Quit - Rebuild or Replace?

[markmco 22]

Very bad timing. My Alienware FS machine finally quit going to desktop. Just stops responding and requires a power down. It recently stopped rebooting and just stayed powered on (fan running) with no display or side LEDs (Aurora model). At the BIOS level, so I suspect system board.

 

It's a decent machine, about two years old now. 3.4gHz 4900K series i7 CPU, liquid cooled, GTX680, SSD. Mulling over what to do.

 

Part it out? Try replacing the mobo, CPU and video or just get a new jetline systems?

 

I used to keep up with hardware but have lost touch over the years. This system is/was my primary FS system. Don't really have the money, but can't see doing it half way either.

 

Any opinions if this happened to you?

 

Missing my flights already.

[CW46 101]

Had a mother board die and just replaced it with the same model board, it did the job.How much improvement with a new system over what you had? Spend big bucks for a percentage of performance increase or a $100 for a replacement board and back in business.

[mwilk 1,106]

If you know it's the mobo, replace that and upgrade your video card. Your CPU is still serviceable.

[z06z33 763]

Mark, your GPU and CPU should be fine,you probably just need a new mobo or HDD or could be faulty ram. If you want to PM me I can help you trouble shoot it via email or Skype phone call.

[markmco 22]

If you know it's the mobo, replace that and upgrade your video card. Your CPU is still serviceable.

Possible it's power supply or even fried CPU? ...but I strongly suspect mobo.

 

Think it's an Aurora R4, monster sized case which I like. Wondering if Alien/Dell use custom size boards or just ATX? Maybe upgrade mobo, PSU and video.

 

Never dealt with liquid cooling or overclocking. Used to do IT in the 90's, but I think that makes me a dinosaur. A lot of changes since token ring, micro-channel, Warp and Netware 3.12 ; )

[z06z33 763]

Possible it's power supply or even fried CPU? ...but I strongly suspect mobo.

Think it's an Aurora R4, monster sized case which I like. Wondering if Alien/Dell use custom size boards or just ATX? Maybe upgrade mobo, PSU and video.

Never dealt with liquid cooling or overclocking. Used to do IT in the 90's, but I think that makes me a dinosaur. A lot of changes since token ring, micro-channel, Warp and Netware 3.12 ; )

The test I use to see if a board is good is if you pop the ram out and it beeps at you (detecting an error). If it doesn't beep at you then it's the board. The PSU could also be causing you issues.

[wwdavis 44]

A leak from the liquid cooler hose onto the motherboard shorted it out and the depleted cooler tank fried the cpu 3 days ago on my MSI Z97 / I7-4790 computer.It had been shutting down by itself lately. I upgraded to a MSI X99 and a 5930 cpu and 128 gigsDDR4 ram. I had planned to upgrade it later next year. My computer decided it was time now!! I got everything up and working last night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bill Davis

[martin-w 3,235]

PSU testers are dirt cheap, do a great job and available on Amazon. I've used mine many times.

[markmco 22]

Interesting twist...

I thought about why it wouldn't do a restart for the last six months or so leading up to this.

 

Out of desperation, I booted into safe mode and scheduled a checkdisk (with fix). That 'seemed' to fix it. I had a few enjoyable flights. Then, did a shutdown and restart. ...no-go

 

Just before shutdown, I applied the latest nVidia driver. In the middle, a kernal error dialogue box popped up. I clicked ok and the install completed.

 

Like before, I can get to the desktop, but clicking anything just goes into not-responding mode.

 

It's a Samsung EVO SSD. No known problems. Now, I'm wondering if it's hdd or maybe (GTX680) video card. I can find out, but not looking forward to it.

[z06z33 763]

Interesting twist...

I thought about why it wouldn't do a restart for the last six months or so leading up to this.

Out of desperation, I booted into safe mode and scheduled a checkdisk (with fix). That 'seemed' to fix it. I had a few enjoyable flights. Then, did a shutdown and restart. ...no-go

Just before shutdown, I applied the latest nVidia driver. In the middle, a kernal error dialogue box popped up. I clicked ok and the install completed.

Like before, I can get to the desktop, but clicking anything just goes into not-responding mode.

It's a Samsung EVO SSD. No known problems. Now, I'm wondering if it's hdd or maybe (GTX680) video card. I can find out, but not looking forward to it.

Sounds like a error in windows or a hard drive issue. Why not try a clean install of Windows if the issue is a windows error that should solve it. If the problem persists it's the SSD. If your graphics card was going bad it wouldn't cause an error it would just stop working (I've had a few die on me) Also when I had a windows error that required me to do a clean install my pc would do the same thing yours is ie not resetting and the fans kept running. It would boot but it took forever. Once I reformatted the drive and did a clean install the issue went away

[StoneEyes 1]

Did you check the CMOS battery?

[martin-w 3,235]

A leak from the liquid cooler hose onto the motherboard shorted it out and the depleted cooler tank fried the cpu 3 days ago on my MSI Z97 / I7-4790 computer.It had been shutting down by itself lately. I upgraded to a MSI X99 and a 5930 cpu and 128 gigsDDR4 ram. I had planned to upgrade it later next year. My computer decided it was time now!! I got everything up and working last night.

 

Bill Davis

The reason I still avoid closed loop coolers like the plague. My choice for my new Skylake build was the NH-D15S... leaks impossible and no pump to ever fail. Cools great and quiet.