Hi all, as you have already guessed im new too these forums, and i hope you ladies and gents can help me.

First off here is my computer specs which i built.

Hi-Power Black 700W 14cm Blue LED Fan PSU - 20+4pin 4x SATA 4x PCI-E 135197
Sapphire HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 Dual DVI TV Out PCI-E Graphics Card 146415
Seagate ST3500320AS 500GB Hard Drive SATA II 7200rpm *32MB Cache* - OEM
Asus P5N-E SLI 650i Socket 775 PCI-E Onboard Audio ATX Motherboard 125082
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping (2.4GHz 1066MHz) Socket 775 L2 8MB Cache (2x4MB (4MB per core pair) Retail Boxed Processor
Optiarc AD-7191S 20X DVD±RW/DL/RAM LightScribe Serial ATA Black Bare Drive - OEM
4x Kingston 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 Hyperx Memory Non-ECC Cl5(5-5-5-15) Unbuffered

Right...on Monday when i returned from my Holiday, i switched on my PC and there was a small pop and the computer died.

When i opened up my computer i found that my PSU had blown along with the power cable. I used a spare power cable and the PSU from my moms computer, and the computer started but not for long as its only a 450w. So i brought a new PSU a 700w Kingpin (max power 750). But after a few mins my pc shuts itself off.

I contacted a friend of mine, who suggested this PSU as he has roughly the same specs as mine. He then brought over his PSU which is the same, but again the computer shuts down. We tired to disconect the the Graphics card as it need 2x6pin connectors, but the computer still shuts down.

So we are now thinking that the CPU is overheating, what do u think?
Soz for long story.

Oh and i have put this Kinpin PSU into my moms computer and it works fine.

Well I am glad that computer did not destroy the other PSUs? CPUs do not over heat that fast unless the fan is not turning at all. Is it? Is the interior clean of dust.

A pop is usually a sign that something blew, often a capacitor. Inspect the motherboard for bulging or leaking electrolytic capacitors. These failed or failing capacitors are a common cause of sudden, but seemingly random system lock ups and reboots. The capacitors look like tall soda cans, many of which surround the CPU socket.

All older motherboards, and many of today's less expensive motherboards use electrolytic capacitors containing a liquid electrolyte. Failing (including flawed and/or abused/over-heated) capacitors literally bulge at the seams due to excessive internal pressures. Extreme (and very rare) cases result in a firecracker type explosion that can really stink up a room. Typically, electrolyte just oozes from the pressure relief points stamped in the tops of the capacitor casings (seen as a symbol or letter). The electrolyte can be caustic to motherboards and flesh. Look for white to dark-brown, dried liquid or foam on the tops or bottoms of the capacitors. Bulging capacitors are a sign leakage is about to occur.

A motherboard with bulging or leaky capacitors can be repaired, but often it is more cost effective in the long run to replace the motherboard.

Good to meet u.

Ive cheaked the capacitors, they all look fine, carn't see and liquied or anything on them.

Yes the PC is dust free and the fan for the cpu is spinning.

Do you hear any beeps? Does it try to boot? I would disconnect any extra drives or USB devices and try to determine where in the boot process it stops.


Welcome to D-A-L, by the way!

Thanks.

At the moment, the computer is opened up, with the side off.

When i have turned the power on in its present position, there is a single beep, it shuts down normaly when the graphic card fan goes mad for a sec or two (which is normal), then a couple of mins after that it dies.

When i have plugged in the monitor and the rest, mouse etc, and booted up it shuts down soon as windows (vista) comes on fully, sometimes it does within the boot up.

What about Safe Mode?

I'll try that, don't think it will work.

Ive just taken out the motherboard, just too double cheak what you said earlier, still couldn't see liquied or anything.

Might take me a few mins to get bk to you bare with me.

Leaky Caps:


Bulging Caps:

Thanks for pictures, didn't see anything like that.

Also tried Safe Mode, got to the desktop screen then shut off, like normal.

One beep normally is a good sign. It appears you are getting past the Motherboard BIOS, and to the boot disk - but freezing from there. The fact you cannot get past Safe Mode is not good.

Can you boot into the BIOS and look around? Date and Time okay? Drives properly identified? I would change the boot order now to CD first, if not already, then Save and Exit.

I recommend you pull that hard drive and temporarily install it in an enclosure or another computer and backup all your data files on to the other computer.

Then pull everything else, especially extra USB devices, from that computer and leave only the CPU, 1 stick of RAM, mouse, keyboard and monitor. You should see the boot process start, the graphics system splash screen, then it will halt when it can't find the boot drive. If it does not get that far, the problem is not on the drive.

That said, it appears to be a serious drive, drivers, or Windows problem.

From that other computer, run the drive diagnostics from the drive makers website.

You might check out Fred Langa Rebuild, Michael Stevens XP Repair Install and Michael Stevens XP Clean Install for some more options.