P5PE-VM Motherboard Dead?

A P5PE-VM motherboard was declared dead by the City Computer Technician and when the system unit was handed over to us, it resurrected. As many computer technicians say "If you can't replace the motherboard, replace your technician". This may sound mean but why not consider this thought. As we checked the system unit by powering it up, we noticed that the computer was "dead". There was no video but the fans are all spinning. After some few moments of trying to point out the problem. We got it solved and here's how we done it.



Date Fixed : July 20, 2010


Problem : Computer is dead, No Video but Fans Spin.


Owner : The Dumaguete Public Employment Office (PESO)
Motherboard : P5PE-VM, P4 2.6 Ghz
Operating System : WIN XP PS 2


Technician : Drokz
URL : http://clhidohsr.blogspot.com


INTERVENING FACTORS :

No motherboard support cd
PC Must be fixed in a day.


OBSERVATIONS :

Upon turning on the computer, we noticed that there was no video but all fans are spinning. so we need to check the RAM's, video card, reseat the processor, and power supply.

Also, the video card fan spins quite abnormally slow.


TROUBLESHOOTING PROCEDURE :

- With this type of trouble are almost always expected to be a video card fault. As observed, all fans are spinning and no video display. So we pulled out the video card and visually checked for blown or leaky capacitors but found nothing different or faulty. So we cleaned the connector edge of the video card with a contact cleaner and inserted it after to its slot. Still upon powering the system unit back, no video, no beep and all fans are still spinning.

- So we switched our suspicion to the RAMs. So we cleaned all the RAMs' connector edges and checked it individually by inserting one RAM after the other on each of the DIMM slots. After doing so, we found no clue to what really caused the problem. We can actually check for the power supply right away but it is best to check the components that are accessible and easier to test. So we decided to finally check the PSU for fault.

- As we open and see the insides of the PSU, we weren't surprised to that some capacitors are leaking. Even if there are capacitors leaking, the PSU may still give enough power to spin up the fans and light the LED's. But the power it produces is not enough to make the system to normally run. So we replaced the PSU and the problem was resolved.

- After replacing the PSU the system runs fine for a few minutes but then restarts. As timed, it was about three minutes before the computer restarts. As observed earlier, the fans of the video card spins slow. So we attached a 12 volt fan to the video card. And upon powering up the system unit, there was no restarting of the computer after three minutes. The over-heating of the video card caused the computer to repeatedly restart.

- Problem Solved!


SUMMARY :

- PSU's can still produce enough electricity to spin up the fans and power the LED but not sufficient enough to power the system unit normally when its capacitors are leaking. So consider checking PSU's if you computer gives you no video yet the fans are spinning.

- An over-heating video card can cause a computer to restart after some few minutes when its components can no longer take the heat.