Fried Comp, Need Help.
Here is the short story... Was going out of town, so as usual I wanted to power off everything and unplug everything from the wall. Powered down computer, pulled out power cable, flipped PS switch to off... Turned off monitors... Unplugged Surge Protector from wall... Now I have the Logitech 5.1 digital THX speaker setup, I forgot to turn them off before unplugging the surge protector. So when I unplugged the surge protector, I obviously heard the loud BOOM noise from the speakers. Didn't think much of it..
Came home yesterday and here is what I found. Audio only comes out of 2 speakers and is all garbled and sounds like ass, AND my computer runs like fucking shit, very very slow.
First thing I realized was that obviously when I unplugged the surge, the speakers must've sent a power surge to the mobo through the onboard audio ports which the speakers were plugged into. I decided to trouble shoot and hooked up the speakers to my old computer, booted up, audio sounds perfect and clear. Which lead me to believe ok my speakers are fine, but obviously I fried my audio on the mobo.
So it is obvious I fried the onboard audio on the mobo, but since the computer itself also runs sluggish as fuck, I assume I also did some damage to the mobo in general. So I just finished placing an order for a brand new mobo, same exact model/version.
My questions are this:
1. I know when you buy a new mobo it is wise to format C: and do a fresh install of windows. But I'm wondering since I am buying the same exact mobo/version, if that will be necessary and if I can just swap it out without any problems. I understand it would be "best" to just format, but I don't really have the time or luxary to do that with deadlines, so am wondering if I should be ok without doing that.
2. Is it possible I could've damage OTHER components as well besides just the mobo from this surge? Some things run fine, but other things are obviously slow (like opening images in Photoshop etc). I'm just hoping the new mobo will fix the problems, but am scared possibly I might've fucked up my RAM and or CPU as well. WOuld that be possible? Remember, the computer was unplugged and power cord removed, the surge just came through the onboard audio ports apparently.
Any help appreciated, I ordered the mobo overnight so it should be here tomorrow or Wednesday depending on when they process it. Thanks.
Came home yesterday and here is what I found. Audio only comes out of 2 speakers and is all garbled and sounds like ass, AND my computer runs like fucking shit, very very slow.
First thing I realized was that obviously when I unplugged the surge, the speakers must've sent a power surge to the mobo through the onboard audio ports which the speakers were plugged into. I decided to trouble shoot and hooked up the speakers to my old computer, booted up, audio sounds perfect and clear. Which lead me to believe ok my speakers are fine, but obviously I fried my audio on the mobo.
So it is obvious I fried the onboard audio on the mobo, but since the computer itself also runs sluggish as fuck, I assume I also did some damage to the mobo in general. So I just finished placing an order for a brand new mobo, same exact model/version.
My questions are this:
1. I know when you buy a new mobo it is wise to format C: and do a fresh install of windows. But I'm wondering since I am buying the same exact mobo/version, if that will be necessary and if I can just swap it out without any problems. I understand it would be "best" to just format, but I don't really have the time or luxary to do that with deadlines, so am wondering if I should be ok without doing that.
2. Is it possible I could've damage OTHER components as well besides just the mobo from this surge? Some things run fine, but other things are obviously slow (like opening images in Photoshop etc). I'm just hoping the new mobo will fix the problems, but am scared possibly I might've fucked up my RAM and or CPU as well. WOuld that be possible? Remember, the computer was unplugged and power cord removed, the surge just came through the onboard audio ports apparently.
Any help appreciated, I ordered the mobo overnight so it should be here tomorrow or Wednesday depending on when they process it. Thanks.
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Comments
if you buy the same mobo then you shouldn't need to reformat and install. Infact windows XP is pretty good at hardware detection and you can generally even put in a different mobo and not run into any issues.
I'd suggest running memtest to see if you've done any damage to your ram.
Powered down computer, pulled out power cable, flipped PS switch to off... Turned off monitors... Unplugged Surge Protector from wall...
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I would do the above this way,
turn off monitor
flip PS to off
pull out power supply plug
Unplug power bar.
thats all it needs.
You seem to have done it ass backwards if i might say so.
How much have you really done to confirm what is ruined ?
Many PC's run 24/7/365(6)
Also what difference does it make when I turn my monitors off in the process? Who cares if I turn them off before or after my computer? You say I did it ass backwards but I don't really see any advantage to turning my monitors off before my computer?
As far as checking to see what else is ruined. I haven't done much as I just got back into town and have a shitload of deadlines, therefore I needed to use my computer all day today and didn't really have time to take it apart and inspect/test each periph.
I'm praying it was only the mobo that was fried, that should be here tomorrow and I'll swap it out and see if that fixes everything. If not, it will be time to run memtest, and then run some tests on my CPU as well.
Well lets look at it this way,You use surge protection i think , so this is unnecessary.It protects from lightning and mine gives me 10 grand guarantee,
How much does yours give you ?
Here's what i suggest and did fo a similar problem.
Put in or borrow another Power supply and just get a minimum of devices plugged in.
But please comment on this,if you turn the pwr switch off first,then pull the plug in that order,isn't that enough ? Its all you need .no power no devices,no mbd to ruin.
Well if the new mobo doesn't cure the problem, I will try that suggestion before attempting other debugging first, thx for that. I know my mobo onboard audio is fucked though because my speakers are fine on my other computer but the sound is 100% fucked up on this one, and that was the only device that coulda sent the surge to the comp. So I definately need to replace the mobo regardless of other problems.
Technically yes. But I have printer, scanner, speakers, wacom tablet, monitors all plugged into the surge as well, and instead of removing all of them, just decided to unplug the surge itself. Granted it might be overkill, but after losing everything to a lightning strike a few years back, I don't take any chances anymore.
And I don't have one of those UPS or other protectors that give you the $10 grand or whatever guarantee. I had one, but the battery died and I never got around to replacing it. I'm just using one of the 40ish buck surge protectors, and don't trust them 100% for protection.
I just read this again.It seems you can boot to Windows so why blame or suspect the mbd ? Just reinstall all bad devices and Windows first.
2.Maybe get a pci sound card
A mbd because of a sound problem seems drastic.
Solve the sound problem.[2] maybe,you'll be better of than internal either way.
Refuse mbd delivery.
I don't have a backup,just a $40 SP one with $10 grand guarantee.
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