Tough night, Computer failed

[Leadfoot]

Try taking the memory out and re-seating it.

[hclague]

Hal: what did you do to finish the set? What happened to the gig? Did you have a backup analog board or such?

The band actually owns one of my old rigs which includes a Mackie SR24-2 I modified with a split to be a Monitor board. They use this with their in-ear rig so I just took the Main outs from that board which were still functional and set a basic mix. It got us through the rest of the night.

Looks Like I'll be building a redundant computer after I fix this one

Hal

[RBIngraham]

Do you have an optical drive in this system? I have seen that similar behavior when an optical drive died. This was with all IDE components so I'm not sure if it applies any longer. But I've seen a dead optical drive take down all IDE data even if it wasn't on the same IDE port as the hard drive.

The first thing I would do is yank any component that is not absolutely needed. Then see what happens. If it still does the same thing then my guess would be power supply next and then RAM and last the MB itself. I've never seen random death in a MB. I've only seen 2 of them fail in all the systems I've built or worked on and both times it has been more unpredictable behavior such as random lock ups and other odd issues. But there is alway a first time.

[mloretitsch]

Any possibility that the input voltage went low? I took a look around and there are several different specs for input voltage ranges. Corsair VX450 shows 90 - 264VAC input while something like the Antec shows 100~240VAC ±10%. Perhaps a beer cooler turned on or some other heavy inductive load that brought all the power down in the building.

Are you on a UPS?

Echoing other comments I would start with a reasonably good power supply as a first repair attempt. I like the Corsair lineup, but the Antec are generally reliable. I use the VX450 Corsair in my SAC rig and I have a cheap 450 watter sitting in a box just in case.

One other thought...it IS the winter season here and it's pretty dry. I run into some crack/pops from static discharge on an all analog house system I run regularly. The stage has carpet that really builds up the charge. A good static discharge can send your PC cartwheeling into badness. Your input are of course optically isolated, but the mouse/keyboard/monitor aren't and you touch those pretty regularly.

-Matt

[MikeDee]

Try taking the memory out and re-seating it.

Put back one at a time...test each one separately.

My daughter's desktop (HP Pavilion a775c) wouldn't get past the HP splash screen. Turned out to be one of the 4 1GB RAM sticks (thanx, Crucial.com...NOT! ).

[I probably would've found the issue fairly quickly had I disabled that splash screen and viewed the BIOS/memory info in gøød ol' black 'n' white. ]

HTH,

[MikeDee]

Any possibility that the input voltage went low? I took a look around and there are several different specs for input voltage ranges. Corsair VX450 shows 90 - 264VAC input while something like the Antec shows 100~240VAC ±10%. Perhaps a beer cooler turned on or some other heavy inductive load that brought all the power down in the building.

Are you on a UPS?

Echoing other comments I would start with a reasonably good power supply as a first repair attempt. I like the Corsair lineup, but the Antec are generally reliable. I use the VX450 Corsair in my SAC rig and I have a cheap 450 watter sitting in a box just in case.

One other thought...it IS the winter season here and it's pretty dry. I run into some crack/pops from static discharge on an all analog house system I run regularly. The stage has carpet that really builds up the charge. A good static discharge can send your PC cartwheeling into badness. Your input are of course optically isolated, but the mouse/keyboard/monitor aren't and you touch those pretty regularly.

-Matt

Static electricity is a deadly enemy to [my] electronics and computers.

I put a 6' × 4' Global anti-static carpet (stainless steel woven into the fibers) in my workspace [under my chair...my feet rest on it as well]. I also carry a 3' × 2' one for live use [I stand when I play keys]. Trust me, they work like a charm. (I remember what happened to some of my equipment prior to using these carpets! )

I also use one of those "Touch-Me-First" thingéès...similar to a grounding strap. Instead of wearing it on the wrist, the unit sits on the desk...I simply touch it before touching the computer [laptop or desktop's keyboard/mouse]. Very effective...in fact, sometimes I touch it while I'm on the phone, and I hear a slight click as static is discharged...so I know it's doing its job.

Worth looking into...not very expensive, either.

[RBIngraham]

I think there must be some kind of link between Karma and static electric discharge induced computer/electronics death.

I only say this because there have been times I've walked up to my laptop or a computer and accidentally discharged enough that I actually pulled my hand away, and nothing happened. I've even touched a motherboard or a sound card or two and zapped them and they still worked just fine.

Then I have friends who all they have to do is walk into the room and the computers stop working. OK slight exaggeration of course, but my bosses at work are like this as well. One if like me, can not remember ever zapping any piece of equipment when they got a static discharge and the other has killed more motherboards and the like to the point where he never opens his computer anymore.. one of use "lucky" ones has to do it.

[grecoaudio]

One rule of thumb to follow might be to make sure your computer is grounded properly. In the most perfect of worlds all static should go directly to ground if there is a proper path for it to follow. Wireless keyboards and mice might be a must for static susceptible locations.