PSU Died / Fried - Possibly CPU / MB too - Need Advice

[blaholdings]

Here is my current system:

ASUS P4S533 AUDIO/LAN SOCKET 478 MB
Intel Pentium 4 2.1Ghz
(3) Sticks 512MB Crucial DDR2700 (333Mhz RAM)
Saphire ATI Radeon X800 - AGP 256MB

I pulled the plug on my system while it was running cus' I was in a rush on a Friday night and when I went to boot it up on Sunday morning, it failed to even post. I took it to work and through various troubleshooting determined that the power supply was bad. I tried a known working power supply with correct wattage and the PC still failed to post. This makes me think that the MB is busted - possibly the CPU.

I could try to find a P4S533 on the re-sale market and pop that in to fix the problem. It may be possible that the CPU is fried as well, so I may have to end up buying a replacement CPU as well.

Being that said, should I just say screw it and buy a new MB / CPU combo? I'd like to stick with the AGP Radeon X800 - how much is that going to limit my options?

This is my main computer, so I would like to move on this asap (aka, no waiting for pre-commercial products).

Thanks.

 

[dBTelos]

Not sure the following works but I have found that unplugging, reseting connections, redoing cables, etc may fix this problem.

 

[blaholdings]

I've done all of that and more unfortunately. I basically had the MB out of the case and isolated on a piece of plastic with only the CPU, RAM, and Video plugged in. Still no luck.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

If you fried your board I suggest you stick with your setup and go with a better i865 board (your 4X AGP is really limiting your X800), your AGP card should hold you off, something like a P4P800-MX would be a decent option. If you fried your CPU then it woudln't be too expensive to go AMD, but your X800 is a pretty deccent card to hold off anyways, unless you're looking for ower applications.

If you fried em both just go with a cheap AMD setup that could let you upgrade to PCIE in the future (unless you plan on overhauling) like that ASROCK 939Dual-Sata2 board.

Hook up a speaker to the green integrated sound jack and the little POST reporter should tell you something.

 

[Jayczar]

Since you have 3 sticks of RAM have you tried them individually?

 

[blaholdings]

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy
If you fried your board I suggest you stick with your setup and go with a better i865 board (your 4X AGP is really limiting your X800), your AGP card should hold you off, something like a P4P800-MX would be a decent option.

Assuming I did not fry my CPU and go this route, a couple of questions:

1. Will I need to buy a whole new 1.5gigs of ram? (ie: is the 2700 obsolete?)
2. Why do you recommend a micro-atx board? The P4S533 was standard ATX and that would mean I would need to purchase a new case as well.
3. I was told my CPU (2.1 Ghz) was the major bottleneck of my card. What kind of performance increase am I looking at going from 4x to 8x AGP?

Aside from plopping the CPU in a board that supports it and attempting to boot, is there any other way to check whether the CPU is good or not?

 

[blaholdings]

Originally posted by: Jayczar
Since you have 3 sticks of RAM have you tried them individually?

Yes. Nothing happens. No fans turn on, no audible noises, nothing.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: blaholdings

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy
If you fried your board I suggest you stick with your setup and go with a better i865 board (your 4X AGP is really limiting your X800), your AGP card should hold you off, something like a P4P800-MX would be a decent option.

Assuming I did not fry my CPU and go this route, a couple of questions:

2. Why do you recommend a micro-atx board? The P4S533 was standard ATX and that would mean I would need to purchase a new case as well.

I can't think of any MicroATX boards that don't fit in standard-size ATX cases, if that helps.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Originally posted by: blaholdings

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy
If you fried your board I suggest you stick with your setup and go with a better i865 board (your 4X AGP is really limiting your X800), your AGP card should hold you off, something like a P4P800-MX would be a decent option.

1. Will I need to buy a whole new 1.5gigs of ram? (ie: is the 2700 obsolete?)
2. Why do you recommend a micro-atx board? The P4S533 was standard ATX and that would mean I would need to purchase a new case as well.
3. I was told my CPU (2.1 Ghz) was the major bottleneck of my card. What kind of performance increase am I looking at going from 4x to 8x AGP?

1) Nope, it should be fine...
2) It's cheap and gets the job done. There are ohter ASUS 478boards
3) Yeah the CPU really is a bottleneck, I gotta admit. This could be resolved by overclocking (2.6 shouldn't be hard, depending on if you want to shell out $50 more for a P4P800-E, great overclocking board).

It really depends on whether you have the money to shell out for another CPU or not. Boils down to $50 for a new P4 board, or $200...$50 (ASROCK 939Dual sata2 supports AGP + PCIe and upcoming M2) + $150 for 3000+ 939. You'll see a noticible performance increase, but Socket M2 and Conroe are coming out soon so it's really a bummer, tough choice eh. If I was in your shoes I'd shell out $50 for that board and overclock the CPU a bit if needed, but that's just becuase I'm no hardcore gamer.

No fans or lights turn on + you've tried a different PSU? I think your board might just be dead - your board is what tells the power supply to fire up the power anyways (just like how you can't start a power supply without plugging it into a board, unless you do that shorting-out trick).

I'm in the same hole as you (if your board is dead, that is). Currently awaiting an RMA for my P4P800-E deuxe, it's a bummer without my work computer. Tough times.

Best of luck,
-The Pentium Guy

 

[blaholdings]

I'm going to go with the P4P800-E and a new power supply and hope the CPU still works. Couple more questions ..

1. What power supply should I get? Ideally it's one that will run the P4800E as well as my Conroe build once it becomes available.

2. What things should I be aware of when attempting to OC on this board with slower RAM (2700)?