Fried Motherboard

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Xenophon

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Hi, what are the chances of me having fried my motherboard?

OK, I'm not a very patient person. I had to buy a stronger power supply for my graphics card, however on Friday night incredible connection was already closed.

So enters a brainwave one. I remembered that at the back of the PSU there is a switch which you can change the wattage. So enters brainwave two - I didn't unplug the computer while looking at the PSU and just saw a white spark at the back.:o

So Saturday off I go to buy the new PSU and still the PC doesn't want to switch on.

1. Could it be possible I blew my motherboard (and would that include my VGA Card & Ram) or
2. could it be that I didn't buy the correct powersupply.

/me goes on hands and knees and starts praying
/me slams myself over the head for my stupidity:mad:
/me hopes for no 2

PS - Pentium 4
 
Yeah prob killed the mb... but test everything on a diff computer ie ram gpu etc... then use a diff power supply on the motherboard and see if that doesn't breath life into it...
 
Obelix said:
that lil switch sent if to 110 v, so in effect, you would've doubled the output voltages. I'd say it popped a regulator or 2 and maybe some caps.
Click to expand...
Yep i was just thinking the same thing, cos AFAIK that switch doesnt change the wattage.

I think it'll only be ur mobo thats blown, and maybe ur graphics card if it has an seperate power connector, but hopefully ur cpu and ram will is allright.
 
Xenophon said:
And that would mean what in blonde terms?:confused:
Click to expand...
It would mean that instead of the PSU expecting 230 volts, it would think the input voltage must be 110 volts, like they use in the US. But here we use 230v so like Obelix said, that would mean if its set to 110v it would double the output voltages cos its getting double what its supposed to.
 
lol dont change the voltage on it because its set for a reason

remember dont do anything without consulting myadsl hardware forum

it woulda saved you alot of money :)
 
The problem with trying to repair these things is that a lot of the components cant be baught over the counter. Like those irritating d-package regulators. the only place i could find some of them was off of other boards.

See if your insurance covers consumer electronics and has the "i did a stupid thing" clause in it. They might replace it for you.
 
Obelix said:
The problem with trying to repair these things is that a lot of the components cant be baught over the counter. Like those irritating d-package regulators. the only place i could find some of them was off of other boards.

See if your insurance covers consumer electronics and has the "i did a stupid thing" clause in it. They might replace it for you.
Click to expand...

Anybody say insurance? Ahem.... *blush*:o

/me run and hide in embarresment.:(
 
bekdik said:
With switching power supply, would't it just be the fuse in the power supply that's popped?
Click to expand...

But I bought a new power supply and still nada.

Furthermore anybody got name/number of a computer insurance company?

My one friend gave me some advise but he's a bit of a skelm and I am working on the morality of it. He said I must take the Graphics card back to where I bought it (only 2 weeks ago) and tell them it was working fine and then just stopped....:eek:
 
OMFG LOL :D as usual on this forum... fantasy piled upon fantasy!

The switch on the back of the PSU is a voltage selector. Selecting it to 110 volts and applying 230 volts will, in 99% cases NOT CAUSE the output voltages to rise. This is because a computer PSU is a switching regulator, which is a closed loop system, designed to handle quite large variations in supply voltage and load. Some designs simply turn the switching transistors hard off, safely (some games consoles do this) while others go out of control and turn the switching transistors hard on, which causes a short across the mains through the primary of the switching transformer and bam, the fuse goes along with the circuit breaker/earth leakage on your mains distribution board.

As for repairing motherboards, I do it all the time. Getting the parts to repair them is not a problem if you're in the know i.e design computer system boards for a living.

I run a small IT business from home, will be happy to test and quote on repairs of your system- despite what some people think here
 
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