Problem with AMD,Asus K7V and power supply

[joseluisx]

Hello everyone, I have a problem with my computer, and before I go to the shop and spend a lot of money, I'd like to know what can happen to it, so any help would be really appreciated.

My computer is AMD Athlon 800, Asus K7V (bought a couple of years ago), 384 RAM (256+128 dimms), GeForce2MX, 10Gb HD, DVD, CDRW, SBLive... nothing strange as you can see.

Everything was working right until maybe last month, when it begun to work strange. Sometimes, i was using my pc normally when it just hang-up showing the "death blue screen" of windows and rebooted itself.

I decided to install PCProbe (the program that came with my motherboard, to monitor voltages and temperature), and sometimes i could see some alarms because of the voltage of -5V (i don't remember exactly if that was the value of the error, or maybe +5V or whatever, but i'm sure it was about voltage).
I mean, there is an amount which is the "limit" and makes the program show the window with the alarm, and that is what i'm trying to explain (sorry for my english and some expressions).
Anyway, now i can't see the problem that PCProbe shows because i can't boot my computer (see below why).

The point is that the other day my brother turned it on, and suddenly he heard a little "bang" and nothing happened. Today i opened the pc and found that the power supply unit is burned, so i went to buy another one (the previous was 250W and the new is 300W), but when i install it and turn the computer on, nothing shows in the screen (it doesn't even go to the bios tests) and sounds an alarm like a siren (a police car for example; 2 notes; hope you understand ;-)). I can see nothing in the screen, and that siren sounds in noend loop.

What is the problem? May the failure of the power supply have burned the motherboard or the RAM or something?
By the way, the cpu fan and the chassis fan work fine, and they take power from the motherboard as before.

Maybe i have to switch a jumper or something (i didn't touch anything when i gought it, and it's been working with the defaults for these last 2 years).

If someone can help me please write to joseluisx@hotmail.com

Thank you very much in advance and cheers to everyone.
Jose Luis.

[tranka32]

maybe you need to reset the cmos jumper,, I don't know wich one it is on that board,, but it's usually near the battery. That clears the cmos,, and then resets it when it is returned to the default jumpers, maybe,, idunno???

[joseluisx]

I've also tried that, but it doesn't work...
:(

[BipolarBill]

Yes - PSU failures can destroy a motherboard.

That siren sound is a heat or CPU fan warning. Are you sure that the heatsink is flat on the CPU with thermal grease on it?

If the above checks out, I would assume that the motherboard is dead. I would try another CPU in it first though.

[joseluisx]

For the things I've been reading, that sound seems to mean that the mb doesn't find the memory (i guess), but some people with the same symptoms have been able to make it work again, although none of them have had a psu failure.
Anyway, I suppose that this is what have happened: my psu was going to die, and that explains the random crash+reboots and the strange voltage indicator I said before. So one day it decided to blow up and 2 things may have happened:

1.- The mb is misconfigured for some reason and I can't get it to work again, although I think it should be possible.

2.- The psu failure may have destroyed something more in my computer, maybe the micro, the memory or the mb, although I think is one of the latest.

I really hope it's not case 2, because it would mean to spend more %&#$! money. :(

[joseluisx]

I've also tried clearing CMOS as someone else suggested me, but it does the same, which means exactly nothing but the bloody beeps!!! :(

I'm afraid I'll have to go buy another mb, and another micro, and more memory... :r

Btw, how good is an Asus A7V? I guess the dimms I already have won't be useful anymore (in case they're not definitely burned), so what memory should I buy?

:confused:

[BipolarBill]

I would replace the motherboard first. Heat kills CPUs, but otherwise they're hard to lose. The same goes for memory.

Both the A7V and A7S are excellent! I prefer the S.

[joseluisx]

but can I use my micro (the old slot A athlon, like a cigarette packet big ;) and memory on the new mb?

what's the difference between both boards?

[BipolarBill]

The memory for the new board will need to be DDR RAM and the Slot A won't work. You need a Socket A CPU.

The ECS K7S5A can use your old memory (two slots), but not the CPU. :(

[joseluisx]

and besides that, I've recebtly bought a psu of 300W, will it be enough?
I have CDRW, DVD, Geforce2Mx, 1HDD, 1FDD a TV card and SBLive

[BipolarBill]

That should be fine. :)

[joseluisx]

well, thanks a lot for all :)