Tech Support Forum - View Single Post - Urgent need of help

urgent · 05-15-2008, 09:14 AM

Hello all - I would greatly appreciate any help at all, as soon as possible!

As I was using my computer as usual today, it suddenly died - very suddenly. At first I thought the power went out but then realized the speakers etc. were still up and running. This made me believe it was my PSU or cable, so I checked those to no avail.
For several months I've heard this really high-pitched sound whenever the powercable is plugged in, and even when the computer is shut down it still doesn't stop until I cut the power completely. This noise was still there, which confused me (as that means the PSU was ok? Lights etc were still functional inside the computer). The computer would not start by pressing the start button.
My main case-fan has stopped working too (earlier than today), which has made the inside "somewhat" dusty.

Now, the main issue - I had the computer laying down, and just randomly tried to start it (the only attached cable was the powercable), and the CPU-fan started up only for a second. I then tried once more and the fan went crazy, going much faster than usual. It started to smell burnt, and I panicked, pulling the power cable out and unplugging my harddrives out of instinct to save whatever's on them - from a fire that never started

Obviously, I didn't try anything else after that. There's no visual harm done to the cpu, fan or motherboard - but I can't tell for sure as I've never experienced something like this.

So, long story short:
CPU smelled burnt after trying to get it back up running after computer suddenly shut down instantly. The thing was dusty (after removing the cpu it was even dusty "beneath" it, on the CPU-slot on the mobo.)

1. What or which parts are actually messed up?
2. I'm in urgent need of this particular computer, especially the contents of the harddrives, would buying a new CPU, motherboard and perhaps a PSU guarantee that I get it back up running? (And on a sidenote, would plugging these new components in force me to reinstall windows, since I currently have certain motherboard-drivers installed?) Is it possible my harddrives were damaged?

System specs (doubt it matters):
450W Antec PSU (Came with the chassis)
Asus A8N-E Mobo
AMD 3500 CPU
2 HDD's
1 DVD-Drive
ATI X800

If damage is done to the cpu I will have to buy both a new CPU and motherboard as cpu's this old arent available where I'm from (I can only find dualcores and such, is this odd?) - can anyone give me a short answer to wether a AMD Athlon64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+ 2.2 ghz would have better or worse performance than a single-core 3500+ in general? (Stupid question?)

Thank you in advance for any help you can give me. I need to get access to both the harddrives and at least the same performance as earlier within just a few days, as I have important work that needs to be done this month.

05-15-2008, 09:14 AM	#1 (permalink)
urgent Registered User Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 8 OS: XP	Urgent need of help - CPU failure? Any help welcome. Hello all - I would greatly appreciate any help at all, as soon as possible! As I was using my computer as usual today, it suddenly died - very suddenly. At first I thought the power went out but then realized the speakers etc. were still up and running. This made me believe it was my PSU or cable, so I checked those to no avail. For several months I've heard this really high-pitched sound whenever the powercable is plugged in, and even when the computer is shut down it still doesn't stop until I cut the power completely. This noise was still there, which confused me (as that means the PSU was ok? Lights etc were still functional inside the computer). The computer would not start by pressing the start button. My main case-fan has stopped working too (earlier than today), which has made the inside "somewhat" dusty. Now, the main issue - I had the computer laying down, and just randomly tried to start it (the only attached cable was the powercable), and the CPU-fan started up only for a second. I then tried once more and the fan went crazy, going much faster than usual. It started to smell burnt, and I panicked, pulling the power cable out and unplugging my harddrives out of instinct to save whatever's on them - from a fire that never started Obviously, I didn't try anything else after that. There's no visual harm done to the cpu, fan or motherboard - but I can't tell for sure as I've never experienced something like this. So, long story short: CPU smelled burnt after trying to get it back up running after computer suddenly shut down instantly. The thing was dusty (after removing the cpu it was even dusty "beneath" it, on the CPU-slot on the mobo.) 1. What or which parts are actually messed up? 2. I'm in urgent need of this particular computer, especially the contents of the harddrives, would buying a new CPU, motherboard and perhaps a PSU guarantee that I get it back up running? (And on a sidenote, would plugging these new components in force me to reinstall windows, since I currently have certain motherboard-drivers installed?) Is it possible my harddrives were damaged? System specs (doubt it matters): 450W Antec PSU (Came with the chassis) Asus A8N-E Mobo AMD 3500 CPU 2 HDD's 1 DVD-Drive ATI X800 If damage is done to the cpu I will have to buy both a new CPU and motherboard as cpu's this old arent available where I'm from (I can only find dualcores and such, is this odd?) - can anyone give me a short answer to wether a AMD Athlon64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+ 2.2 ghz would have better or worse performance than a single-core 3500+ in general? (Stupid question?) Thank you in advance for any help you can give me. I need to get access to both the harddrives and at least the same performance as earlier within just a few days, as I have important work that needs to be done this month.