Hi

My Ubuntu Desktop Computer fell off to the side, my 2 year old daughter did it for me as I was working. Anyway the computer was on, I was working on it, and after it fell I got a black screen. I switched the PC off tried to restart and nothing happens. It won't even load the bios.

I opened the computer up, unplugged everything and then plugged everything back on, no results. I checked the processor, the heatsink, the RAM and everything looks ok. When I turn the computer on the little diode in the moherboard switches on, and all the fans are working so the electricity is getting through.

Any help is really appreciated...

Vanya

Computer Specs:

AMD Athlon X2 4200
1 GB RAM
120 GB Hard Drive
ASUS Motherboard
OS Ubuntu 8.1

Check to see if there is a switch on the back of the power supply to switch between 110 and 240 volts (USA / UK). Make sure it's set to the right one.

Pull off all cables to hardware such as hard disk, dvd drives. Reseat CPU and Memory. Turn the power on and see what comes up. Oh, if you have an AGP graphics card, they are notorious for playing silly buggers if knocked, reseat this too!

Could be the screen.

Or, could be the hard drive is toast, scratched inside from the fall, desktops do not have protection that some laptops do.

Use a screen that works. If you cannot get POST and no BIOS on the screen you may need a computer shop specialist to troubleshoot your MB and all the rest. Sorry.

Cheers,
John

Hi guys, thanks for the reply.

The monitor is fine, only the desktop fell off. I've tried pulling all the cables off and plugging back in nothing happens. The videocard is built-in the motherboard. I thought about the hard drive being damaged but if this was the case the initial bios should still show up in the monitor, so even with the HDD unplugged I get the black screen and absolutley nothing shows up

Taking it to a specialist here in Moscow would cost more then buying a new motherboard, if I can narrow it down to make sure it is the motherboard then I'll have to buy a new one I guess, but we live in a tight budget so I need to make sure this is a motherboard thing before buying one.

if you turn it up and does nothing and even hear no humming from the pc, it's probably the power supply, but I'd say it's the motherboard or the graphical card, but if the card's built in the motherboard...

hope it helps!

I can see the fans turning and the led in the MB switches on. No beeps or anything though.

There isn't much inside one of those boxes that could be seriously damaged by such a small shock. The hard drive is the one likely victim.

I wonder if the heat sink on the CPU was knocked loose? Or perhaps the weight of the heat sink broke the CPU chip socket?

Beyond that, seems to me you have to have a wire off someplace, or perhaps (and this might be the answer...) a jumper fell off the motherboard.

depending on which way that fell (motherboard face up or down)

CPU could be partially dislodged and need reseated.. although these days they would be hard to budge.
The impact could also have fractured traces on the motherboard or broken solder connections loose.

I would disconnect and unplug everything power and data cables, except the CPU and power to the motherboard and the internal speaker if it's not built onto the motherboard.

Do the procedure to manually clear the CMOS. (move the jumper whatever for your system)

then power on the system. you SHOULD hear a beep for a memory error, since the memory has been removed.

Insert memory and try again.. The system should now POST successfully..

Re-connect hard drive power & data / CDROM power and data / Floppy power and dat, one at a time power on between each device reconnection.

re-insert any PCI cards in the system one at a time.

Either you will fail at the initial step meaning CPU / Motherboard / Power supply, one of which is bad, or one of the subsequent steps will fail identifying the part that is dead.

A powersupply can still supply power on some wires but not others... or the voltages could be off enough that things don't operate.. A simple [go / no go] light on the motherboard is not an indication of the supply being good. One of these power supply testers to check ALL the voltages is a better way to test a power supply.
http://www.extensiontech.net/reviews/ad/coolmax/ps-101/
http://www.dansdata.com/quickshot018.htm


The whole key to troubleshooting is using the process of elimination to find the bad part.

it's the motherboard then, as far as I know a computer can boot without a hard drive, and if it powers on, the power supply must be OK.

for the reply above my other post, I do know a way to reset CMOS no matter which model is it, they always have a cell battery (those little circular things, like a normal battery but flat and more wide), remove it for 30 sec aproximately and that will do the trick

Thank you guys very much for all the replies! A friend of mine is kind enough to lend me his power supply for a day, so I'll use this to narrow things down, and try to work on the problem. I'll post here the results.

I tried to reset CMOS and also tried with a new power supply and still have the same problem. The motherboard is attached to the right side of the computer case (facing the left side). The computer case fell to the left side (motherboard facing down). I looked all over the MB for cracks, loose components etc, I went through the whole motherboard using a torch and magnifying glasses and everything looks fine. The heatsink is well attached to the CPU, just as it was before the fall. Could the fall have damaged the CPU or buying a new MB is guaranteed to solve the problem?

I'd say that buying a new MB will solve it, go to a store and see if they can just test another MB on the computer (some do it for free, some charge you the manufacturing), if it does solve it (it surely will, though) buy a new one

hope it helps!

Did you do enough?

Farslayer has given you the correct, standard procedure for checking your system, one component at a time. Although it may not solve the problem, and if you have not done so, clearing the CMOS with a jumper setting and trying to get a beep for memory error might indicate that the mother board isn't the faulty part. You wouldn't want someone selling you a new board when that's not the solution.

One faulty component or poor connection may cause a system to lie dead. I assembled a new computer and it would not POST. I took it apart and re-assembled and it functioned. Which component I had not seated home I do not know. Without a step by step procedure it was all or nothing. Good Luck Vanka.

Ok, it works now.

I had tried all of the above, and before going out spending my hard earned $$$ I decide to try one last time pulling ALL apart and back on. I took everything out as I did before- the heatsink, CPU, RAM, SATA drive, CD-RW, and so on. Then I just plugged everything back on and it just works.

I'm not sure what caused the problem, let alone what solved the problem but I do have reasons to suspect that the "little" 12V power-in plug in the motherboard was the problem (the one which is close to the processor on the opposite side of the main power plug). I suspected the plug was little loose before but I ended up assuming I was exaggerating, it turns out in the third round things just fell into place. Be it the 12V plug or not, I'm very happy. Thanks for all the comments, and if you have a similar problem send me a message and I'll gide you through what I did to narrow down the problem.

Thanks

Vanya