My desktop, an AMD 64 Epox MB, won't power up. Running XP SP2.

The problems started last night when I plugged in a western digital usb hard drive. When I plugged it in, my USB mouse light went off and it stopped working, and then windows wouldn't recognize the hard drive. It was a bit difficult to completely navigate around windows with a keyboard, so I restarted windows from the start menu. The hard drive was still plugged in.

Immediately after reboot, the bios screen looked like the vsync was screwed. The picture just kept sliding vertically. Once I got through the bios things were fine. I got into windows normally, but the mouse still didn't work. I did a software reboot again without the hard drive plugged in, and got the same result. I did several reboots with or without certain USB devices plugged in and got the same result. As I gave up and was exiting the room, my finger sparked with static electricity on the light switch.

So today I come back at lunch and try to fix it. I had left the machine booted in windows so I tried moving the mouse or hitting the space bar to wake back up the monitor and nothing happened. Then I move my finger to hit the power button. As my finger got close, some static electricity sparked and the machine turned off. I never even touched the button! I got back to the power supply and turned it off, and it sparked again. Now it seemed any time I touched anything I got a spark. Anyway, the machine won't power back up and seems dead.

The machine is plugged into a UPS via a 3 prong plug and the UPS is plugged into the wall via a 3 prong plug. The hard drive only had a two prong plug.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? I figure my motherboard got zapped, but hopefully nothing else!

12/20/2005 2:29:00 PM

if youve already searched google, tech talk isnt gonna be able to help you...

[Edited on December 20, 2005 at 2:31 PM. Reason : WHERE WAS UR STATIC MAT]

12/20/2005 2:30:35 PM

Hey unsuspend esgargs while you're at it.

[Edited on December 20, 2005 at 2:39 PM. Reason : BTW, get your earthing checked.]

12/20/2005 2:36:57 PM

neat, you have electrical powers

12/20/2005 2:41:12 PM

fubared?

12/20/2005 2:46:30 PM

unplug everything. unplug the cable that connects from the power supply to your mobo. plug it back in..try it. it probably wont work, but its worth a try
Then get a new powersupply.
I had a similar problem once...after some lightning. My power supply, motherboard, videocard and RAM were all busted.

[Edited on December 20, 2005 at 2:56 PM. Reason : hope you have better luck than i did]

12/20/2005 2:55:51 PM

Id say power supply if the UPS is a DC common bus type. The best, and most expensive, UPS units convert to DC, charge the battery, then pull off of the battery, then invert to AC. These are called online UPS units, the battery systems are always online.

If you have a CVT or offline UPS, that could be your culprit. They dont condition the voltage signal as much as an online UPS does, if at all. Some are even bad at surge supression even they claim otherwise. If it is creating a floating ground, youd get all kinds of wierdness, including a grenading power supply.

Id say grab a voltmeter before you do more harm to the computer and check different legs of the breaker box in your house/apt. Check the receptacles on the UPS unit you are using. Disconnect the power supply from your computer, and check the outputs on it when powered up. Information on the plug can be found by referencing a 20pin atx connector pinout found on Google. You can turn the PSU on without the motherboard connected to it by grounding pin 14 (black is ground, I think 14 is purple or green if memory serves me.)

Good luck.

12/20/2005 3:02:46 PM

call in and use the warranty on your UPS against electrical damage to get yourself a new pc.

More than likely you surged through USB and it fucked up some random trace.

12/20/2005 6:38:23 PM

Overhaul this message board to have all the features of the other PIC college sites and we'll help you out.

12/20/2005 8:36:26 PM

Quote :

"If it is creating a floating ground, youd get all kinds of wierdness, including a grenading power supply. "

do they really create a floating ground? Floating grounds are the worst thing you can possibly do to sensitive electronics if your not aware that it is floating. who on earth would design something so sloppily? (floating grounds are very usefull for what I do and I use them all the time, but with great caution when I'm moving between systems)

12/21/2005 12:42:21 PM