Comp not working - help me figure out the problem...

First off its hardware.. It was working great, left for 15mins and my dad says the lights flickered and the tv cable went out too. So thats a good sign of a surge, and my computer is not on a surge protector (should it be?). Came home and the power light was flickering on and off, monitor was black, and the computer was on.

I turned it off, and have been testing around.. num lock isnt coming on like it usually does when i start up. If it was a surge more than likely would it of ruined the mb, or could it of ruined other parts too?

I tested a pci graphics card instead of my agp, and it didnt help. Also my usb lights were red. Can anyone help me narrow this down?

Des1017 said:

...my computer is not on a surge protector (should it be?). Came home and the power light was flickering on and off, monitor was black, and the computer was on.

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A surge protector is an absolute necessity. I'm afraid that you may have some severely damaged hardware my friend. Damage could extend to any or all components of the system. Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings and all that.

Start by removing any and all pci cards from the system. Also disconnect all drives. You'll want to have only one stick of RAM and the video card in the MB. If there are no beeps and no POST, then I'd suspect the motherboard first. After that, it's just a process of elimination to test the CPU, video card and RAM.

Yeah, you should have a surge protector before you have a computer. If you've got a spare motherboard and cpu then swap those with your current motherboard and cpu and see if your system POSTs. Also try using a spare PSU if you can.