Urgent ! Please Help - Mobo Question

[Sunk]

Ok...so something on my computer burned out (smelled for a while) and now I am trying to figure out what isnt working. So i put my processor in my friends computer and it worked fine. Next, I put in my video card and It DIDNT work.. it gave a long beep then 3 short beeps.
BUT, When i got home i tried a old vid card in my pc...and it didnt work either. So could it mean that the Video card failed and then killed my motherboard? or what possibilites could happen here?

Thanks,
Brian

 

[NiTrO bOiE]

The AGP slot may be busted. Also check all the capacitor to make sure they havent burned.

 

[nerdlogic]

I'm guessing your Vid card went out and killed your AGP port or the other way around.

 

[kct2]

It does sound like your video card is dead, check out the meaning of that beep code here - http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/sys/beep/awardB13-c.html

This can also happen if the video card isn't seated properly in the AGP slot.

Assuming the other video card you tried is known to be good, then it sounds like there is a problem with the motherboard also. Do you get any beep codes from your motherboard with either card? Do you have access to a PCI video card? Have you stripped the system to the bare essentials - any beep codes then?

What happens when you turn the system on? No power at all? No POST? Just no video? More detail will help determine the problem.

It does sound like the video and motherboard have been killed though.

I would carefully check the video card and motherboard for any burned chips, caps, etc.

 

[Sunk]

well if my motherboard just went out...wouldnt that mean my video card could still be fine...

 

[Sunk]

Also, the 2nd video card i used was pci..and it didnt work

 

[Sunk]

i checked over everything and i dont see any burns...the smell has been going on for a while...and i do smell a distinct smell in the power supply...idk maybe cuz the smell gets exited through that fan? idk. I just got the power supply....so i dont think that is it. I was thinking of just taking a guess and buying a nforce2 chipset mobo today...hoping its not my vid card...good idea? or bad?


(btw...when i started it up...it just doesnt show anything on the monitor... i see the cd drives working...and the hard drive light goes on)
(it was working(and smelling) up until i was trying to take the heatsink off...when the screwdriver slipped and went into the mobo with my finger...needless to say...i ruined my finger and my mobo..so idk...i hope it is just the motherboard)


Please HELP!

 

[Sunk]

would it be safe to put the video card into my families computer to see if it works?

 

[nerdlogic]

Yeah. You can check if the video cards work in the other machine. If it does, then you have narrowed it down to your motherboard. You can try alternate PCI slots on your motherboard to see if it's just isolated to certain PCI slots. You can try what kct suggested also to see if there's anything else that might be causing your system to do that.

 

[kct2]

Well, you put the card into your friends computer, and it didn't explode. But, sh*t happens, so it is impossible to tell what would happen next time. It is a risk, but probably not a big one. If it were me, I'd do it to find out if the card was functional.

Also, I'd suspect the smell is unrelated to the problem and just the smell of the PS working, my antec ps exhaust has a different smell than the air from the other exhaust fans.

I think the screwdriver to the motherboard is a somewhat important fact that you probably should have mentioned to begin with. Why did you mention a smell that was occuring when the system worked fine, but not smashing the motherboard with a screwdriver right before the system stopped working? I'd suspect that is the source of the problem.

Before buying anything, strip the computer to the essential parts (motherboard, cpu, video, memory, a floppy if you want to boot to something, a keyboard, and your monitor). Disconnect EVERYTHING else and clear the bios. Since you have tested the CPU as good you can rule that out, so that leaves you with mobo, video, and memory. The video card seems to be bad, but test that again. Test the memory if you can . You don't want to buy anything you don't need to.

 

[cerberus]

sounds like just the mobo... please tell me you weren't actually trying to work on it while it was plugged in.....