Computer Repair or where to sell parts?

jello00

jello00

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Hey. My desktop that I've had for 3 years is running into some serious hardware problems that I still haven't been able to fix. My friend put it together for me, so its not like there is a warranty or customer service I can call.

It's a pretty sweet machine (aside from the fact that its having some problems right now :cry:) and all of the parts should be worth a good chunk of change -- that is if I can't get it fixed.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to where to try and get it fixed? I know Best Buy has the Geek Squad, but I have a feeling that they are glorified software installers for people who know absolutely nothing about computers. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

In case I can't get it fixed, any suggestions on where I should try and sell all of the parts? Ebay and Craigslist is what I've considered... any others?

Thanks.
 
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Also, does your friend know what the problem is or can he fix it? Usually, the advantage of PCs is that you can repair most problems as long as you can diagnose the problem.

If you want to sell the components, you should price them on ebay and hopefully make sure it's not the flawed part of your system before you sell it.
 
If yer considering Geek Squad or Firedog....don't.

Check yer local craigslist under services for computer repair peeps locally. If yer lucky you can spot someone for $25-50/hr.

I do it personally in my region for $35/hr.
 
Specs:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
ASUS A8N-E Socket 939
ATI FireGL V5000
2x CRUCIAL 1GB (1024MB) PC3200 400MHZ CL3 184-PIN DDR DIMM

This is whats going on:
At the moment when the Power Supply is on (plugged in and switched on) all of the fans start going and the HDDs start spinning, but nothing comes on the screen, nothing boots up and there are no beeps from the motherboard. The ON/OFF button on the case no longer works to turn it off even when I hold it for several seconds and the reset button does nothing. The only way to turn the computer on/off is to switch the back of the PS.

This forum post seems to closely resemble my issue:
(http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=497138)

I've reseated all of the component and tried a different power supply. I'm not quite sure what to try next.
 
[quote name='rothgar24']Also, does your friend know what the problem is or can he fix it? Usually, the advantage of PCs is that you can repair most problems as long as you can diagnose the problem.[/quote]

As for my friend, I've moved to California and he is on the east coast, so there is only so much help that he can give me.
 
Sounds like a problem with either the video card or motherboard. If you had another PC you could try sticking the video card in there.
 
If it was his video card the motherboard would give a no GPU found beep code, so that leaves his Mother Board or CPU or quite frequently both at fault. If it was me (and it has been before :p) I'd spend money on a new processor and mobo at newegg.

I've also heard of this being caused by something new into a usb slot, just make sure you havn't overlooked something small like that first.
 
You'll hear likely everything sourced as a viable cause in this issue.

You can attempt to remove the motherboard from it's case, set it up on a non-static conducting anything and plug things up at their lowest common point.

Typically to verify hardware, I usually run the following procedures once the board is able to be tested alone.

Remove all components except CPU. If the motherboard has a built-in speaker, it will look like a plastic round device hard-soldered to the corner where all the pins for power switch, power LED, etc are located.

http://www.minervatech.net/reviews/eden/eden_speaker.jpg

There's a good example.

If the board lacks that, youll need the case handy enough to plug in that 4-pin speaker plug. What were planning on is verifying that the motherboard's basic "beep" code is active. Typically, if you start your motherboard up with nothing but a CPU in it, you will receive a Beep code for either no memory installed, or no video installed. This will vary from board to board, but MOST of the time, its just three short beeps repeated in sequence forever and in some cases its one looooong beep repeated.

Board beeps? Good board! No beep? Board's dead.

I'd recommend you google a lil for the error codes specific to your motherboard, because at this point, if you get a beep, your next step is to install said RAM and wait for video beep. No video beep, it could be a faulty PCI-E/AGP slot. You can get a cruddy PCI vid card to limp by, but honestly, i'd can it if that were the case.

Don't let any of this get too overwhelming. Keep one simple rule in mind with everything.

Round peg, round hole. Square peg, square hole.

There is absolutely nowhere those plugs, cards, etc will go that they do not "fit" in place. If something doesn't "fit" then you're doing it wrong.
 
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