Re: [PLUG] More hardware woes

[Syeed Ali via plug <plug@lists.phillylinux.org>]

I'm late to this, so maybe I have duplicate opinions..




On Wed, 16 Nov 2022 21:31:09 -0500
Walt Mankowski via plug <plug@lists.phillylinux.org> wrote:

> This morning they called me up. They said they couldn't find anything
> wrong with it. Their best guess was that dust had gotten into
> someplace it shouldn't, and when they blew out the dust it must have
> fixed it.

That would have to be some magic soot straight out of Spirited Away
(2001).


> So now it's shut off again and I'm back on my Mac laptop. I'm trying
> to decide if it's worth bringing it back to Micro Center or just
> cutting my losses and building a new box.

Were I you, the decision would be between bringing it back and arguing
for a discounted second-pass with them using more of their own
known-good parts (even down to the cables) or you tearing the whole box
apart and reassembling and testing piece by piece while rebuilding it.
Personally I'd pick the latter.


I'm blaming hardware because your system has had issues right on the
BIOS screen.

I'm trying to wrack my brains as to what parts can be flexed to have a
system power off, but only after a moment, and yet not give you magic
smoke.  Have you investigated to see if anything has a scent?

I intuit there's something like a cable or other connection that's
flexing or is poorly-seated (damaged?).  This is one way how things act
differently each time they are worked on.  Imagine things being
influenced when tugged, pushed, and flexed.

Firstly, I am suspicious of your GPU.  It getting a good yank was right
at the beginning of this misadventure.


Do any of your card slots have any unusual discoloration? (especially
little streaks).  Have you examined the contacts of your cards and
devices?

First though, and I know it's a dumb idea, consider resetting the BIOS
by removing the battery and waiting a few minutes.

Then begin by yanking everything nonessential and repeatedly booting,
powering off, prodding, and powering on.

If you can, remove the motherboard and power supply from the case and
test outside of it.  Brent mentioned the "screw under the board"
problem.  I've had that.  Then wait until the last moment to reinstall
into it.

Examine the motherboard.  Maybe a capacitor got loose; you never know.



An overheating CPU will power a system down during boot.  Is its fan
running well?  Is your heatsink attached well?  Lift it and examine the
old paste to see if anything looks strange, then clean the paste,
remove the CPU and examine it and the socket (and the area around it).
Then replace it with new.  While you can skip this step if you don't
have paste (do not do it without new paste!), I think this step is
important enough that it should be kept in mind and done later if all
else fails.

On Sun, 06 Nov 2022 18:14:22 -0500
Walt Mankowski via plug <plug@lists.phillylinux.org> wrote:

> It does seem to take longer to shut off if it sits for a while. Maybe
> one of the fans has failed? Who knows?

This is why I wonder about CPU overheating.

-

Then try booting from a flash drive.

Then add one single part at a time, repeating the process.  Really
examine each part.  Note any cables which have a kink in them or need
to be bent a fair amount when installed.

For each effort, let it sit for 1+ minutes.  Stay in the room for each
attempt and never leave the room when it's powered on.

___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group         --        http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug