Question : Problem: After frequent BSODs the PC won't boot at all. Details inside...

A friend of mine is having trouble with his computer so I said I'd ask here for a solution.

Here is the problem in more detail...

Started getting the odd BSOD. After the first one, they started getting more frequent and peaked at around 1-2 times a day. The BSODs always said 'No solution found'. When he was playing a game called 'Guild Wars' he got several messages about overheating, so he rebooted but the monitor stayed blank. The PC will not boot what-so-ever anymore. The monitor appears to have power but it just stays on amber. Aswell as this, the keyboard doesn't work so can't get into BIOS, and LED lights dont work when he presses cap num lock etc.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

Answer : Problem: After frequent BSODs the PC won't boot at all. Details inside...

"When he was playing a game called 'Guild Wars' he got several messages about overheating".....

Just so i have that in context:  While playing Guild Wars over several days/or a period of time, warnings from the System popped up, warning of the sysetm overheating, and then forced a system shutdown?

3 components give that message:  the PSU, the CPU, and the Graphics Controller.  One or more of them is (probably) damaged due to repeated overheating.  The 'newness' factor doesn't matter at all unfortunately...an overheated computer, is a dying computer.

Start troubleshooting this by removing components. First, remove every card, and external device, from the system (including video).  Boot the PC.  Any change?  Any beeps?  If yes, reinstall the video card only and test...any beeps, any change?  If yes, probably not the video card.  If no, probably blew the card.

If no to the first part part above, next remove main memory, unplug all drives from the MB, and unplug all power connectors from the drives.  Power up.  Any change now?  Should get a memory beep at least.  At this point, we're pretty much stripped down to bare CPU and Power.  Any change? Any beeps?  If no beep, the sysetm likely isnt getting power. At this point, look on the back of the system as well.  Is there a light on the CPU?  Are there any other diagnostic lights back here?  (Dells have a stack of 4 lights the rear, to help track down hardware failures).  Even a green light on the PSU should indicate nomral power going thru the device.

Last thing to pull is the proc, but the system wont do much with it out.  Pull it and see if anything changes.

Ideally, instead of pulling parts completely, you'd swap them with known-good parts (diff graphics card, diff power supply, diff cpu, until you narrow down the bad part).  If you don't have those options, you'll have to try the pull-one-part and observe meathod.

Hope that helps!

-TechInsider

If we get a beep here, the PSU is probably ok.  Yank the heatsink/CPU