So heres the situation. Several days ago I accidentally unplugged the PSU power cord from the wall socket while the computer was in the process of shutting down (after I selected Start>Shutdown), but didn't plug it back in immediately since I was in a rush to leave. The power cord was plugged back in to the wall socket after I got home several hours later. I didn't turn on the computer till the next day. Currently the computer won't boot (no POST) and the monitor displays a warning message that says the computer is going into power saving mode. The computer starts up and the fans are spinning. However, instead of the usual green light that is shown on the front of the tower, a solid amber light appears. The usual loud beep that indicates the POST is not present, and is instead replaced by a very very faint beep that I do not know the origins of (I'm not sure if this was present before). The mouse, keyboard and gfx was removed, no POST. CMOS battery was removed and reinserted and the jumper was reset, no POST (I have not yet tried a new battery replacement). Hard drive and dvd was disconnected, no POST. Power cords and connectors were disconnected and reconnected, no POST. RAM was removed but there was no beeps that usually indicate missing RAM. I don't have another PSU so I didn't try a replacement. The motherboard is a Biostar P4M80-M4, using an Antec SL350 PSU. I couldn't get at the processor since I not to sure of how to remove the heatsink fan, but the model is Intel A80856-003. The system is second hand, so I'm not too sure of it's exact specs. Nothing new (software and hardware) had been recently added. Wondering if anyone has any clue to what went wrong or how I could possibly troubleshoot/fix.
I'd swap out the power supply first with a known good one. I have a stack of Antec SL350 and other model Channel Well OEM's sold under Antec brand all failed and dissected. All of them have the cheap caps and fans that fail...the 5V SB caps and often the 3/5 volt filter caps go and result in voltage fluctuations/spikes at the least. Antec changed to most of their poducts are now based on Seasonic and OEM's by Seasonic. If still no boot with a high quality power supply, and you know your RAM and CPU are good then it's likley the Motherboard.
I would try another PSU. Also remove power cord from wall, cmos battery and maybe the GPU as well overnight. Try in morning, sometimes it can take a few hours for cmos to clear, usually about a half hr tops but this way u get all power drained from the system, just press the on button a few times as well before you head to bed.
Recently had a similar situation with two customer computers due to power surges caused by lightning storms in the area. Case one: computer 100% dead- press the power button and nothing happens. Tested the PSU on my tester, it was fried. Replaced PSU, now computer fires up when power button pressed- but nothing on the display and no boot up beeps. Hard drive spins, DVD drive spins and ejects, all system fans running at full speed, CPU gets warm, HDD activity and power LED constantly on- but no boot up and no output to the monitor. So I replaced the motherboard- to my astonishment... no change! Still exactly same symptoms as above. Only thing left to change out at this point is the Socket A AMD CPU. So I got a used one from ebay for $20- popped it in and this time everything worked 100% normal. -So in this case the power surge fried the PSU and CPU. Weather the original motherboard was good or bad is unknown because I wasn't about to swap out the new one with everything working 100% perfect just to satisfy my curiosity. But, being that after installing the new motherboard (with the original CPU) and still seeing the exact same symptoms as the original motherboard displayed- I'm guessing the original motherboard was/is still good. I advised the customer to save the old motherboard. Weird thing was- even though the CPU was proved bad- it still got warm when the power was applied. Case two: computer 100% dead- press the power button and nothing happens. Tested the PSU on my tester, this time it was good to my surprise. Plugged in a replacement bench PSU just to be sure- still nothing when pressing the power button. Reset the CMOS and removed everything including memory and CPU- still nothing. This time I had another computer sitting around (abandoned repair that customer never picked up) that had the same Pentium 4 CPU socket 478. So I popped the CPU from this broken computer in the known good motherboard- and it fired up perfectly, then I popped the CPU from the abandoned computer into the non working computer- and still 100% dead- no lights, no fan, nothing from any PSU I tried. -So in this case the PSU and CPU both survived the power surge- but it fried the motherboard. Strange how the same storm can fry the PSU and CPU and not the motherboard on one computer (Shuttle Barebones), and fry the motherboard (MSI brand) and not damage the PSU or CPU on another computer.
The industry "standard" answer on that question is 3 years. Technology seems to hit a new high in about that time frame. However, from a practical standpoint, that could get expensive; you are buying the "latest" technology. Five years is probably more the norm and besides if you wait a bit, all of the beta bugs and glitches will be worked out and all of the updates will be in one handy "service package." Actually, if your computer is 10 years old, still working well, and your computing needs have not expanded, I wouldn't upgrade at all. If you want to use the very latest software, or play the latest games, then, of course, your needs have expanded and you'll need to upgrade.