Use a contact cleaner on both the RAM and PCIE slots. Also try a different power supply.

dominusprog wrote on 2024-06-16, 18:15:

Use a contact cleaner on both the RAM and PCIE slots. Also try a different power supply.

Best i can currently do is use 30% isopropyl alcohol, sadly. However i see people saying 99% IPA is a decent alternative to contact cleaner when doing similar stuff and the only difference between 30% and 99% is the fact that 30% has more water so it takes longer to dry, but im fine with that longer wait time
+ i think its fine as theres no electric current going through it.

n0vac_ wrote on 2024-06-16, 19:08:

dominusprog wrote on 2024-06-16, 18:15:

Use a contact cleaner on both the RAM and PCIE slots. Also try a different power supply.

Best i can currently do is use 30% isopropyl alcohol, sadly. However i see people saying 99% IPA is a decent alternative to contact cleaner when doing similar stuff and the only difference between 30% and 99% is the fact that 30% has more water so it takes longer to dry, but im fine with that longer wait time
+ i think its fine as theres no electric current going through it.

Well, you can wash the whole motherboard with hot water and soap. One other thing, it's better to disconnect those USB wires, they didn't use a standard wire with shielding.

dominusprog wrote on 2024-06-16, 19:15:

n0vac_ wrote on 2024-06-16, 19:08:

dominusprog wrote on 2024-06-16, 18:15:

Use a contact cleaner on both the RAM and PCIE slots. Also try a different power supply.

Best i can currently do is use 30% isopropyl alcohol, sadly. However i see people saying 99% IPA is a decent alternative to contact cleaner when doing similar stuff and the only difference between 30% and 99% is the fact that 30% has more water so it takes longer to dry, but im fine with that longer wait time
+ i think its fine as theres no electric current going through it.

Well, you can wash the whole motherboard with hot water and soap. One other thing, it's better to disconnect those USB wires, they didn't use a standard wire with shielding.

what would be so bad if they stay connected? this is my first experience with taking apart a proper computer (and not a laptop) so im pretty confused with everything (and also why so much stuff needs so much pressure (the ram going in, cables going out etc)

Check the coin battery voltage, if not at least 3.0v it needs be replaced. Some boards will not boot proper if that battery is low or dead.

Horun wrote on 2024-06-16, 19:46:

Check the coin battery voltage, if not at least 3.0v it needs be replaced. Some boards will not boot proper if that battery is low or dead.

uuf, i have a small issue:
i dont have a multimeter (very sad, but planning to get one soon, along with a heatgun)
dont think theres another way for me to check it unless the weird arduino clone i have works to somehow do that (if it works as a simple uart thing to let me access other devices uart interface with my laptop and it also apparently works according to others as a bios flasher so 😜 maybe it could)

i dont actually have a lot to work with here but ill see if i can check somehow or if any neighbours or friends (or family) have one

After cleaning the slots and the components with the 30% IPA, and letting them dry until now (about 14-16 hours?), i've reassembled the computer, plugged everything in, and its still stuck in that weird limbo state of not having a bios beep but power flowing through.

Wild guess but; couldn't the BIOS on the motherboard somehow be screwed or something?
I mean, the builtin pc speaker does 3 long beeps when theres no ram, but when you put ram in, theres 0 beep, no booting, no vga.

n0vac_ wrote on 2024-06-17, 11:31:

After cleaning the slots and the components with the 30% IPA, and letting them dry until now (about 14-16 hours?), i've reassembled the computer, plugged everything in, and its still stuck in that weird limbo state of not having a bios beep but power flowing through.

Wild guess but; couldn't the BIOS on the motherboard somehow be screwed or something?
I mean, the builtin pc speaker does 3 long beeps when theres no ram, but when you put ram in, theres 0 beep, no booting, no vga.

And if the BIOS is screwed, couldn't i somehow flash it? Although im not too sure what could be the bios chip on here in the first place, or how to flash it considering i dont have any soldering tools or programmers (but i do have an arduino and ive heard they work as programmers sometimes)

Uhoh, those dots on the traces of the motherboard that dont look like metal on it dont seem good.

Nevermind, brother blew up the power supply when trying to fix the pc with me (Changed the switch on it from 230v to 115v when it was plugged it, my room was half full of smoke)

Also says he wont buy a new one so, oh well

n0vac_ wrote on 2024-06-18, 10:09:

Nevermind, brother blew up the power supply when trying to fix the pc with me (Changed the switch on it from 230v to 115v when it was plugged it, my room was half full of smoke)

Also says he wont buy a new one so, oh well

ouch! well, it might have been the power supply but then that pic of the mainboard doesn't look too good either, though ive seen worse still working, it could even be a single failed capacitor somewhere

its worth buying a multimeter anyway, just one to keep handy. even a very cheap on is always a good addition for checking low voltage things.

i think if it were me i would consider keeping the case, freeing the cpu & cooler and ram, looking online for a very cheap similar motherboard in working order (either empty or with cpu/ram as bundle), buying a new power supply (cheap ones are often ok-ish if you don't want to spend big, but well regarded brands and models are better). Maybe a cheap SSD. Making sure all components are compatible of course.

then you may end up with a 775 system, e5700 cpu, 2gb ram, 120gb ssd + 500gb hdd, gs8400 card, dvd rom, onboard sound and all ready for win 7 and some older games circa 2000-2007ish

in any case, you had yourself a true retro adventure with it all 😀

gerry wrote on 2024-06-18, 10:43:

ouch! well, it might have been the power supply but then that pic of the mainboard doesn't look too good either, though ive see […]
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n0vac_ wrote on 2024-06-18, 10:09:

Nevermind, brother blew up the power supply when trying to fix the pc with me (Changed the switch on it from 230v to 115v when it was plugged it, my room was half full of smoke)

Also says he wont buy a new one so, oh well

ouch! well, it might have been the power supply but then that pic of the mainboard doesn't look too good either, though ive seen worse still working, it could even be a single failed capacitor somewhere

its worth buying a multimeter anyway, just one to keep handy. even a very cheap on is always a good addition for checking low voltage things.

i think if it were me i would consider keeping the case, freeing the cpu & cooler and ram, looking online for a very cheap similar motherboard in working order (either empty or with cpu/ram as bundle), buying a new power supply (cheap ones are often ok-ish if you don't want to spend big, but well regarded brands and models are better). Maybe a cheap SSD. Making sure all components are compatible of course.

then you may end up with a 775 system, e5700 cpu, 2gb ram, 120gb ssd + 500gb hdd, gs8400 card, dvd rom, onboard sound and all ready for win 7 and some older games circa 2000-2007ish

in any case, you had yourself a true retro adventure with it all 😀

i mean, i might have accidentally also screwed the mainboard while screwing it in and unscrewing it so : P
but yeah once i can convince someone in my family to buy a multimeter i will
ive decided to currently throw the case back in the garage but take all components that i can out of it (dvd drive, mainboard, fan etc), its either i convince them to buy a power supply and a motherboard for about the price of a slightly more modern refurbished pc or i find a cool old pc that works thats cheap

untill then, we will see what happens. i could ask my father if hes fine with me taking an old laptop (not that old, some toshiba that ran windows 7 i think) out of the attic, but he will probably say no
we also apparently had another, older pc but it might have been sold to someone because of my grandma (even though it wasnt hers, or anything in there wasnt hers, but whatever)

If I had to guess, probably either the power supply or that stock Intel "push-pin" style cooler were the cause of all your system's instability.
The PSU is prime suspect, though. The included power supplies in Delux cases (or any cheapo cases for that matter) are pretty garbage. And even if that power supply was replaced, I can still tell you it's a cheap POS. How I know? - The sticker on it lists multiple models with different power ratings. This is something that ultra-cheap PSU manufacturer's do so they don't have to print different labels for their "different" model PSUs. So any PSU with multi-model list on its sticker should automatically be considered garbage.

But it looks like you / your brother already "took care of it" by playing with the voltage selector switch 😉 - good riddance!
Only thing such cheap PSUs are good for is to learn how to (de)solder parts, if you have any interest in that. In fact, cheap PSUs are the best when it comes to soldering practice, as they use single-layer boards and are easy to take apart. The components you gather from them can also be valuable if you ever intent to get into electronics repair or other electronic projects.

Anyways... aside from the crappy PSU, you may also want to remedy that stock Intel CPU cooler by either replacing it entirely (for something better) or at the very least get rid of the push-pins and replace them with bolts (and springs), backing against a backplate of some sort on the rear of the motherboard. I just did that last week to a similar ASUS socket 775 board that was acting up and not always booting reliably and not always detecting the RAM in all of the RAM slots. I got rid of the silly Intel push-pin cooler and like magic, all of the problems on that board went away.

momaka wrote on 2024-06-21, 00:54:

If I had to guess, probably either the power supply or that stock Intel "push-pin" style cooler were the cause of all your syste […]
Show full quote

If I had to guess, probably either the power supply or that stock Intel "push-pin" style cooler were the cause of all your system's instability.
The PSU is prime suspect, though. The included power supplies in Delux cases (or any cheapo cases for that matter) are pretty garbage. And even if that power supply was replaced, I can still tell you it's a cheap POS. How I know? - The sticker on it lists multiple models with different power ratings. This is something that ultra-cheap PSU manufacturer's do so they don't have to print different labels for their "different" model PSUs. So any PSU with multi-model list on its sticker should automatically be considered garbage.

But it looks like you / your brother already "took care of it" by playing with the voltage selector switch 😉 - good riddance!
Only thing such cheap PSUs are good for is to learn how to (de)solder parts, if you have any interest in that. In fact, cheap PSUs are the best when it comes to soldering practice, as they use single-layer boards and are easy to take apart. The components you gather from them can also be valuable if you ever intent to get into electronics repair or other electronic projects.

Anyways... aside from the crappy PSU, you may also want to remedy that stock Intel CPU cooler by either replacing it entirely (for something better) or at the very least get rid of the push-pins and replace them with bolts (and springs), backing against a backplate of some sort on the rear of the motherboard. I just did that last week to a similar ASUS socket 775 board that was acting up and not always booting reliably and not always detecting the RAM in all of the RAM slots. I got rid of the silly Intel push-pin cooler and like magic, all of the problems on that board went away.

Well, currently, ive got some money, but ive decided that a good power supply and a new cpu cooler would be pretty expensive, but i ended up just buying a ThinkCentre off of a site for pretty cheap. Whenever i get more money, ill end up fixing the delux pc too.

n0vac_ wrote on 2024-06-22, 19:32:

Well, let us know how it goes when you do.
BTW, no need to buy a new cooler and PSU. Used ones will suffice. For the PSU, just pick something that isn't a no-name brand. I don't know how Romania is with used parts, but south of you in Bulgaria, the prices of used PC parts are sometimes quite OK. OLX and Bazar are the two big sites we used for used parts. I think OLX is actually popular in several countries in Europe, IIRC.