Thread: Broken Motherboard? or CPU?

if the machine continues to run
(as opposed to dying as soon as you hit the power button)
I'd say it's the graphics card that's gone

but, to be honest
it's going to be a process of elimination to find out what's wrong

I'm interested in this "new computer smell"
If you smell (what I'm guessing is a burning smell) regularly, I'd get my hardware from elsewhere in future

anyways,
whip out the graphics card, and replace it
see if you can get anything out of it

I second that recommendation.

If it's the motherboard/CPU, there's a good chance the computer would have beeped a POST failure code when you turned it on and none of your devices would function. Some other component is likely causing the problem.

If you do end up replacing your motherboard, you'll have to reinstall XP or install a new OS (you can repair the XP installation, but the results are problematic). This inevitably involves reformatting the hard drive, but you can recover your data beforehand by several methods.

Sounds like it's the video card to me.

While the graphics card is definitely a good thing to check, the fact that the box doesn't die right after you hit power doesn't imply that it isn't the motherboard. The whirring of the power supply and fans (and usually, the power light) is fairly independent of the MoBo. I've lost two motherboards in the past, and the symptoms were the same: Press power, nothing happens (but everything is on). I'd think the "no video card" case would at least get you a beep code.

well i am (well... was) running two monitors. One was on the motherboard's built in and the other one was on a nvidea geforce 6300. usually they would both turn on so i don't think that it's the graphics card. i imagine all of the devices (hard drive, cd drive, etc.) are working because the power supply is working. i dont even see a bios screen so i really have no clue.