Pulled power cable out of PC now it won't start at all

sniper786

my brother pulled the mains power adapter from my dell xps 420 while it was still on and now it won't work. I took it to Currys know how service (who I know are generally poor but they offer a free diagnosis service) who said it needed a new motherboard, I was hoping it just needed a new psu to be honest. However, they did not seem sure as the first guy I spoke to said the power supply was knackered and his 2 colleagues were like no it is the motherboard.

where can I get a replacement motherboard for my model and how difficult is it to replace as I have replaced small and easy things before like ram and disk drives but nothing more complicated than that. I have been told to get a motherboard directly compatible with my system to save on problems with constantly reinstalling the OS.

Any ideas on my next best course if action.

P.s it is out of warranty and dell want £50 to diagnose the issue and then anything extra for fixing it plus parts cost.

Slayerx

Motherboards are easy to install however you will need to make sure the other components RAM, HDD, GPU etc are all going to be compatible.

Also the OS is it retail or OEM?

kwikbreaks

It sounds to me like Curry's were just guessing. What exactly happens when you try to power it up? Any lights visible anywhere? Any beeping? Any sound at all? Fans? Disks?

Buying a new board on the basis of a guess is going to be expensive if that guess wasn't spot on. If you aren't capable of diagnosing it and there are no symptoms somebody here can recognise you may be better off consulting a local repair shop.

IMO losing power isn't likely to screw up either the motherboard or the PSU - if it did every power outage would be followed by gnashing teeth and that simply doesn't happen.

bluesnake

I have pulled quite a few mains cables out in my time from both servers and PCs, had the odd psu go, but can't ever remember a motherboard going.

Have killed a few MB by plugging in the vga cable though, but always one model from a manufacturer

Check plug fuse also - look on youtube, shows you how to test psu with multimeter.

probably get loads of spares from ebay

closed

what does 'now it wont work' mean

The most likely effect of an unintended powerdown is a corrupt hard disk, not a dead motherboard or psu

prowla

sniper786 wrote: »

Pulled power cable out of PC now it won't start at all

You need to plug it back in.

prowla

OK, being serious, it's a 2007 PC, with (assuming it's got a Q6600 CPU) a reasonable spec.

Any tech should be able to tell whether it's the power supply which has failed, because it won't be outputting any power...(But it could be a fuse.)

I don't know the particular model, as to whether it takes a standard power supply or a Dell special. Given that it's a mini-tower, it could well take a standard one, in which case it's just a matter of choosing a compatible one.

If it's the motherboard, you often see Dell mobos up on ebay, but sometimes they cost more than a whole s/h PC.

Your system has some viable components in it, if you were to replace it, including the graphics card, the CPU, the memory, and the disks.

emptybox

You might have trouble finding the exact same motherboard.
According to the specs it's the Dell 0TP406, which is BTX form factor.
(most motherboards are ATX, mATX or ITX)

macman

Very unlikely to be the mobo. Take it to an independent and they'll give you a proper diagnosis and quote. The diagnostic cost is then offset against the repair cost if you proceed. PSU test takes five minutes.

spannerzone

Assuming the fuse didn't blow in the plug (unlikely but you never know) Yep, I agree with macman - the PSU is an easy test and if you don't have a spare one then a small independent PC shop will. It is unlikely the motherboard has failed and if it has you'd have to get a Dell replacement as that case won't accept any old standard ATX motherboard as already mentioned.

Chances are the PSU failed and a replacement will sort it.

donny-gal

I'm no expert, but feel sure the person saying it was the motherboard was talking out of his situpon. DG