My Computer Died, now what...

[Cognisant]

The last and most tragic victim of 2016, was my computer.

I went to turn it on and there was nothing, no lights, no fans, nothing.
Checked all the connections, nothing, got a new PSU, still nothing, tried hot wiring the on switch, not a beep, unplugged the USB connectors in case it was a shorted port, finally I had to accept my loss, it's the motherboard.

Seven years, my beauty, my beast, I miss you.

But I knew this day would come, nothing good lasts forever.
So now I'm wondering what I'm going to do, should I have a fresh start and build a new rig from scratch, try find another ASRock Z87 and bring back the dead, or just salvage some of it and rebuild on a new motherboard in a new case.

I've got two Nividia GTX 780 graphics cards, four 8gb sticks of RAM, extracting the processor seems likely to cause issues and the fan that came with it I never liked anyway (but the other one was too big), the 1000W power supply is probably ok (I figured I'd overspec for reliability) and I've got a glossy new Corsair RM850x PSU that I'm going to return this weekend.

I miss my PC

 

[JimJambones]

I wish my computer had a vagina, a V drive; that would make it complete. Sorry for your loss, that sucks!

 

[stoopid]

Toss out the single PC and make a cluster!

The picture listed below can be reduced into a smaller project, or if you have the budget to allow this, maybe you can get some inspiration to get out of a central data processing computer and have ARM computers to each individual job as a single unit. Imagine a colony of bees compared to the queen. Yes the queen may manage it, but the workers get the job done. Who can get the job done more efficiently? The queen directing orders? Or the bee's (ARM devices clustered into managing your processes individually) Who is getting work done at a higher speed? Delegate your PC to multiples, this is where I am putting my money into. I want to cluster probably 15 pi's into a multitasking beast.

3 laptop monitors (14-9/32" x 9-1/2")
Bracket connections that typically get mounted into the rear portion of whatever laptop you pull them from, will get bolted onto a MDF wooden frame that combines the screens into a multi-display. (I prefer laptop monitors because of the size and they're easier on my eyes, and require no calibration for good quality)

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-reuse-the-old-LCD-Screen-of-your-broken-Lap/

Mounted above those 3 monitors would be your main monitors
(2- Samsung 25" 1080p on swiveling mounting kit.)

Switchboard/foot pedal to manipulate the monitors and rotate the screens to adjust to your focus/ current workspace.

I present to you.... the raspberry pi cluster machine.

I will add more content later, I need to go roll cigarettes.

Or do what your wife wants you to do, throw it away. You need to get off the computer and spend more time in reality!

 

[Nymus Anon]

I would keep the graphics cards, RAM, and power supply, and use those with new parts to build your new computer. I probably wouldn't mess with the processor if it would cause issues.

 

[Pyropyro]

Have you tried praying to the Omnissiah to revive your rig's machine spirit?

Seriously though, I prefer that you salvage any useful parts instead of starting over to save on costs.

 

[QuickTwist]

Did you check the MOSFET battery?

 

[Cognisant]

There's no battery charger MOSFET, it's not a laptop.

I have a low opinion of gaming laptops ever since I worked in retail and saw how many cooked themselves; you just can't get tower performance without tower cooling.

 

[The Gopher]

should I have a fresh start and build a new rig from scratch, try find another ASRock Z87 and bring back the dead, or just salvage some of it and rebuild on a new motherboard in a new case.

I call dibs on any broken parts you can't sell.

 

[Reluctantly]

I think sell the parts, but I guess you can't be sure anything else works unless you can verify it's only the motherboard.

Did any capacitors blow on the board? I've heard sometimes you can replace those and it comes back alive. I'm assuming you're using a surge protector so I won't go there. Though it's still possible a lightning surge got through the protection anyway. In which case, you don't know what's really fried then. Course if the PSU still operates, I doubt it was a surge that did it.

If you're lazy, just buy a new motherboard. If you're not, sell that shit on ebay and buy new parts. If anything doesn't work, maybe you can rma them? I don't know. Sounds like a lot of work. Maybe buying a new motherboard is the best option unless you're electricity cost for the old machine is a lot compared to a modern more efficient machine that's equivalent in performance.

 

[QuickTwist]

There's no battery charger MOSFET, it's not a laptop.

I have a low opinion of gaming laptops ever since I worked in retail and saw how many cooked themselves; you just can't get tower performance without tower cooling.

Your motherboard has a battery, bro. Check that to make sure it isn't dead.

 

[Architect]

Suicide.

Well actually I'd be surprised to see the parts to sell for anything, old computer parts are worth jack shit. I'd certainly just build a new one.

On the old computer my guess would be a blown power supply since it's coming up dead cold. For one thing did you check the resettable fuse on the supply (if it has one)? You can do further checks but that requires a DVM and some experience.

Just do this - you need to probably buy a new supply anyhow, get one and swap it in. If the computer works now you're home free, if it doesn't then you need to build a new computer from there.

 

[QuickTwist]

Suicide.

Well actually I'd be surprised to see the parts to sell for anything, old computer parts are worth jack shit. I'd certainly just build a new one.

On the old computer my guess would be a blown power supply since it's coming up dead cold. For one thing did you check the resettable fuse on the supply (if it has one)? You can do further checks but that requires a DVM and some experience.

Just do this - you need to probably buy a new supply anyhow, get one and swap it in. If the computer works now you're home free, if it doesn't then you need to build a new computer from there.

Or, you can use a paperclip to see if your power supply is working.

 

[Cognisant]

What part of "I got a new PSU" left ambiguity?
I didn't know motherboards have batteries but I'm not an idiot.

Or, you can use a paperclip to see if your power supply is working.

I could use my tongue too.

Edit: Oh yes it's definitely the RTC battery

 

[Architect]

What part of "I got a new PSU" left ambiguity?

I'll tattoo every word you write on my forehead from now on.

 

[Reluctantly]

So did you try burning it? I've heard sometimes that helps too, though not in the way you probably want.

 

[crippli]

Get a used motherboard from ebay or similar? Swapping the processor should be fine, especially if you use some thermal paste. I generally don't bother, as I tend to use the PC as heat source, so I don't want it running to cold.

 

[Mortecha]

Best thing to do is isolate the problem first. Since you're not seeing lights of any kind, it could be a power supply problem.

A faulty ram stick is also another possibility, so remove two of them and just have the other two running on appropriate channels. so slots 1 and 3 or 2 and 4 to narrow down which one it is.

 

[Reluctantly]

OP did you try dumping canola oil on the motherboard? This stabilizes the quark ions on the flux capacitor channels and it will sometimes start right up after that.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

Seven years? Wow.

AMD's Ryzen is coming so I'd hold off on cpu+mobo upgrades for awhile. And Nvidia's pascal gpus are starting to drop in price as well perhaps due to the looming vega release from AMD.