[nvsblmnc]

Here's the scenario:

I'm playing FC2, tearing through Africa, when the screen freezes and my headphones emit an ear-piercing, monotone shriek.  Ctrl Alt Del does nothing (nor any other 'HELP!' key combo', so I reset the system.

Problem is, now when the system powers up, the HDD light comes on steadily and then nothing else.  No POST beep, no click-whirr from the HDD actually doing anything, and my monitor screaming "NO SIGNAL INPUT" at me.  I've rescued some pretty wrecked systems before, but this is new to me.

Before I start dismantling and replacing stuff, can anyone give me a clue as to what's most liekly to have failed?

[blackhole]

FC2 is part of a government conspiracy to destroy your computer.

 

[Titan]

FC2?

And is it a Microsoft comp, or something that actually... works?

[nvsblmnc]

Far Cry 2.

And it definately works - £3000 of Alienware goodness.  Only problem is it's more than 3 years old, so no warrany of any kind left.

[Bob-san]

Far Cry 2.

And it definately works - £3000 of Alienware goodness.  Only problem is it's more than 3 years old, so no warrany of any kind left.

I'm sorry. That's about £2000 too expensive. If you have THAT type of money, go buy a new dual-Nehalem Mac Pro.

In other news, send it back to Alienware. It's their problem, and Dell is a real ***** for honoring warranties.

[nvsblmnc]

I'm sorry. That's about £2000 too expensive. If you have THAT type of money, go buy a new dual-Nehalem Mac Pro.

It was supposed to be an investment for the future.  As in it keeps working and I wouldn't need to buy any new equipment for a very long time.  Seemed like a good idea until now because I haven't had to change/upgrade anything since I bought it.

[Ghostavo]

Far Cry 2.

And it definately works - £3000 of Alienware goodness.  Only problem is it's more than 3 years old, so no warrany of any kind left.

I'm sorry. That's about £2000 too expensive. If you have THAT type of money, go buy a new dual-Nehalem Mac Pro.

In other news, send it back to Alienware. It's their problem, and Dell is a real ***** for honoring warranties.

 

Let me get this straight, you criticise him for buying an expensive computer and tell him to buy another one from an overpriced brand?

 

[captain-custard]

breakyour front door and report it stolen ....

then claim on the house insurance

[Liberator]

Unfortunately,  its' dead. 

It's a Dell, if it's not out of warranty, file a claim.  Otherwise, build/have built something better for less.  Alienware is notorious for overcharging for underpowered stuff.

And Mac's are ****ty for gaming, no matter what the hypnotized fanboys claim.

Not saying they're not good at somethings, but for gaming, Macs are the weaker of the species.

[Hellstryker]

Methinks the motherboard is b0rqu3d. I've had this happen to me before, but after a few tries it finally works. It'll give me a "windows has recovered from a serious error" or some crap like that.

And, build your own PC next time.

[nvsblmnc]

That's the plan.  I wasn't aware at the time of how expensive AW were.  Thought I was getting the best, know better 3 years down the line.

I was hoping to get at least 2 more years out of this one, though.

Time to start experimenting...

[Bob-san]

Far Cry 2.

And it definately works - £3000 of Alienware goodness.  Only problem is it's more than 3 years old, so no warrany of any kind left.

I'm sorry. That's about £2000 too expensive. If you have THAT type of money, go buy a new dual-Nehalem Mac Pro.

In other news, send it back to Alienware. It's their problem, and Dell is a real ***** for honoring warranties.

 

Let me get this straight, you criticise him for buying an expensive computer and tell him to buy another one from an overpriced brand?

 

What I'm saying is I criticize him for buying an expensive Dell and then tell him to buy another one from an overpriced and overrated brand. And then become a Mac Snob, because everyone thinks those guys are so cool.

In reality, it's (almost always) better to spend $800-1200 on a PC and then upgrade it generation by generation. Some stuff, like a water-cooling kit, can be very expensive, but can transfer to half a dozen systems with minimal upgrades. And it's only annual maintenance--meaning that when you upgrade, you can also drain/clean/upgrade/clean again/test/refill the system. I spent $800 on my system back in late 2007, and in 2009 now I've <$200 worth of upgrades.

[Hellstryker]

What Bob said. I haven't upgraded mine yet, I really should. The point is I could throw in the latest AMD Quadcore out there, along with any card and 16 gigs of RAM. Of course, doing so would be ridiculous, but you get the idea.

[Flipside]

The killer is the MBoard, I'm going for a full upgrade this time round because I'm upping to a Quad-core processor, which means pulling out and replacing the motherboard, so I may as well just get a complete system, especially since mine started showing its age to the point where some of the USB ports refuse to work, and the DVD Burner refuses to recognise just about anything.

[Liberator]

Never underestimate the importance of a quality power supply.

Modern systems need a 500 watt power supply, minimum.  'Specially those overpowered dual, triple or quadruple video card monsters.  Good brands include Cooler Master, Antec(True Power preferably), PC Power and Cooling, and a couple of others.  What you want to look for is multiple high amp 12v rails.  Modern computers run on basically 12v power, there are things that need the other stuff, but the power hogs are all 12v.

[Ghostavo]

Never underestimate the importance of a quality power supply.

Modern systems need a 500 watt power supply, minimum.  'Specially those overpowered dual, triple or quadruple video card monsters.  Good brands include Cooler Master, Antec(True Power preferably), PC Power and Cooling, and a couple of others.  What you want to look for is multiple high amp 12v rails.  Modern computers run on basically 12v power, there are things that need the other stuff, but the power hogs are all 12v.

I leave as an exercise for the reader to find the fault in logic.

[IceFire]

Definitely sounds like the motherboard kicked the bucket.  Seeing as you had a screen freeze and a similtaenous burst of noise from the headphones.

Could have been a power supply failure as well.  Often the two are linked...tricky situation.  You could try and find replacement parts but when you have custom systems like that its a real pain unless you go through the vendor themselves.  No idea what they would charge for such parts.

[Rhymes]

Simple, stupid-sounding but semi-logical question:

How hot was your computer when it crashed?

[DeepSpace9er]

Thats right.. spend $2500 on a Mac Pro with mediocre video card options and an OS that cant run FS2.

[Titan]

All I can say is, my new comp is 

It's a dual core AMD Athalon, has an A15G motherboard, and (looks back the dxdiag window) an NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS.

The previous owner used it to play Crysis.