Would a screw found in pc case short circuit the pc?

[budz]

I built a pc a few weeks ago for relative. When the cable company installer tried to hookup the roadrunner the computer would not boot up. There was only a high pitched long beeping sound. All the guy did was press the power switch on the computer. The computer worked before the cable guy arrived. So I took the computer back to my home and opened up the case thinking the video card or the memory was bad. I found a screw that I guess must have been rolling around in the case. Would that short circuit all the computer components?

I ended up RMA the motherboard combo and ordered from a different company. I ordered from newegg.com this time. I installed the video card, speaker, power supply, pw, reset pw, & hed to the mobo. On the first boot up there was a burnt smell and there was nothing on the monitor. I disconnected the power cord, reset the video card and still nothing showed on the monitor. I changed the power supply to a spare antec 300 watt I had. Same thing happened nothing appears on the monitor when I tried to boot up. There is no beeps just nothing appears on the monitor. Is the video card fried because of that screw I found? I'm ready to throw the towel in and give up because it won't boot up. I don't want to have to send this to a computer shop to have it tested out. This is a new motherboard, memory and cpu. I even tried another spare video card I had and nothing appears on the monitor.

I would appreciate any suggestions and advice. Thanks in advance!

[Capmaster]

My guess:

1) The loose screw rolled under the MB and shorted a PS voltage to ground. It created an efficient RSG (Random Smoke Generator) out of the MB. PS got fried too. Possibly your cards.
2) You replaced the MB using the same PS. It fried the new MB and created a new RSG.
3) You replaced the PS, but now the damage has been done. MB fried ..possibly this PS is still good.

Does this sound about right? It's the classic user-assisted cascading failure

I don't mean to be glib, but sometimes the sequence you do things in can hurt you. I wish I could honestly say I've never done it myself, but I can't. Let's not go into exactly how many times I have, OK?

[budz]

Thanks so much capmaster for replying to my post. I'll have to chalk this up to a good learning experience.

You mentioned the power supply is fried and the cards as well. I assume you meant the video card and ethernet card. Are the other components such as the CPU, memory, optical drives such as dvdrom, dvdburner and antec case fried as well?

[handyguy]

can't really say but the drives should be alright. I would not use the case or the cards again, most are real cheap anyway.

[budz]

Thanks handyguy for the reply. I'll have to test out the drives that possibly are fried with another pc at a later time. I don't wanna take the chance and use them. I've already put in a order for a new cpu, mobo, & memory. I'll be purchasing a new case, video card, ethernet card and hard drive today. I got a spare dvdrom and a brand new dvdburner that I actually bought for myself but I'll have to use it to replace the possible fried one. What a expensive lesson I've learned. As they say Live & Learn!!!

[rallynavvie]

Hey, I burned an ATX power connector together on my last board and it didn't hurt my CPUs, half my RAM, and none of my PCI cards or drives. If there were a fault with the power supply it would have done in the board but likely stopped there.

[budz]

Thanks for the tip rallynavvie! I'll have to troubleshoot the stuff later. If only the mobo and power supply was fried and the other components turn out ok. I'll just use those components to build another pc in the future. For now I gotta get a new pc built for my cousin. I feel crappy about all this but like I said, "Live & Learn"!

[Capmaster]

Sorry budz that I didn't get back sooner. When you have a conductive screw rolling around, whether or not it took out your PCI cards along with the MB is strictly chance, and it's silly to say "probably" or "probably not". Nobody saw where it shorted the board. Same with the CPU. The only realistic answer is "maybe" or "perhaps". Troubleshooting will help you determine what exactly got fried.

[budz]

Capmaster wrote:

Sorry budz that I didn't get back sooner.

It's ok Capmaster! Thanks for the replying and giving me some advice. I appreciate you and everyone else that replied to my post.



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[Capmaster]

No prob

[budz]

Good news the cpu wasn't fried just the motherboard, memory, power supply and case. I took it to a computer shop to get tested. Just the motherboard is fried, cpu tested out ok. Thank goodness! I'll be taking down the video card on at the end of the week to get it tested as well. The guy only charged me 10 bucks to test the cpu since I had no clue in testing it out myself.

[indolikaa]

The answer is yes.


The worst ones are the motherboard studs that mount the motherboard to your case. I forgot about one of those, once. The results were spectacular and instantaneous. The only thing that survived was the RAM; the board, CPU, video card, SCSI controller and power supply went to silicon heaven.

It sounds like you are on your way to solving this problem. That's good to hear. Good luck.

[rallynavvie]

Make sure to invest in a good power supply now that you need one. If you need some pointers just ask.

[budz]

Thanks idolikka and rallynavvie for replying. I already purchased a new antec case with a 350 watt power supply. Here's the link for it: http://www.antec-inc.com/us/pro_details_enclosure.php?ProdID=92650#

That case should be fine the cpu is only a pent 4 2.26 mhz/533 bus. It has that fan on the case cover that hovers over the cpu and heat sink fan.

[rallynavvie]

What was wrong with the previous case? All you needed to do was replace the PSU in it I thought.

[indolikaa]

Come on, rally. You know the basic rule of computer whoring! When one item breaks, it's time to replace four others.


"I went to the computer store for a CD-RW, I came home with a new motherboard, RAM, CPU and video card. Oh, I got a CD-RW, too."

[budz]

What was wrong with the previous case? All you needed to do was replace the PSU in it I thought.

I figured the case is fried as well because of the power connector from the front of the case was attached to the pc as well as the speaker, hed & pw reset. I don't wanna take a chance and fry another mobo.

"I went to the computer store for a CD-RW, I came home with a new motherboard, RAM, CPU and video card. Oh, I got a CD-RW, too."

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[rallynavvie]

"I went to the computer store for a CD-RW, I came home with a new motherboard, RAM, CPU and video card. Oh, I got a CD-RW, too."

Shit I don't go to computer stores for exactly that reason. I send a friend or the gf to General Nanosystems (the local computer hardware shop) because I'd go there and completely forget what I went there for. They're so overpriced on a lot of things that I find myself going over NewEgg every damn day. That place owns my soul and I hoping like hell one of these days they'll send it back to me with one of my orders

[budz]

Just wanted to give a update! The dvd-rom & dvd burner wasn't fried! But the hard drive I'm not so sure of. I gotta test it out throughly tomorrow in another pc.

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[budz]

Hard drive, video card and lan card all work fine!!!! Thank god they weren't fried along with the motherboard! There is a GOD!!!!