total newb, compaq trouble shoot

G

gmjunky87

New Member
okay, i just got this comp the other day from my buddy, he said that the motherboard was toast. so i figured, okay, it's free i'll take it, i asked how old it was and he said about 4 years. put a power cord to it and the thing wouldn't turn on, there was a light on the back of the power supply that was blinking.

the motherboard is a7vbx-la
compaq presario SR11CONX
prod#: PC134A

I have no idea where to start with this thing, i guess a new mother board is about $150, i thought maybe the power supply. is it worth messing with? i was thinking about building either my first computer or at least trying to fix this for a start. any and all help is greatly appreciated. keep in mind i'm very new to this sort of stuff:D
 
My advice would be to take it to a shop, let them analyze it. Fix it, sell it and split with your buddy
 
yeah, swap the PSU, and see if its the same thing. did he overclock?? and dont sell it yet, a simple PSU problem could save him buying another compy
 
my buddy already bought a new computer so, it's all mine haha! umm...i believe the light was blinking in 3's but i don't quite remember, i have an old ibm aptiva and an old gateway about 1999 era, would the power suply out of that work?
 
and no it wasn't overclocked, i think he said something about a lightning storm and that the power went out and then it wouldn't work.
 
You could try it, because you said it was 4 years old, but before you do, open that case and read the sticker that says how strong it is, what is the watts??
 
well i yanked the one of this old dell and it says 230W and the one for the compaq is 250W, can i still try it? or will i fry something?
 
well the psu out of the dell won't work, it's missin a connector for the mother board. when i put a power chord to the psu on the compaq the light blinks fast. there is one on ebay startin at $2.00 and the shipping is $8.00 is that worth buying. and if it is the motherboard would it be worth it to get a new one?
 
You need to make sure that psu has a 20+4 pin connector and a p4 12v connector. Wattage won't be too much of a worry. as long as it is about 250w+
 
It's hard to tell. You sorta need to test parts. like swapping out RAM modules and vid card etc. First try another psu, if you hear things like your HDD start up, but no signal from the graphics port, then we go into finding the source of the problem. And watts aren't the most important thing in a PSU, the amps on the rails are. Just try and find another psu with similar amps on each of the +3.3V, +5v and +12V rails with about the same wattage, this will make sure it will run.
 
I have found that Compaq Presarios are pretty much junk (unless you upgrade them drastically) and a broken one is worth even less. I would sell it to a computer repair company.

~Jordan
 
There's no harm in using a PSU with a higher rated output. If you wanted to test it, you could even pull the PSU out of your own system for a few minutes to see if that's the problem.
 
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