Member Avatar for anyafloris

Hi there,

I'm usually pretty good at trouble-shooting, and maybe I'm just hoping the motherboard isn't fried, but this happened in a pretty unusual way.
My husband just started working for a taxi business and they gave him a nextel walkie-talkie/gps unit. At about 3 in the morning last night, the speakers attached to the computer started emitting a very high-pitched, static-y noise and we turned them (the speakers) off. My husband said that earlier when he was using the Nextel near the computer, something similar happened.
Anyway, we woke up this morning and the monitor, USB keyboard and USB mouse will not respond to the computer. When I plug in the optical mouse to any of the 6 USB ports, it flashes red for just a second, and then nothing.
This is extremely perplexing to me.. We have a Dell Inspiron 530 running XP.
Any help would be much appreciated.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by mjdodd

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Brief expert commentary tied to the thread: described a system that stopped responding to the monitor and USB peripherals after radio/GPS gear was used nearby, and correctly raised electromagnetic interaction as one possible cause. Radio interference can create noise or transient failures, but permanent motherboard failure from a handheld Nextel-style unit alone is uncommon unless the event included a power surge, ESD, or a shorted cable. The steps below help separate transient/configuration/OS problems from true hardware damage, and will also show when a specialist is needed.

Recommended diagnostic sequence (perform in order):

  • Power-drain and reset: unplug mains, remove all external USB devices, press and hold the power button ~15 seconds to discharge. Optionally remove the CMOS battery for 1–2 minutes to clear settings, then reseat.
  • Isolate USB: attach only one known-good keyboard (prefer rear motherboard ports) and monitor. Try entering the BIOS/POST (common Dell keys vary). If a keyboard works in BIOS but not in Windows, the fault is software/driver-related.
  • Try alternate input: if a PS/2 keyboard is available or a different USB keyboard/mouse is known-good, test them to isolate the USB controller.
  • Minimal hardware boot: disconnect drives, extra cards and extra RAM sticks so the board boots to POST; listen for beep codes (or reconnect a system speaker). Front-panel USB failures can pull down the bus—test back-panel ports first.
  • Visual and smell check: look for burnt ports, blown/bulging capacitors, scorch marks or a burned odor. Do not open the PSU; capacitors can be dangerous.
  • Power supply check: flaky voltages often cause peripheral failure. If comfortable, measure rails or swap in a known-good PSU before replacing the motherboard.

If none of the above restores basic POST or input response, the fault is likely hardware-level (motherboard/USB controller or PSU). As noted, a repair shop with an oscilloscope can probe data/clock lines and power rails; that is the practical next step rather than guessing at component replacement.

Member Avatar for mjdodd

Normally when a walkie talkie is next to a computer there should not be any interference on receiving. If one transmits then you put out a certain amount of radiation (usually less than one watt) but being close to a machine can affect it adversely. the other possibility is that if you have a transceiver (walkie talkie) next to a computer some of the circuits in each machine can in some circumstance affect each other by a 'resonance'. This can give the symptoms you have heard and the outlook may not be good. I suspect you may need quite sophisticad electronic equipment ( or specialist shop repairer)to test the data buses and chips...
M

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