Help! Bringing back the fried from the dead

[parkers]

Hi,
I need some help with a computer my friend let me have. They had lightning strike and the only thing they noticed was the power buttons led wasnt working, but after a while the whole thing went dead. They took it to a company that charged them $80 to tell them that everything was dead, but i found out that the video card, hard drive, and cd drives worked, and i think that the processor is still good, from a post in a forum where the guy said that you can tell if its fried because the capacitors will be blown out on the top where the x is, and there all perfect. The PSU was blown and i bought a new one from newegg, but the power strip for it is 4 pegs to long, but it fit in anyways (could this become a problem?) When i fliped the PSU on, the HDD led went on constantly and the CPU fan started spinning for 15 seconds, then it smelled like burnt comp. chips, and after everything went off, smoke came out of the motherboard by the RAM. :eek:

tl;dr- I need to reserect a burnt comp for my MAME cabinet, how can I tell if JUST the motherboard is fried, or if its a bigger problem?

edit: the specs are as follows:
eMachines T2080, 2000+ Athlon XP, 512 MB DDR RAM, 80 gig hd, ati radeon 9000 series grafix card, and a 16x DVD drive.

[JANINE]

Hi,
I need some help with a computer my friend let me have. They had lightning strike and the only thing they noticed was the power buttons led wasnt working, but after a while the whole thing went dead. They took it to a company that charged them $80 to tell them that everything was dead, but i found out that the video card, hard drive, and cd drives worked, and i think that the processor is still good, from a post in a forum where the guy said that you can tell if its fried because the capacitors will be blown out on the top where the x is, and there all perfect. The PSU was blown and i bought a new one from newegg, but the power strip for it is 4 pegs to long, but it fit in anyways (could this become a problem?) When i fliped the PSU on, the HDD led went on constantly and the CPU fan started spinning for 15 seconds, then it smelled like burnt comp. chips, and after everything went off, smoke came out of the motherboard by the RAM. :eek:

tl;dr- I need to reserect a burnt comp for my MAME cabinet, how can I tell if JUST the motherboard is fried, or if its a bigger problem?

edit: the specs are as follows:
eMachines T2080, 2000+ Athlon XP, 512 MB DDR RAM, 80 gig hd, ati radeon 9000 series grafix card, and a 16x DVD drive.

Good god!!! this doesn't look good at all:(

the white connector you are saying about of which you think is 4 pegs too long is the power supply motherboard connector. this wont be too long... in some instances you will have to gently snap off 4 of the pegs (this is the intel motherboard 4 pin connector). You wont need this as you have an AMD board. AMD boards only use the standard 12 pin connectors. if you feel along the PSU motherboard connector toward the ends you should hopefully feel a little ridge. this is where you'll have to snap off the extra 4 pins

from what you are describing you are going to need a new motherboard and RAM. under no circumstances should smoke be coming out of the motherboard or the RAM and the fan should be spinning persistantly. a dead motherboard isn't always denoted by blown transistor caps but when these begin leaking they are evil not to be reckoned with. that lightening didnt do your mates pc any favours.

i would also reccomend that you buy a new chassis as the chassis you currently have will be statically charged.:)

[dcc]

About the only way to tell is to put your CPU and RAM into another board.
As for the chassis, I'm guessing that Janine is referring to the case, if this is true then don't worry about it, a metal case doesn't hold a static charge.
I'm probably suggesting the obvious here, but I would suggest that your friend get a good surge protector.

Janine...there are capacitors, and there a transistors, but I've never heard of transistor caps. ;)

[Coconut Monkey]

If the 24 pin connector doesn't snap in two, you'll probably need one of these (provided your new PSU is still all right!).

You wont need this as you have an AMD board.

Newer AMD motherboards DO require the extra 4 pin "P4" power connector which was previously Intel only. Check your manual and motherboard connectors to be sure. However, a PC of that vintage will likely not need the extra connector. ;)

AMD boards only use the standard 12 pin connectors.

Eh? The previous ATX standard uses 20 pin motherboard connectors, whereas ATX2.0 utilises a 24 pin connector. Newer A64 motherboards, especially SLI ready models, take a 24 pin connector (although you can plug a 20 pin PSU into a 24 pin motherboard, depending on other hardware being used).

i would also reccomend that you buy a new chassis as the chassis you currently have will be statically charged.:)

Errm, I'm not sure where you got that idea Janine, but the case, as dcc stated above, does not need to be replaced.

[JANINE]

If the 24 pin connector doesn't snap in two, you'll probably need one of these (provided your new PSU is still all right!).
Newer AMD motherboards DO require the extra 4 pin "P4" power connector which was previously Intel only. Check your manual and motherboard connectors to be sure. However, a PC of that vintage will likely not need the extra connector. ;)
Eh? The previous ATX standard uses 20 pin motherboard connectors, whereas ATX2.0 utilises a 24 pin connector. Newer A64 motherboards, especially SLI ready models, take a 24 pin connector (although you can plug a 20 pin PSU into a 24 pin motherboard, depending on other hardware being used).
Errm, I'm not sure where you got that idea Janine, but the case, as dcc stated above, does not need to be replaced.

hiya...

i was looking at the age of the board there and speculatively said it wouldn't need the intel connector.;) i know different boards and 'vintages' have different requirements

where i said about the pins... i got in a tizz. i meant to say 10 pins each side for the previous atx standard (hence 20 pins). i know about the SLI ready A64 boards taking the 24pins conector. as you said - adaptable dependant on the hardware being used.

as for the case - blame my brother. he said it. if the case is metal then the charge should go straight to earth. i think he might have been looking on the probability of the case being perspex. he added this while i was on the phone. brothers eh...;)

hopefully i've clarified things a tad here. please let me know if theres something i've missed

[dcc]

Just one item Janine...
Janine...there are capacitors, and there a transistors, but I've never heard of transistor caps.

[JANINE]

Just one item Janine...
Janine...there are capacitors, and there a transistors, but I've never heard of transistor caps.

i hadn't until i spoke to another engineer (friend of mine). maybe hes got confused, i cant honestly say but i'll look further into it. hang on in there.:)

[dcc]

Janine...I repeat, there are transistors, and there are capacitors, but there ain't no transistor capacitors usnless you're talking about the architecture of an IC. The only cutting edge technology that even uses similar nomiclature that I'm aware of can be reviewed with this link... ;)

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/abs_free.jsp?arNumber=1012775

[JANINE]

Janine...I repeat, there are transistors, and there are capacitors, but there ain't no transistor capacitors usnless you're talking about the architecture of an IC. The only cutting edge technology that even uses similar nomiclature that I'm aware of can be reviewed with this link... ;)

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/abs_free.jsp?arNumber=1012775

ok ok ok you win. im too tired to argue. anyway really its my brother and his mate you are arguing with cos they're adament.

thanks for the link anyway:cool: