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RIP PC
3 years ago
PC was kind of lacking RAM so I bought a couple of sticks, intending to put them in DIMM 1&3. Huh? My massive CPU cooler is in the way of DIMM 1.
No problem, it can fit if I take the fan off first.
Done.
Install downloaded RAM.
Reinstall CPU fan.
Boot.
Huh, no BIOS.
Try a few combinations of RAM sticks in different slots.
Still nothing.
Notice the DRAM LED is on. Uh oh.
Try every remaining combination, including only the original RAM sticks in the exact same configuration as previously.
Still fucked.
Remove CMOS, unplug PC, hold power button. Still fucked.
Leverage the knowledge of the internet.
CPU cooler screwed on too tight? Ok
Loosen a bit. Nope.
Fuck it, the thermal seal is probably fucked now.
In the end I've just taken off the cooler, but it's not looking good. Even in the best case scenario, I'd still have to clean the paste off the CPU and cooler, which will be a bitch to do properly. And then I'll have to apply it again and pray to RNGesus that I get it right.
I'd really hope I won't have to replace the entire CPU, cooler and motherboard as it has precisely the feature set I need for all the niche creative stuff I do. I've mostly been lucky with hardware reliability until the last couple of years, but had 3 storage devices fail in less years. A Seagate disk drive for no apparent reason except that Seagate is trash; a WD external backup disk drive after I knocked it off my desk; and most recently a Samsung M.2 SSD, which went into write-protected mode even though it reported having only written 9TB over the 4 years I've been using it (partly for readyboost so with the RAM upgrade I needed, that would be getting used a good amount).
Someone has recently commissioned me as well, so whatever the outcome, that's going to be abnormally delayed because this little laptop couldn't handle Paint.NET.
FFS
No problem, it can fit if I take the fan off first.
Done.
Install downloaded RAM.
Reinstall CPU fan.
Boot.
Huh, no BIOS.
Try a few combinations of RAM sticks in different slots.
Still nothing.
Notice the DRAM LED is on. Uh oh.
Try every remaining combination, including only the original RAM sticks in the exact same configuration as previously.
Still fucked.
Remove CMOS, unplug PC, hold power button. Still fucked.
Leverage the knowledge of the internet.
CPU cooler screwed on too tight? Ok
Loosen a bit. Nope.
Fuck it, the thermal seal is probably fucked now.
In the end I've just taken off the cooler, but it's not looking good. Even in the best case scenario, I'd still have to clean the paste off the CPU and cooler, which will be a bitch to do properly. And then I'll have to apply it again and pray to RNGesus that I get it right.
I'd really hope I won't have to replace the entire CPU, cooler and motherboard as it has precisely the feature set I need for all the niche creative stuff I do. I've mostly been lucky with hardware reliability until the last couple of years, but had 3 storage devices fail in less years. A Seagate disk drive for no apparent reason except that Seagate is trash; a WD external backup disk drive after I knocked it off my desk; and most recently a Samsung M.2 SSD, which went into write-protected mode even though it reported having only written 9TB over the 4 years I've been using it (partly for readyboost so with the RAM upgrade I needed, that would be getting used a good amount).
Someone has recently commissioned me as well, so whatever the outcome, that's going to be abnormally delayed because this little laptop couldn't handle Paint.NET.
FFS
I've got three hard drives collecting dust, all of them having failed beyond use. One of them has data from as far back as 1995, including all of my high school and college work, plus soooo many historic things from pictures to code. All I can do is save money until I can afford to have it professionally recovered.
Take a day or two away from the PC if you need to let yourself cool down. Let me now how it goes with the CPU, foxy.
Those hard drives you have would be like time capsules. Amazing. Hopefully that they've been collecting dust for so long doesn't make it any less likely that the data will be recoverable.
They are time capsules, haha, and to some extent money as well since a lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into some of the code. Time will tell, I guess, when I get them checked out.
Hopefully it's something simpler and cheaper than the motherboard being faulty when the tech repair shop figures it out, especially so the cost doesn't cancel out what you'd make from the recent commission.
It would be both easier and a lot more likely to find out what the problem is if I just send it to a repair place, so that's what I'll probably do.
Thanks for taking the time to reply!
BIOS update is a good general suggestion, unfortunately I can't update the BIOS though because it's not even going into POST.
I called a repair shop and they are suggesting it's a fault with the motherboard.
Thanks for your advice though, in many other situations that might have worked.