I can be a right grumpy bugger sometimes.
Anyway, to continue the saga of my gaming PC, the parts finally arrived to finish rebuilding it yesterday (after a brief excursion to Chester – thanks Amtrak!) But I seem to have made a mis-diagnosis. The new graphics card exhibits the same symptoms as the old.
I was so sure it was the graphics card at fault. My logic was:
– it was the component under most stress at the time of failure
– it was the source of “dead silicon” smell
– it’s fan wouldn’t spin
– a dead video card gives similar non-boot signs as I had
– I saw a molten drop fall underneath it
Oh crap. Further research suggests the motherboard may have blown – the capacitors get dodgy with age. But it could be something else. The CPU should be OK – I was monitoring it’s temps. RAM & other components should give different errors.
I guess today’s lesson is about your diagnosis. Never be too sure, retain your scepticism, and always remember that you don’t know it all, so do more research!
