Require Assistance: PC does not restart properly

[Bijo]

Okay, excuse my language but now things have really gotten ****** up. But before I explain, the reason I thought the previous clean booting occurred due to the deletion of redundant data was because before when I was in Safe Mode I changed nothing and the errors still happened. The particular time when I deleted stuff in Safe Mode was when it suddenly booted normally and that was its last occurrence.

After that the machine has been opened and cleaned. It all looked good. Then the test came; boom: shortcircuit through the whole place and a nasty smell with smoke. Opening of the power unit revealed a burning of one of the little buggers on the plate blackened out. Reparation would take too much to figure out the correct parts required so another power supply had been brought in.

When the test came the light on the motherboard showed itself and power seemed okay. But the machine would not start: it would give smoke and stench near the power unit and power cable. Halted the thing immediately. Probably there is the thing inside it that burnt because everything else in the place remained juiced. The power unit appeared in order because it would still provide power which the motherboard light indicated. And indeed: another direct misfire when attempting to boot.

Then the hard disk was disconnected and replaced by another one. Suddenly the machine booted (though the disk is empty). It was detected as a primary slave however. Changing the jumpers did not result in success. Any setting did not work: suddenly the machine didn't even start at all.

Speculation: new power unit is (partially) ruined; the old disk is somehow faulty (broken, or some virus or the like has it); motherboard is faulty; graphics card is faulty.

[Husar]

If you're unlucky, your whole PC could be fried. Trying out new parts may be dangerous for those new parts. If you cannot locate the damage, you may want to consult an expert(that means take it to a local PC shop and hope that the guy is not as greedy as the dutchmen in your jokes. ).

[R'as al Ghul]

Sorry for replying so late, Bijo. I had a problem myself.

It seems your Motherboard is broken and/or your old disk.
You seem to have two machines, which is very good in this case. You should try to connect your old disk to the other machine and save your data. Set the Harddisk jumpers to "cable select" and connect it to the other machine by either using a spare IDE slot or taking the cables from the CD-drive and connecting the disk instead. Your old disk should be recognised on the new machine and you can save your data.
The empty disk seems to run okay on the troublesome machine. That you can't boot from it is logical because there's no OS and probably no Boot Sector on it. Being recognised as "slave" is because of the position of the disk on the IDE cable or because you set the jumpers wrong. Try to set it to Cable select or try changing the position on the cable (there're most probably two connectors on each cable).

The smoke and stench is a real problem and you may have fried anything on the Motherboard. There's not much I can do for you without coming to your place and having a look.

R'as

[TevashSzat]

I think it may be your motherboard there. I had a something happen to me about a year ago on my old comp like what you described at first. Turned out it was the motherboard

[Bijo]

Yes, it might be the motherboard and the disk indeed. The store from which I purchased the parts does not find it sufficient if I show them my ordering ticket they sent through e-mail -- they want a purchasing ticket so they will check their system and send it to me. Will take some time which is good, for computers are evil apparatuses.