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On Arrival Condition

Initial Behavior

This computer was comatose when I got it. When you plugged it in to electrical power, it would come on with both fans running full blast. There was no keyboard or video activity, and you had to force the system to power off. When I popped another CPU into it, it behaved the exact same way. Trying known good RAM also resulted in it doing the same thing. If I swapped the CPU into a known good motherboard (Dell Dimension 2400), it acted like there was no CPU installed. Trying the RAM in the same computer gave me similar results. Something somewhere, had gone very wrong.

What Was Wrong

If you can't tell, the RAM and CPU are toast. Something that is less obvious is that the motherboard is bad. I tried a known good CPU and known good RAM, only to get the exact same results. I don't know why the motherboard died and took the CPU and RAM with it. The computer's PSU is NOT a Bestec ATX-250-12E, which are notorius for frying motherboards and computers everywhere!

Cosmetic Condition

I haven't cleaned this computer up. Please see the Cosmetic Condition page for more information.

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Credit goes to Cube Computer Channel for video links.