My Tower Has Died.
- Thread starter bob466
- Start date
Are you sure it's the motherboard and not e.g. the Power Supply Unit?
Last edited:
Condobloke
Well-Known Member
The Power Supply is a likely contender.
and...is there any chance the CR2032 battery has given up the ghost?...has it ever been replaced?
and...is there any chance the CR2032 battery has given up the ghost?...has it ever been replaced?
Brickwizard
Well-Known Member
Post single beep... I always associate this with either CPU or ram failure, most often I have found it is because the thermal joint between the CPU and heat sink has deteriorated.
It's hard to say goodbye to a computer that has served you well, but maybe it is time for a newer machine..... 
(Don't get me wrong, I'm still happily using a 2011 laptop, but I know its time will come one day.)
(Don't get me wrong, I'm still happily using a 2011 laptop, but I know its time will come one day.)
Sometimes different manufacturers have different beep signals. Check the make of motherboard and do a search for signals.
This. I read through the comments and was going to say this.
Though, amusingly, on a Dell that would indeed be a motherboard failure. It really depends on who made the device. If it's making a beep, it could still be the power supply but that's less likely.
If you aren't able to buy a replacement any time soon, you might be able to troubleshoot your way into a cheaper repair. On the other hand, there are refurbished towers for a few hundred bucks that will run Linux just fine - and probably have better specs than your 10 year old device.
Here's an update...getting new Motherboard...CPU and Ram as everything is good.
Computer shop will be doing it this time as both Motherboard and CPU are very expensive...one mistake and I'm out a lot of money.
Computer shop will be doing it this time as both Motherboard and CPU are very expensive...one mistake and I'm out a lot of money.
Man, that speaks a lot to modern hardware. It's a decade old and yet you'll be just fine keeping the same CPU. Your motherboard may have some new features, including supporting a higher speed RAM or maybe having NVMe support on-board, but that you can use the same CPU you used a decade ago speaks a lot to how 'good enough' modern hardware is.
Just a couple of days ago I was remarking to the missus how I hadn't purchased a new computer in quite a while. I'm used to just giving the older stuff away (or getting it recycled) but all but one computer is just good enough for what I do. In fact, it does what I do with ease.
I do want faster RAM and native NVMe support, and might want a real graphics card...
But, what I have is perfectly usable.
Well, I just bought my first one ever. I know, weird. If you're in the market I got mine from clx gaming, they did a great job and their customer service is great. I don't get nothing out of it, just a good company.This afternoon I started it and got one beep then a black screen...the motherboard is gone...can't boot to boot menu or bios/uefi...after 10 years I can't complain.
Old Motherboard is socket 1150 as is CPU...new Motherboard is socket 1700 and DDR5...old CPU wont work sad but true.
Well, I'm assuming you didn't lose any data and I guess you can view this as a good excuse to upgrade.
It's no excuse...old CPU wont fit on new socket 1700 Motherboard...had the same problem with my old socket 775 Motherboard.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-lga-1700-socket-pictured
I hope the SSD is good too as I've never had the Motherboard fail before but I do have an image of it just in case...wont know for a week.
Till then I have to use this little Laptop...big difference between a 24" screen and a 15" screen...I'm not a Laptop person.
If it's too bad, you can just pretend the laptop is a tower. Plug in an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Then, just leave the laptop running as though it's a desktop.
I'd leave it open for proper heat dissipation.
The other day I got a call from the computer shop saying your computer is ready...it's been a week...but we're having trouble booting in to Linux...it will boot in to windowz.
Thinking my SSD is gone...I took my spare SSD with Cinnamon 21.1...it wouldn't boot either at the shop...my Ventoy Flash Drive and my portable SSD with my images wont...they said leave it here and we'll play with the settings.
It seems no one at this computer shop knows anything about Linux...I did a little research on line and it's this bloody UEFI that's the problem.
All Motherboards are designed to boot in to windowz...both Tower and Laptop not like 10.5 years ago.
I saw this on the Mint page...https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/efi.html
So sometime today I'll go back and try this myself...of cause I wont bring it home until it's fixed...what a bloody joke...I can't be the only person who goes there with a Linux computer.
Thinking my SSD is gone...I took my spare SSD with Cinnamon 21.1...it wouldn't boot either at the shop...my Ventoy Flash Drive and my portable SSD with my images wont...they said leave it here and we'll play with the settings.
It seems no one at this computer shop knows anything about Linux...I did a little research on line and it's this bloody UEFI that's the problem.
All Motherboards are designed to boot in to windowz...both Tower and Laptop not like 10.5 years ago.
I saw this on the Mint page...https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/efi.html
So sometime today I'll go back and try this myself...of cause I wont bring it home until it's fixed...what a bloody joke...I can't be the only person who goes there with a Linux computer.
Condobloke
Well-Known Member
NOTE: If you are making a dual boot system with Windows 8, 10 or 11, disable the windows quick-start (in the BIOS) and re-boot before continuing.
And Linux REALLY cares if you installed in UEFI mode or legacy mode. If you installed in one, it won't boot with the other. Most folks, in my experience, are using legacy (BIOS) mode for their Linux. Linux happily supports UEFI, but you need to start by installing it in that mode.
The computer shop may have swapped that around.
Like you said, they probably aren't very Linux savvy. That's to be expected, frankly. We're a rounding error in the desktop market.
The computer shop may have swapped that around.
Like you said, they probably aren't very Linux savvy. That's to be expected, frankly. We're a rounding error in the desktop market.
I too, used to alter my UEFI booting computers too BIOS mode, but now I just install in UEFI mode, it's come a long way since the beginnings, & nowadays it's almost as easy - you do get the odd one that needs assistance, but not very often.
(My MBR laptop & Wyse thin client (with an SSD squeezed into it) are my only ones now, & they are running OpenBSD.)
(My MBR laptop & Wyse thin client (with an SSD squeezed into it) are my only ones now, & they are running OpenBSD.)
I'm with @KGIII here.
Yes, Linux happily supports UEFI, but 90% of Linux users don't tend to bother with dual-booting, so the need to keep Windows happy doesn't exist.....and anyone with any sense will keep Windows & Linux on completely separate machines anyway. You learn this through experience; it's a great idea in theory, but in practice after the first couple of Windows updates you'll be screaming at the 'puter & tearing your hear out!
When I got this current HP Pavilion tower a little over 3 years ago, the very first thing I did was to go into the BIOS, disable the FastBoot/SecureBoot crap, and set it to legacy booting. I then booted into a Live Puppy CD and immediately nuked the pre-installed Windows 10 with extreme prejudice.....this was intended to be a Linux-only machine right from the outset, and Windows was NOT getting its smelly claws anywhere near my nice new hardware!
Over the next few days, the 'kennels' then got set up exactly the way I wanted it... It's changed very little since.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Ever since the 700-series FatDogs, when jamesbond & kirk shared the relevant mechanism & software 'key' with the main Puppy community, newer Puppies have all had the ability to install/boot in UEFI mode if required....at least in theory. ISOs are released in "isohybrid" format, meaning they'll install/boot either way. UEFI boot for Puppies CAN be achieved, but in practice because the method for doing this is so convoluted (mainly due to Puppy's construction), most folks just go with Legacy boot and leave it at that.
Which is fine.....until manufacturers begin to remove user options from their UEFI firmware, making it impossible to boot anything other than officially 'signed' Linux distros, and locking hardware into UEFI-only operation.
Give it time. It's going to happen, SOONER or later.
Mike.
Yes, Linux happily supports UEFI, but 90% of Linux users don't tend to bother with dual-booting, so the need to keep Windows happy doesn't exist.....and anyone with any sense will keep Windows & Linux on completely separate machines anyway. You learn this through experience; it's a great idea in theory, but in practice after the first couple of Windows updates you'll be screaming at the 'puter & tearing your hear out!
When I got this current HP Pavilion tower a little over 3 years ago, the very first thing I did was to go into the BIOS, disable the FastBoot/SecureBoot crap, and set it to legacy booting. I then booted into a Live Puppy CD and immediately nuked the pre-installed Windows 10 with extreme prejudice.....this was intended to be a Linux-only machine right from the outset, and Windows was NOT getting its smelly claws anywhere near my nice new hardware!
Over the next few days, the 'kennels' then got set up exactly the way I wanted it... It's changed very little since.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Ever since the 700-series FatDogs, when jamesbond & kirk shared the relevant mechanism & software 'key' with the main Puppy community, newer Puppies have all had the ability to install/boot in UEFI mode if required....at least in theory. ISOs are released in "isohybrid" format, meaning they'll install/boot either way. UEFI boot for Puppies CAN be achieved, but in practice because the method for doing this is so convoluted (mainly due to Puppy's construction), most folks just go with Legacy boot and leave it at that.
Which is fine.....until manufacturers begin to remove user options from their UEFI firmware, making it impossible to boot anything other than officially 'signed' Linux distros, and locking hardware into UEFI-only operation.
Give it time. It's going to happen, SOONER or later.
Mike.
Last edited:
