Any MB capacitors looking a bit portly?
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Dunno. I will take a closer look at everything when the new PSU gets here and Iāve pulled everything out. These mini-ITX cases are so crammed full of stuff itās hard to even see the mobo.
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I would have said video card, those bad grounds you mentioned, or PSU, but I see itās all been covered whilst I was out of town.
Nearly all my computing hardware is crafted from junk and salvage, but I have bought a couple of the more expensive high efficiency PSUs. They last longer (and save energy, obviously.) I recommend them, at least if you canāt get a free PSU from a dumpster.
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Put the brand spanking new PSU in only to have it repeat the same trend. Itās probably the mobo. Iāve checked the HDD, tried a new vid card, and tested the RAM. I donāt see any busted caps on the mobo, or any shitstains, so Iām thinking itās probably a wonky cap or a stress crack causing a short. Either way, at the cost of a new mobo, Iām probably looking at a new computer no matter what. Fuck. At least this time I can go with an ATX case or something (you canāt fit anything in a mini-ITX)ā¦ I really wanted to save up for a custom build, too. I might just pick something up used at the local surplus store as a stopgap.
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The dell business class refurbs are good stuff. The kid and the spouse have one and those models were Boeing standard issue. Solid builds and easy to swap basic stuff out on. I will probably get one when my beast with a 17" screen dies. I will miss the screen size but you can find a dock for them cheap and have a 2nd monitor and proper keyboard and mouse without cable connect/disconnect hell.
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A lot of the stuff living in my current box will fit right into those giant cases, and so I can skimp on certain specs like HDD size and RAM. Hell, I can even skip the DVD drive.
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Honestly, I just drive around to the back of hospitals and corporate zaibatsus and pull stuff out of their dumpsters.
You have to be careful with the hospital ones; the quality of junk is higher, you can pull out current-model Cisco routers and wireless access points and such, but thereās a fair amount of ick and spooge that was probably supposed to be disposed of in an incinerator.
I run linux at home so I donāt need the latest greatest hardware.
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Yeah, Iād be a little careful of that if theyāre near a hospital lab. Acrylamide gets fricking everywhere if they run gels. Diseases and shit are reasonably safe when cleaned, but some of the nastier stuff doesnāt go away so easy. So, ya know, take care out there. 
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You donāt need steady hands to microsolder, just good technique (and a lot of flux). Full disclosure: I still suck at it.
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I just went the opposite direction. The mini-ITX fits enough stuff for me, but it is hard to work inside. To get at anything, you have to remove everything else, and if you bump anything while putting it back together, you have to take everything out and start over.
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I used to be the kind of guy that helped friends fix their computers. Or, if they needed a new one, Iād take the usable leftover parts for use later. Pay it forward, you know? Need a graphics card? I have a few spares. No, I donāt want anything for it, just want to help.
Got busy for a few years, and my parts catalog became obsolete, and I just recycled most everything. But, these people exist. Maybe try and post an ad on craigslist for spare parts to be donated?
My first guess based on symptoms would indeed be PSU, with graphics card a close second. Actually, if you read up on the kind of power supply your machine uses, you might be able to find an entire replacement desktop you can make a frankenbox with at a local thrift shop. It takes, as I say, a practiced eye to know what youāre buying at such a place, but you can make it work.
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YOU WERE ALL WRONG. (Maybe.)
It was the RAM. Brand spanking new computer. I put in the RAM sticks from the old computer and the problem replicated. I removed one of the RAM sticks and it seemed to boot fine. Iāll try rebooting it a few times as I remove programs and update Windows etc, so weāll see how that goes.
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Wow.
Usually the BIOS will tell you on POST whether thereās something with RAM. And the Memtest86 passes you ran should have caught that as well.
Interesting.
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I also threw in the GPU, but I was having these problems before the GPU, so I really doubt thatās it. Small, as in 0.000000000001%, chance itās a problem with the outlet otherwise.
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Could it be a mixed RAM problem? It shouldnāt be, because I used the computer for years before it crapped out on me. Itās probably just coincidence that the RAM I pulled right before it worked was the only 4 gig stick.
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Mixed RAM can still cause problems with timing, but mobos tend to be noisy and intolerant of mixing if they canāt handle it.
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Side note: Can we just not have progress bars that do nothing and donāt tell whether something is broken or just taking a while?
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Itās windows update. The vast majority of the time itās spending doing nothing is waiting on Microsoftās servers to bundle and package up all your patches and servicepacks. Iām guessing since your machine is new, it could be running standard residential user updates for the next six to ten hours.
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