Blargh I'm Dead

Okay, so, the other day, I wake up to see my 4-yr-old Emachines T2240 desktop PC off, despite me leaving it on the night before. Or at least this is what it seemed at first glance. Upon closer inspection, I realized that it just wasn't sending any signal to the monitor. The PSU's running fine, the fan over the mobo is blowing, the, just no signal to the monitor.

Tapping the keys on my keyboard yielded nothing. So, only after I'm sure it's my only choice, I hold the power button to turn off the CPU, then turn it back on. Processing light lights up but remains solid, fan blows, PSU is humming, but still no signal to the monitor. Out of desperation, I repeat this action 2 more times; that's 3 in total. Leading into the 4th time, something different happens. It refuses to turn off with my holding of the power button.

I resort to unplugging and when I plug back in, the processing light begins flashing wildly along with the lights on my keyboard and in unison with the flashing, I now hear a clicking sound. From this point on, the power button has been rendered meaningless - only by cutting the source of electricity will it turn on or off.

I was under the impression that my mobo is shot, as the monitor works fine on another computer in my house. But later when I speak to a friend who has built his own computer, he's sure beyond the shadow of a doubt that it's a PSU/power supply issue. I tell him what I'm telling you now and he reassures me that the same happened to his not too long ago and that replacing the PSU will fix it. Now I have very little confidence in the area of hardware and he sounds sure of his diagnosis so I go to CompUSA, buy a new PSU, install it, turn it on [this one now has a I/O switch], and the same shit is happening.

So what's your verdict? I'm the only user, it's virus-free and despite it being 4 years old now, I've multiplied its initial RAM, replaced the PSU, and have always taken really good care of it; I've never had any major issues.

A bit more on the specs here:
http://www10.shopping.com/xPF-E-Machines-T2240

where to begin is the problem.

could be ram, cpu, vid card, monitor, either the north/south bridge, faulty slot, etc etc.

fun is in the tracking :) oh and taking the issue to a pc store only equals less $$$ for you to purchase parts to test yourself.

learn and you'll never need an "it expert" eva again.

You can try many things, but I'll tell you as my experience working at the Geek Squad in a best buy where one of the highest-sold PCs are emachines simply because they're the cheapest; it's probably the motherboard. I've seen more emachines (and to a lesser extent HPs) come in with dead motherboards than almost anything else (third to PSUs and HDDs.) Usually if everything seems to spin up like you're describing, it's the motherboard - especially if you don't get a POST beep. I would try another PSU if someone has one you can borrow, but it's likely still the motherboard.

Check the motherboard for busted capacitors too (immediate sign that the mobo is dead), and if you do get a new computer, put it on a surge protector. Besides being a cheap branded computer, I would say power issues probably are the biggest reason for computers dying like that.

Have fun.

Remove all ram, if it doesnt scream, your motherboard is fucked. Go buy a real motherboard.

If you want some real fun buy a multimeter and test across ground on all the psu contacts. You can keep it powered on by jumpering across black and green. google atx pinout first or you may have a hearty set of electrical burns.

>>4
fark the multimeter. psu testers have been invented y'know :)

but learn how to read a multimeter anyway.

Everyone needs a multimeter.

>>6
world would be a little more switched on too if everyone did.