Another ''Comp Doesn't Boot!" thread.

[Tsuchi]

Ok, long story short, my mom called me up and said hey, computer fried, went to tiger direct and they told me to get a new mobo and PSU. So.. she did.

I was like, ok, doesn't sound too unreasonable, maybe the PSU shorted out and took the mobo with it. So I installed everything. I turn it on, and it starts up... for about 15 seconds. Then it shuts off. So I thought, ok, maybe the hard drive doesn't recognize the mobo and is having problems. So.. to test that, and the old mobo, I swap out the old mobo and the original hard drive(so old hardware, just a new PSU). Same thing, 15 seconds, then it crashes. So its not the hard drive. I was questioning the dumb dumb tiger direct guy's thoughts, so I tested the old PSU. That, he got right. Old PSU won't even start the comp.

So... my thoughts are, the old PSU shorted, and fried not the mobo.. but maybe the ram or the CPU? I dont have ram or an extra CPU to swap out at the moment, so I'm just running over my checklist of what could be wrong... Thoughts? And is not starting up more so a characteristic of a problem with the ram or the CPU?

 

[robisbell]

yep, the old parts are fried and when they were installed in the new mobo they may have damaged it as well.

 

[jackschmittusa]

First guess is that the hsf is not installed properly and it is a thermal shutdown. Is the heatsink really hot the instant after it shuts down?

 

[ch33kym0use]

Yes, takes some time for heatsink to cool down.

 

[jackschmittusa]

If it's pretty cool, in is likely not installed correctly.