Computer suddenly won't start. . . (Help greatly appreciated)

[alanhall4]

My computer had been acting a little strange for about week. It suddenly restarted itself once or twice, but everything always worked and temperature readings were fine after each one. Also, once after I had shut down the computer, I turned off the printer that was plugged into the same surge protector, and my computer then proceeded to boot up. Then about a week ago, my computer shut it self off, and I haven't been able to get it to turn on since. Initially, it would just lock up before it got into windows, but now it only starts to spin the fans for about 2 seconds and then does nothing else.

I have tried everything that I could think of with the limited supplies that I have. I have tried another working power supply and it did the same exact thing. I tried unplugging everything except the power cord to the motherboard, but that didn't help. I have moved the RAM into each slot (I don't have another stick around to test the RAM). I have tried 3 different video cards (pci and agp). I tried resetting the motherboard in the case, and that didn't help.

I'm thinking that it's either my motherboard, cpu, or RAM, but I currently have no way to test any of those. Could problems in each of those 3 have caused these symptoms from my computer?

Any help is greatly appreciated, and thanks for reading this.

My setup is below:
Antec Performance Plus 660 case
Antec 330w truepower smart power supply
Athlon XP 2100+ with retail heatsink/fan
512 MB Corsair XMS 2700 DDR
Gigabyte 7VRXP 1.1 motherboard
MSI Geforce Ti4600 video card
Audigy sound card
Pioneer 16x DVD-Rom
Plextor 24x burner
Western Digital 120gb hard drive
100 mb ide zip drive
floppy drive

 

[MedicBob]

Have you tried a different power strip/surge protector?

 

[alanhall4]

Yes, I forgot to mention that, but I've tried 3 different ones. Thanks for the help.

 

[JimRaynor]

start swapping components until you find out what it is. You have some troubleshooting ahead of you. Might want to start with just the bare minimum (cpu, mobo, ram, vid) and go from there.

 

[arsbanned]

What about running memtest?
Here

It's not as respected or revered as memtest86 but it works well for me and is free.
Also try HotCPU to test the proc and other subsystems. Again, most people prefer Prime95, but HotCPU does the trick for me (what can I say, I'm a non-conformist).
Download your hard drive manufacturer's drive utility to test the drive.
Run chkdsk /r

Good luck.

 

[alanhall4]

I've tried to start the computer with the absolute bare minimums but it still hasn't work, and I can't even boot to anything to test with those excellent programs that were recommended. I'm going to try to see if I can track down somebody with similar parts, but any other advice is still greatly appreciated.

 

[Ionizer86]

You've cleared the cmos and tried a different wall outlet right?

 

[alanhall4]

Yeah, I've tried a different wall outlet, and I have reset the CMOS by the jumper and then by physically taking the battery out. Thanks a lot for the help. Any other ideas?

 

[nick1985]

hate to say it, but it sounds like either your mobo is touching metal and shoring out, or its dead. check the io-plate in the front and make sure none of the prongs are sticking out and touching the mobo.

 

[thunderhorse]

I agree with everyone. Here's another trick. See if you know someone who has a rig that can handle your CPU and memory. If they will, see if you can install you components to test them out. Remember to do them one at a time. This will help in narrowing down your problem. You've done a great job so far and you are getting real good help. Keep us informed.

 

[Bitdog]

I just had the same problem with an ESC K7AMA and it was the mother board,
or something related with the mobo cause when I got a new mobo every thing worked again.
That doesn't mean it wasn't a grounded mobo like Nick1985 said.
And the idea of trying your easily replaced parts like CPU & MEM in another working computer is a good idea,
You may want to make a DOS boot disk and use it for the tests so Win doesn't reconfiggure it's self ?

My mobo blowing up may have harmed my memory though. I had 512 pc2100 & now it shows up as 256 meg ?