Computer suddenly won't start. Please help.

[Devlyn]

Hopefully someone can offer me some advice here. My girlfriend started up a game and walked away from the computer while it loaded last night and when we came back a few hours later the computer was turned off for no apparent reason. I tried to turn it back on and got nothing other than the CPU fan making a jump like it would spin and then stopping immediately. Attempting to turn it on again lead to no CPU fan jump. I tried to clear the CMOS jumper and no change, pulled the mobo battery and replaced and no change, disconnected the PSU power from the mobo for 5 seconds and replace and the CPU fan jumps again but still no power.

I have disconnected everything except for the CPU, fan, and RAM to cut some of the variables out and it still doesn't budge. What possible problems could there be at this point for me to look for?

 

[ChurchOfSubgenius]

Sounds to me like your PSU died, happens all the time.

 

[Devlyn]

Originally posted by: ChurchOfSubgenius
Sounds to me like your PSU died, happens all the time.

Forgot, the motherboard power LED is always lit green when the PSU is plugged in. Could it still be dead even though it has the power to light the light and make the fan jump?

 

[Mem]

Forgot, the motherboard power LED is always lit green when the PSU is plugged in. Could it still be dead even though it has the power to light the light and make the fan jump?

.


Could be a number of things I had a MSI board that had power to it but would not boot,turned out tthat my motherboard had gone faulty,anyway you can try a different PSU(or even test yours in a different PC) also check for any lose leads or even try booting the motherboard out of the case to see if there`s a possible short.

 

[stinger25]

Ya it could be supplying just enough power to light the LED.

 

[thunderhorse]

I agree. Sounds like the PSU gave up the ghost.

 

[busmaster11]

Originally posted by: Devlyn

Originally posted by: ChurchOfSubgenius
Sounds to me like your PSU died, happens all the time.

Forgot, the motherboard power LED is always lit green when the PSU is plugged in. Could it still be dead even though it has the power to light the light and make the fan jump?

Yup. Still could and likely be the PS...

 

[GTiBri]

Just something to keep in mind: I recently had a very similar occurance. I thought the PS had gone out. It ended up being the HD. When the HD power was plugged in the computer wouldn't start. So keep in mind that an IDE device that goes bad CAN cause symptoms that look like a bad PS.

 

[Devlyn]

Originally posted by: GTiBri
Just something to keep in mind: I recently had a very similar occurance. I thought the PS had gone out. It ended up being the HD. When the HD power was plugged in the computer wouldn't start. So keep in mind that an IDE device that goes bad CAN cause symptoms that look like a bad PS.

Yea, but I've unplugged every unnecessary device for booting

Thanks for the help everyone and if anyone has any other thoughts please let me know. I'll test it out by buying a power supply. Does Best Buy carry them? Would make a good excuse to use up some gift card money and return it for hard cash tomorrow.

 

[JamminJimmy]

Take out the Hard Drive and try seeing if you can get into the BIOS

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: JamminJimmy
Take out the Hard Drive and try seeing if you can get into the BIOS

How can he when it won't even POST?

I can only imagine it being the motherboard either blew a capacitor, corrupted the bios, or just simply went dead.

 

[Dogma420]

PSU! 90% this is it. Disconnected EVERYTHING except the cpu/fan and ram and see what happens though.

 

[Devlyn]

Picked up an Antec 350 at BB with a gift card and it will be going back tomorrow, time to look for a good price on a PSU or PSU / Case combo because sure enough plug the Antec in and away we go again. Tried switching back to the old one and still nothing.

 

[ChurchOfSubgenius]

If you have a standard ATX case there is a deal on Sparkle/Fortron PSU's in the hot deals section. Do a search on "case" or "PSU", lotsa good stuff.

PS. I assumed when you said "sure enough plug the Antec in and away we go again" meant that it worked but the Antec was more money than you wanted to spend.

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: Devlyn
Picked up an Antec 350 at BB with a gift card and it will be going back tomorrow, time to look for a good price on a PSU or PSU / Case combo because sure enough plug the Antec in and away we go again. Tried switching back to the old one and still nothing.

Antec is a GREAT PSU. Why not just keep that one ?