Computer won't turn on... :(

[weirdichi]

Abit NF7
AMD XP 2500
1GB Kingston RAM
5400 Maxtor HD
Radeon 9600 Pro
Antec Truepower 380Watt
1 DVDRW
1 52x CDRom
1 CDRW
Newly installed Windows XP.

Is a 380Watt PSU enough juice for all this stuff? I'm thinking it should be plenty since I ran all this on a 300Watt PSU on a Pentium3 board before (unless the NF7 mobo sucks up major power).

Was fine last night. Today, I went to push the power button and nothing comes on. However, the red light near the PCI slots on the mobo lights up. No fans, no HDD, no CDRom at all. The LED lights on the front panel come on for an instant and then off. The HDD doesn't even begin to spin up.

I was having some random lockups couple days ago, but I checked the CPU temp and it was around 45C. The highest it ever got was 50C last week. I can't think of anything else that could cause this except that the power button and the wire connecting it is loose somehow when I popped the chassis fan out. Could it also be that I fried my CPU? Is there any way to look at the CPU and tell if it's crapped out or would I just have to test it out in another computer?

Thanks for any help.

 

[jiffylube1024]

I don't think you fried the CPU because I'm pretty sure there is a beep code for that (you'd hear beeps).

I'm very tired now so I can just give you a few tips off the top of my head:

1.) Make sure cables are plugged in properly (ie nothing slipped out). This can happen to even the best of us.

2.) clear CMOS jumper. This usually solves no-boot problems.

3.) unplug motherboard connection from the PSU, wait a few seconds (for the lights to turn off) and then reconnect it. Or just unplug the cable from the wall and wait a bit and plug it back in.

4.) Unplug a component (ie RAM or video card), then plug it back in and try.

5.) if still not working, you may wish to unplug the CPU and reapply thermal compound (hopefully Arctic Silver or Alumina or another premium compound). Then put it back in. Just unplugging and reconnecting the CPU will make the motherboard reconfigure itself for a 'new' CPU and if you unplug the CPU you may as well redo the thermal compound.

6.) Try booting without only one RAM stick in there. You never know.

 

[mechBgon]

You might take a quick look and confirm that your heatsink is on in the correct direction if there could be any doubts about that. Also check that your power supply is set for the correct input voltage (115V/230V) although that seems an unlikely problem.

 

[weirdichi]

The voltage on the back is correct. Heatsink is on correctly also. Like I said, it was fine last night but tonight it won't boot up at all. No beeps at all, just a quick flash of the LED on the front panel and the CDRoms and then nothing. I'll have to check the CPU tomorrow. It's such a pain to go through and take it off and check everything. I'll clear the CMOS and hope it'll turn on. If not, I'll check the CPU tomorrow and give an update. Thanks.

Also, is there a beep code to tell me if the mobo is fried?

 

[mechBgon]

I don't think random lockups count as "fine" but hey, everyone's different. Anyway, Google smiles upon us with NF7 beep codes.

If you have another high-quality power supply around that you could use for a quickie test, that might be a good thing to try besides the good suggestions already given by jiffylube1024. Otherwise, I'd drag it out of the case, lay it on cardboard, and test it with just the bare essentials: video, 1 stick of RAM, CPU/heatsink/fan, and keyboard. Good luck!

 

[weirdichi]

After talking with some friends last night and lookin at all the suggestions on this thread, I'm thinking it's the PSU or the mobo now. I'll check when I get home. What's newegg's RMA situation? Relatively low stress? PITA?

 

[huesmann]

You have tried bench running the mobo, haven't you? CPU+RAM+vid only?

 

[weirdichi]

Originally posted by: huesmann
You have tried bench running the mobo, haven't you? CPU+RAM+vid only?

Nah. Doing that this afternoon and evening. My Friday night is planned out already! <insert sarcastic woo here>

 

[huesmann]

Good to see you're getting some action.

Some mobo-testing action, that is.

 

[weirdichi]

Is the HS supposed to have that block of padding or was I supposed to remove that prior to sitting it on the CPU? I didn't remove it and the cpu melted that padding off and I just scraped it off. Here are some pics I just took.

Heatsink
CPU

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: weirdichi
Is the HS supposed to have that block of padding or was I supposed to remove that prior to sitting it on the CPU? I didn't remove it and the cpu melted that padding off and I just scraped it off. Here are some pics I just took.

Heatsink
CPU

The block of padding is made of phase-change thermal compound. You need to have something to get the heat transferred from the CPU to the heatsink, and that's what its function is. Since it has been used up (they are good for precisely one usage), now you should use high-quality thermal grease, such as the Coolermaster/Shin-Etsu or an Arctic Silver product. Do not operate the CPU without some kind of thermal compound or thermal grease.

 

[weirdichi]

I got some Arctic Silver 5 in a tube. I just squeeze that on the copper contact point on the cpu and slap on the heatsink and I should be ok, right? Do I need BOTH the pad and the Arctic Silver?

 

[L00PY]

Follow the instructions.

 

[weirdichi]

PLugged in power supply to other computer and it worked fine. Plugged in a spare mobo and that mobo works fine. The old mobo is toast. How it got toasted I don't know. Thanks for helping me out everybody! Now it's time to RMA this sucker back to Newegg.

 

[trunolimit]

i just want to say jiffylube1024 if you were a women i would make passionate love to you. if you are a man i'd take you out to a hockey game and get you a lap dance. you got me out of a big (giehugeic) problem. my freind entrusted me to fix his computer and i ended up hurting it to the point it wouldn't turn on. when i broke the news to his dad (big swole guy) he was ready to through me out the window. i looked on here and saw your advice on resseting the cmos. and it worked. of course i had no idea what the hell a cmos is but i figured it out all thanks to you. so again i thank you

 

[trunolimit]

jiffylube1024 rules

 

[trunolimit]

all hale jiffylube1024