GURU's: Please Help!!

[JohnnyBallGame]

I built a new system for a friend in mid-November. It worked fine until early February, but now it won?t boot. No bios beeps or anything. The fans don?t even run (not even the power supply fan). The only thing that indicates that any power is coming through is a small LED on the motherboard and the power light on the case. I tested the power supply with an Antec power supply tester, and it appears to be ok. (I believe the tester only puts a 25W load on the system).

When I unplug the power supply from the MB, the case fan (the one not attached to the MB) will run, as will the PS fan.

When the mother board is plugged in, but all of the drives and fans (including the CPU fan) are not, the small fan on the MB will run, and the LCD on the MB lights up (it says FF).

When the CPU fan is plugged in, but everthing else is unplugged (including the small fan on the MB) nothing works.

All of the cards appear to be seated correctly. Does anyone have any ideas? Could the power supply be sending out enough power to apear ok to the tester, but not the mb? System specs are as such:

Case: Elight 7237 300W
MB: Epox 8K7A
CPU: Athlon XP 1600
Mem: 512 mb crucial PC 2100 DDR
DVD Rom
CDRW
2 x 7200 rpm HDD

Thanks!!

John

 

[EveryonesGrudge]

Sounds VERY STRANGE to the point of being simply ridiculous.
But please DO try to use a different (hopefully known as being reliable) power supply.
If that doesn't work, try to use a different motherboard. If there's no way to do either,
well, it sounds like a burned out circuit on the motherboard.
I honestly dunno what else to do. (hrm, check all the connections and connectors,,
see if everything is plugged in properly)

 

[JohnnyBallGame]

Thanks, and bump.

 

[Workin']

Try a different CPU fan, or plug everything in BUT the CPU fan, and see if it works - but only for a few seconds. The CPU will be fine with the heatsink on but no fan for just a few seconds.

Since nothing works when the CPU fan is plugged in, it is possible that the fan shorted or otherwise failed. You didn't say if it works under any of your test conditions, so I'm assuming it does not.

 

[truefoe59]

You may want to search on the motherboard to see if there are any known issues there may be something written regarding this for this motherboard. I have heard of problems where the if the motherboard does not properly see the fan it will not engage the MB at all. Just like the ABIT KT7 series.

 

[DaiShan]

yeah, first I would try a different fan, making sure it is plugged in correctly to the fan headers, I wouldn't recommend running it even for a few seconds with just the heatsink, technically it should be ok, but I really wouldn't risk it at this point. Also if that doesn't work try using a different power supply that you know is good, it sounds to me like the psu can't supply enough power anymore, maybe try changing out the psu fan (search for a post by paulson here in the tech support forum, he detailed to me how to do it.)

 

[hoihtah]

it definately sounds like a powersupply problem.

if you have another known 'good' powersupply test out with that.... like many have suggested.
if not..
then remove everything from the mobo... i'd even say remove the mobo from the case... and place it on an anti static bag
(but if you're not familiar with testing equipments in that manner... then don't)

take the battery out (test the voltage)

and replug video card
reseat your cpu and hsf
plug cpu fan on the mobo
place only one stick of memory
plug in power to mobo.
and plug power switch into mobo.
put the battery back in.
clear cmos.

and try to boot.

 

[DaiShan]

about placing on an anti-static bag, I have heard of a few instances of this actually causing problems because anti-static paper moves charges from the inside of the bag to the outside, I can't seem to find any definite research of this, I just remember a+ class saying it is best not to do it.

 

[hoihtah]

for your peace of mind...
then scratch the whole anti static bag idea.

 

[JohnnyBallGame]

Thanks! I've got a new 300W PS that I'll try tonight. I'll have to did up a new CPU fan...

I'll keep you posted. Thanks again!

John

 

[ttn1]

Just a quick FYI. Anti-static bags are "conductive". This is how they keep static charge away from the components
inside them. If you place a MB on it for testing, you will likely short out the bottom of the MB. Creating a doorstop
in some instances.

You want to place the MB on a non-conductive surface, if you test it out of the box.

 

[JohnnyBallGame]

I tried the new power supply, and it worked. One thing was sort of odd though. On the first boot with the new PS, the heatsink on the cpu got really hot in a hurry (with the fan running) and it smelled like something was burning. On the each boot there after, everything was fine - the heatsink was barely warm to the touch. Anybody got any ideas on what this could be?

BTW - I called NewEgg about the faulty PS, and they agreed to send a new one with no hassle at all. Props to them!