Help! I just built a new computer as a X-mas present, and am having a weird problem

[Shawnm]

I just built a new computer with a Chaintech VNF-250 mobo, a 2800+ AMD 64 Chip in a Antec SuperLanboy Case with an Antec 350 Smartblue power supply. I had everything up and running fine for at least 2 hours, I then went to go get something to eat, and when I returned the computer was off. So I attempted to turn it back on and everything will power on for about 2 to 3 seconds then quickly shut off. It sounds like it may be making a "clink-clink-clink", noise as well. Does anyone have any ideas on what could be causing this problem?

<EDIT: Fixed a typo in the title>

 

[Todorov]

Your cpu is burnt j/k

 

[Omizzle]

either what he said or the PSU isnt strong enough

 

[Looney]

You're hearing clinking noises from the computer? Can you isolate exactly where it is? maybe it's a fan on psu, gpu, cpu? Clear the bios and see if it boots up again.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: Omizzle
either what he said or the PSU isnt strong enough

both of your suggestions are wrong, IMO

 

[Viper96720]

Originally posted by: nick1985

Originally posted by: Omizzle
either what he said or the PSU isnt strong enough

both of your suggestions are wrong, IMO

What's right then?

 

[Mik3y]

psu is more hten enough. that's not the prob. what are your temps? u test the memory? click-click-click from hard drive?

 

[Shawnm]

OK, the noise seems to be unrelated, I think it is just one of the fans. After I let it set, it turned on but it only went on for about 10 seconds and for every second it was on the fan speeds got slower, and slower until it eventually just turned off. Before it had this problem the computer had normal temps(45-50C), and the memory in it was memory I had in a previous computer(that had almost this exact same setup.), so I know that it works fine.
Do you think something went wrong with the PSU?

 

[Shawnm]

Is there a way to test the power supply without having it hooked up to a computer?

 

[ts3433]

There are two pins on the ATX plug you can bridge... I think they're the 3.3V and ground wires, but someone else should confirm.

As said below, make sure your case isn't shorting the motherboard.

 

[remagavon]

Sounds like you have a short someplace. Unmount your motherboard and try it on a static bag with only the necessary components. Also to test a power supply get a paper clip, unravel it, and put one end to any black wire, and the other end to the green wire on the motherboard connector.

Good luck.

 

[w00t]

Yes, there is i am trying to rember how it involves a paper clip and plugging your psu in the socket. someone should reply with the answer any second. hope you get that pc up and running for that lucky person. good luck and merry christmas.

 

[mechBgon]

If you haven't already done the out-of-case test, at least check these:

1) ensure that your ATX12V cable was plugged in. If it was not plugged in, unplug your main ATX cable and check it for signs of overheat (browning, burnt smell)

2) if your video card uses a power cable from the PSU to supply additional power, ensure it's firmly plugged in.

3) if it's not that stuff, then post your specs. If you want to be thorough about it, fill in this example with your system's specs:

• CORE HARDWARE
  • Power supply Antec TruePower 430
  • Motherboard Asus K8N-E Deluxe
    • Revision 1.03
    • BIOS 1005
  • CPU Athlon64 3000+
    • Core 130nm Clawhammer
  • Memory (2) 512MB Corsair XMS 3200C2 modules
    • Voltage Manually set to 2.7 volts
    • Timings AUTO, results in 2-3-2-6 @ 200MHz
• CARDS
  • Primary video card ATI Radeon 9800Pro AGP 8x
  • PCI slot #1 (top) empty
  • PCI slot #2 empty
  • PCI slot #3 LeadTek Winfast TV/FM tuner card
  • PCI slot #4 Creative Audigy 2 ZS
  • PCI slot #5 LSI Logic Ultra160 SCSI
  • PCI slot #6 (board only has five PCI slots)
• DRIVES
  • Boot drive 160GB Seagate 7200.7
    • Interface Serial ATA
    • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 SATA controller
    • Jumper setting not applicable (SATA)
  • Additional hard drive 40GB Seagate 7200.7
    • Interface Parallel ATA
    • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 standard ATA controller, primary channel
    • Jumper setting Master
  • Additional hard drive 18GB Seagate Cheetah 15k.3
    • Interface SCSI
    • Controller hosting this drive LSI Logic U160 card
    • Jumper setting SCSI ID 01
  • Optical drive #1 NEC 3500A DVD burner
    • Interface Parallel ATA
    • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 standard ATA controller, secondary channel
    • Jumper setting Master
  • Optical drive #2 Lite-On combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW
    • Interface Parallel ATA
    • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 standard ATA controller, secondary channel
    • Jumper setting Slave
• OS AND SECURITY
  • Operating System WindowsXP Professional
  • Service Pack SP2
  • Internet connection Cable
  • Hardware firewall Netgear RP614 router
  • Software firewall WindowsXP firewall
  • Antivirus Norton Antivirus 2004

 

[w00t]

Originally posted by: remagavon
Sounds like you have a short someplace. Unmount your motherboard and try it on a static bag with only the necessary components. Also to test a power supply get a paper clip, unravel it, and put one end to any black wire, and the other end to the green wire on the motherboard connector.

Good luck.

i knew someone would post it

 

[Cvolt]

I would use nylon standoffs rather than the anti-static bag to set your board on. Also, you should not power up the power supply without having a load on it, meaning you should as least plug in your hard drive. Recently my computer wouldn't power up, even with a new power supply. Turns out the network card was shorted which prevented the power supply from turning on.

Do you have a multi-meter so you can check the power supply voltages once the power supply is powered up?

 

[Shawnm]

Allright guys, thanks for all the help. I got a spare powersupply and tried that and it didn't work; I then tried the powersupply I had that I thought was suspect in a good computer and it worked fine. So after taking everything off my motherboard, I tried that and it didn't work. So my theory is that my mobo is shot. Luckily I had almost duplicates of all the exact same components from another computer in the house, so I swapped motherboards and kept all of the other components from the computer that wasn't working and it booted up perfectly fine. Looks like I'll just have to RMA it.

Thanks for all the help!