Help...Lights on then dead system!

[lavagirl669]

My system is running with the following specs:
P4 2.4Ghz
MSI 645 Ultra-C Mainboard
512MB DDRAM
80Gig HD 7200rpm (planning to add 2nd HD 120gig 7200rpm)
Radeon 9800PRO 128Mb vid card
Soundblaster Audigy 2ZS platinum sound card
DVD/CD RW/Rom
DVD Burner
Mid Tower Thermaltake Xaser Skull case
480w Power Supply
WinXP PRO

I have not powered on for the past 4 days being out of town.
Prior to leaving System ran fine, boot up and shutdown fine
NO problems. The most recent hardware add I did was the DVD burner install
but system has worked fine since then and burner works fine (2 weeks since install).

Now upon returning
I hit the Power switch lights come up I can hear fans running (total 7 in Xaser)
Beeps once
I see the Post screen on display
then black
then just the beginning of the WinXP pro starting up screen
and then everything shuts off!

I tried again, resetting power switch and got the same thing sometimes lasting a little
longer on the XP startup screen
sometimes not even making it there.

I suspect a Power supply problem...? This is a NEW Power Supply however.
Have heard failures can occur from leaving system off for a while (in my case 4 days)

What can I do to troubleshoot?
Should I do a Bootstrap type troubleshoot?
or
Should I just replace power supply?

I do have a backup 300watt PS that I can try, but not sure if that is enough to power my system?

Help!

Any suggestions please throw em at me....I plan to start troubleshooting tomorrow

Lavagirl

 

[lavagirl669]

Also if it is the PSU
what do you think of the PC Power and Supply 510W ATX Deluxe?
or should I go with an Antec?

I've heard many good things about the PC Power 510W

 

[lavagirl669]

hi guys...any help on this please?

thanks.... 🙂

Lava

 

[Smithyoffline]

possible virus

 

[mechBgon]

What brand is the 480W power supply?

You might start by trying to lighten the load on the power supply: unplug both of the optical drives completely, use a lower-power video card such as a GeForce2MX or something, and remove the Audigy2. If that has no effect, the next thing I would do is say

:Q ~ it's a sign!

and go out and buy a good power supply from a recognized, respected company, whether it's PC Power & Cooling, Antec, Enermax... not some chintzy one. And ~450-480W is a nice burly wattage to pick if you intend to keep it a long time and have headroom for more drives and gnarly video cards/CPUs in the future. 🙂

 

[LTC8K6]

Check the CPU and Vidcard fans.

It almost sounds like something is getting too hot and shutting down.

 

[lavagirl669]

Correct me if I'm wrong, I think it is the PSU.

I took system down to bare minimum:
CPU, Vid Card, 512MB of Ram

Tried it with current PSU(Real PC Power 550W)...same story....completely shut off after about 1 minute
(post shows) That PSU is probably a piece of junk right? 🙁

Tried a backup 300W PSU and System stayed on, so I ordered an Antec True Control 550W
(I know it is more than I need now, but I plan to add on and upgrade some other stuff later).

Should that work?

Fans on CPU and Vid card are running fine so I don't think it's that.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance

 

[waitman]

I believe you found your problem, and that antec should be more than enough.

 

[lavagirl669]

thanks waitman....

I believe that is the problem too....

One thing that happened, one of those tiny little barrel shaped metal pins on the MOBO
came off or was loose somehow, and now I'm a little worried that it might cause problems
or a short.

Any thoughts?

hmmmm.....