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I just cannot get this system to post.....UPDATE: progress progess!

A

acidvoodoo

Platinum Member
hello

about 3 months ago, my main pc was getting all kinds of crashes. One day i smelled burning and it shut down for good. When you pressed the power button the fans jolted but nothing powered up.

After posting on here everyone suggested it was the PSU, so i RMA'd it to antec, [cost alot, had to send from UK to holland!]. a month later i recieved my newone. Aswell as not fitting to the case in the same way as the old one did [could only use one screw], installing the new power supply made no difference and the pc still only jolted when attempts to power on were made.

I posted on here again and got the advice that it was probably afterall the motherboard and cpu, thinking an upgrade wasin order anyway, i bought a new motherboard, processor, and ram. I installed all these components, aswell as with my old GFX card. System still did not post, just jolted.

thinking it may be the graphics card, i swapped in a known working graphics card. made no difference. i'm thinking now, what if the replacement PSU antec sent me was faulty from the start. not many ways for me to know.

Specs i'm trying to get to work:

Antec Smartpower 400W
Antec SX840 case
AMD Athlon XP 2600 Barton retail sink/fan
PcChips M848ALU Motherboard
259mb pc2700 333 unbuffered crucial RAM
MGI[or mfi or mvi or something] Geforce 4 ti 4400 128mb

then aload of other compoents that i havent beothered connecting until i can get this stuff working.

i've checked motherboard cmos jumper, it is NOT set to clear [i know pc chips come with them set to clear as default]

any ideas would be great right now : /

EDIT: one thing i forgot to mention that is important is that, when the fans jolt, they dont keep jerking if i keep pressing the power button. to make them jolt again i have to turn it off at the back and wait a few seconds, then turn it on again.

UPDATE i follwed Ferns' advice of assembly the bare basics outside of the case, on a phonebook. i can report back that this DID work and the system came on. what now? should i start adding everything in outside of the case, and check that it still works?
 
Shorted fan or power switch? You seem to have replaced just about everything else. Got a multimeter?

Good luck!
 
i guess i can use a rubber handled screw driver to try and power up the system but touching the contacts together. dont have a multimeter 🙁
 
EDIT: one thing i forgot to mention that is important is that, when the fans jolt, they dont keep jerking if i keep pressing the power button. to make them jolt again i have to turn it off at the back and wait a few seconds, then turn it on again.
 
From your write-up, I would say your pwr supply is crowbarring, [ shutting itself down due to a short to ground, somewhere in your system, this is a built-in hardware safety feature. ]. Unless you absolutely have to fix this unit yourself, I would consider at this point in time, to find yourself a techno-qualified friend, note; not just some person that thinks he/she knows ALL about computers, but actually does, such as a retired electronic tech for example. If you don't know such a person, then make it your business to FIND them. Someone like this will be able to fix your problem, usually for free, and you will be able to learn something from them as well. A person such as you found ME, locally of course, so I could get a hands on look at the situation, his problem wasn't serious and we had his sys up and running in short order. These Tech Forums are great, but they have their limitations due to the varying levels of expertise of the forum members.
Good Luck, ronach
 
Take the mobo out of the case, place it on a phone book next to the case. Try to post with only mobo, cpu (and HS+F), ram, and vid card. Of course hook up the KB, mouse and monitor. No drives or pci cards yet.

If it posts, you have a case short or a drive hooked up wrong.

Fern
 
Interesting how the fans spin for a second and then shut off. Sounds to me like something is reversed. That could be the internal wiring of the PSU itself, or something as simple as reversing the "power on" connection to the MOBO.

Unless of course you've confused the on/off positions on the PSU rocker switch. I know, I know, you would never make a dumb mistake like that right? Oh wait, I once did. 😱
 
UPDATE i follwed Ferns' advice of assembly the bare basics outside of the case, on a phonebook. i can report back that this DID work and the system came on. what now? should i start adding everything in outside of the case, and check that it still works?
 
If everything worked out of the case, the motherboard has most likely shorted when it was in its case. Just put everything back into the case and verify there's nothing between the motherboard and the case that can cause shortings.
 
I agree on the "shorting" diagnosis.
First common thing to check is the MB stand-offs.Make sure the MB isn't bottoming out on the tray or any screws/bolts protruding from the tray to the MB.
Next in line if all that checks out ok is wiring.Check all your wiring & cabling for any shaved off insulation or melted off insulation.
Also make sure there aren't any "loose ended"(no plug) wires floating around and those that are extra floaters aren't accidentally inserted onto anything that could make contact inside of the plugs.
If all the above checks out then I'd maybe replace all the cables and wires inside the case jsut to rule out those.It's cheap to do.
One quick question though.Did you clear your CMOS yet and then retry boot up?
I had similar problems with an oder MB and that's what cured it.Wouldn't boot at all with the settings I had in bios.Set the CMOS jumper to clear for at least a minute and then replace it to the non-clearing position and try rebooting.

Since you have ruled out MB,VGA card,PSU I don't know what else to say.I find it hard to believe a new MB and PSU failed.Although it is possible I guess.
 
😀

well, i moved a few motherboard standoffs around, and installed everything, and it now works!

the system is however, on its side. my PSU is too small to fit in the holes, i think i need an adaptor piece of metal to fit the PSU, as i must have sent my old one off when i RMA'd. anyone know what i need to get?
 
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