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New PC won't turn on.

B

BassWriters

Member
A couple weeks ago I started building a new PC from scratch. I was unable to get a signal from the video card but the system would still boot.

Here's the link to my previous thread in this forum regarding the video card problems.

Now the system won't even turn on. I've got an Antec 300W power supply, and I just tested it with another computer and there were no problems. This eliminates the PS from the list of potential problems. My current setup has the MOBO connected to the PS. The CPU fan is connected to the CPU fan plug on the MOBO. There is a stick of Crucial memory in Dimm slot 1, and I've got the 2 pin Power switch connected to the MOBO as well. That's it. How do I narrow down what the problem is, my guess is that it's the Motherboard, but I need to be sure before I return it.

One more thing of note, when I hit the Power switch the little LED light on the MOBO flashes once then goes dim. The fans will start for like a quarter of a second an then stop. If I try again nothing will happen. Now once I leave it alone for like 30 minutes, I'll be able to get the light to flash, but once again it won't even blink unless I leave the computer alone for awhile. What the heck does this mean.

Thanks for any advice.

-Cameron
 
Sounds like something is shorting out the motherboard. Could be the memory too; try reseating them. Verify that the cpu/fsb/voltage settings are correct.

Some other guy had a similar problem. Turns out that he connected one of the LEDs/buttons to the incorrect header. It could be any header.

Also could be that one of the metal motherboard studs is shorting it out.
 
-AC
I resat the memory twice, still nothing. Pressing the power button isn't doing a thing. Iwent through the manual again, and all the voltage/fsb settings are at their defaults of autodetect. The two headers (power on/off & cpu fan) are in the correct places as well.

What metal motherboard studs are you talking about, and is their any way of checking to see if their shorted out?

Thanks, and I like your idea of a FAQ.
 
If it was me, I'd remove the motherboard from the case, set it on something non-conductive like plywood or a plastic tupperware container and try booting up that way. At the very least, you'll narrow down the problem a bit.
 
Definitely sounds like a grounding issue. Doing what Networkman suggested would definitely be the way to proceed with this one. I have removed and reseated MB's in the past with such issues and BAM the problem goes away and the system is rock stable.
 
I see you've gotten some good advice.The power switch connector,that
connects to the mo/bo must be on the correct pins or 'header' or what you are describing will occur.You can also do this get a small piece of wire and stick it into the power supply socket,thats the connector that connects to the mo/bo.It should go from the green wire to the black wire.Once you have it stuck firmly into place,turn p/s on,it should spin up,and this would dismiss it as a source of trouble.I think somethings not connected right.Good luck.
 
Thanks for the help all. Unfortunately, still nothing.

Here's what I've done:
I removed the MOBO and its sitting on a plastic tupperware container. I took the MOBO out of my old computer, and connected the Power button header and the 20 pin PS connecter from my Antec Case to its MOBO. I hit the power button and the fans started whirring and everything was powered up. This should eliminate the 2 pin power button header cable and 20 pin PS cable from the potential problem list.

I then disconnected the old mobo and tried connecting the header and PS to my new Epox MOBO. All that's on the MOBO is the CPU, RAM, and the CPU fan is connected to the CPU header. Tried to boot up and still nothing.

Squirrel Dog: I didn't take your advice yet because I see 7 black cables running to the PS connector and I wasn't sure which one to connect the wire to. If your test was to see if the ps and connector are working, my test described above should have answered it.

What else? I'm really starting to think I have a bad MOBO, but maybe I'm missing something stupid, any thoughts?
 
I had a similar problem with an Antec case, where it would boot for a second then turn off, then it'd turn back on (repeat cycle again and again). You know what it was? It was the power button. For some reason the power button kept flickering on/off and causing this problem. What I did to resolve it was use the RESET wire and plugg it into the POWER SW on the motherboard. I can't reset now, but I can turn the computer on. This might be the case for many of these problems. It took me a LONG time to figure this one out.


 
ok..This is funny but I had simillar problem with a slot-A mobo and athlon, I tried everything and I was about to return the mobo. Then, as a last resort, I removed the large heatsink on the athlon and then put the processor in and it booted.. The reason was that the heatsink was not allowing the cpu to get in the slot fully, so I ahd to insert the cpu first and then put the fan on..
 
Zeppelin,

Is your Antec case the I-Mac looking case (Gemstone)? I got a problem here. My PC would suddenly shutdown when i am surfing or when I am in the process of booting up. And I don't know if it is the Deer power supply or something else.

Now that u mention the power switch, I think my problem could be the power switch too. I am just hoping that it is the switch as I can replace that easily instead of the power supply.
 
Term2-
It's the Antec SX830. It's got I-Mac looking buttons (turquoise blue), but not I-Mac in shape. The way I figured it outwas: removing the entire front panel of the case and using the front panel from another case and it worked. Everything else remained the same: mobo, power supply, video card, memory, etc. I was so pissed when I finally concluded it was the stupid power switch.

I'm not sure of the electronics behind the power switch (probably capacitors used), but I'm positive that a lot of these "supposed" power supply/boot up problems are due to bad power switches.
 
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