No Lights, No Fans, No POST, No Boot

[Capt Proton]

Went to start my son's computer, and, as per the title, nothing. No LEDs glowing on the motherboard either. Jumped the PSU by putting a wire in pins 4 & 6. PSU started up no problem. All lights and fans started that do not rely on the 24 pin connector. Took MB out of the case, and hooked up only the Graphics card, and one HDD. No difference, nothing.
Motherboard problem?
NF4 Ultra D
Opty 175
Hiper 580W
WD 250GB HDD
8800GT
OCZ Plat PC4000 2 X 1GBs

Edit

OK. I got another Motherboard, an Infinity NF4 SLI. Same result, except for one detail, the standby LED is on as soon as I turn on the power. Everything else is the same. No fans, lights, nothing. The PSU does not start. It still starts if I jump pins 4&6 manually, and the fans, including the CPU fan, lights etc come on with the PSU. Of course nothing happens, as the 24 pin connector is out so I can jump the PSU start pins. Can it be the PSU? If it was the CPU, Graphics card, or memory, it should start to POST and give me an error into the POST shouldn't it?

 

[QuixoticOne]

Maybe it is the soft power switch or its connection.
You can always carefully strip off a little insulation on the green soft start wire without damaging the wire and jump it while the 24 pin is connected.

First I'd check the BIOS battery (dead?), and the reset / pwr / other pin headers that connect to the buttons, and try really wiggling / firmly depressing the reset and power switches to see if they're flaky.

Reseat the RAM sticks too.

Blow off the dust as much as reasonable... check for components that are charred or broken or which glow / get too hot if you can get that far.

Maybe reseating the CPU could help but I doubt that.. give the heatsink a gentle twist / wiggle though.

Some motherboards have a protection where they don't start if they think the power is out of spec. or if the fans aren't turning.. so look for a partially / badly connected fan wire and check the PSU output voltages with a DMM when you have an old CD drive and couple fans only plugged in to it to give it some load which it needs to regulate its voltages...

Pull the header cables to the front panel USB / firewire / audio / etc. too.

 

[Capt Proton]

I have done all of that. Please note that I have tried another motherboard as well. I am really leaning toward a PSU problem. Just noted that as I plug in the 24 pin to the motherboard, I can get a quick, much less than a second, burst of power. Enough to start the fans spinning and flash the LEDs in the fans.

 

[Old Hippie]

Same result, except for one detail, the standby LED is on as soon as I turn on the power. Everything else is the same. No fans, lights, nothing. The PSU does not start. It still starts if I jump pins 4&6 manually, and the fans, including the CPU fan, lights etc come on with the PSU. Of course nothing happens, as the 24 pin connector is out so I can jump the PSU start pins. Can it be the PSU?[/Q]

Absolutely, I've had bad PSs do the exact same thing.

 

[Capt Proton]

Originally posted by: Old Hippie

Same result, except for one detail, the standby LED is on as soon as I turn on the power. Everything else is the same. No fans, lights, nothing. The PSU does not start. It still starts if I jump pins 4&6 manually, and the fans, including the CPU fan, lights etc come on with the PSU. Of course nothing happens, as the 24 pin connector is out so I can jump the PSU start pins. Can it be the PSU?[/Q]

Absolutely, I've had bad PSs do the exact same thing.

Ohh! Thank you! That reply is soooo helpful. For your information, I extensively research everything I buy. Yes, the PSU has some bad posts out there on the internet. But, then again, almost every product out there has it's enemies. Some bad posts do not make a product unworthy. There are always people that blame their ineptitude on the product. You have to consider the entire spectrum to draw a conclusion.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: Capt Proton
Ohh! Thank you! That reply is soooo helpful. For your information, I extensively research everything I buy. Yes, the PSU has some bad posts out there on the internet. But, then again, almost every product out there has it's enemies. Some bad posts do not make a product unworthy. There are always people that blame their ineptitude on the product. You have to consider the entire spectrum to draw a conclusion.

No need to get defensive. He simply stated, in response to your question, that he has seen bad, as in faulty, PSU's exhibit those symptoms. He wasn't bagging on you or your PSU selection.

 

[john3850]

Absolutely, I've had bad PSs do the exact same thing.
Old Hippie

Had DFI Lanparty that was used as UT server 24 7 just die.
still have it.
Didnt think of ps because its the only non single rail ps i own.
The 500 blue storm blew once before when i put a xtpe on it.
Have spare 520 single OCZ to try it again.
Had GAP-35 bios die after booting off a pen drive for a month.
Killed 2 systems in 6 months
Getting worried about using water 24 7 so i ordered a P5E-D.
Thanks for posting Old Hippie

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Capt Proton
If it was the CPU, Graphics card, or memory, it should start to POST and give me an error into the POST shouldn't it?

If CPU is bad, likely you will get... nothing. Fans spin up, but no other indication. If RAM was bad enough, then you'd get beeps (if PC speaker hooked up). Otherwise it would boot like normal but you'd get system instability. If video card was bad enough, you'd get beeps. Otherwise, it would boot normal but you'd get artifacts.

I'd vote for trying another PSU as the next troubleshooting step.