P5N-E SLI onboard led blinks, system won't start

[desmond5]

I have a problem. I let my computer stay on for a night and when I woke up in the morning it seemed to be shut down. The power switch didn't respond, neither did help removing power cable for some period of time. Opened the case door and saw that the motherboard LED is blinking (green). I've never seen it blinking before.

Later I discovered that when the power cable has been removed for some time and then I reinsert it into the socker, the onboard led stays green (not blinking) for ca 10 seconds and then starts blinking again. If in that time, when it's not blinking, I press the power switch, the system turns on (the fans start spinning only and I hear harddrive powering up for a moment) but nothing else happens (no info appears on LCD at all, even no error messages).

Machine specs:

C2D 6600, P5N-E SLI, 3x1GB 800Mhz ADATA DDR2, Geforce 8800 GTX, FSP Epsilon 700W PSU, 2xHDD (1xATA, 1xSATA), Creative XtremeMusic, DVD-RW. Bios is upgraded to latest (seemed to work fine without bugs), no overclocking done. Case is Antec P180 and CPU cooler is some Thermaltake model with heatpipes and a fan controller. Operating system: Vista (64bit).

I'm out of ideas. Is it motherboard, psu, cpu ? I have no ideas. Please advise.

Best regards, Desmond

 

[KGB]

Desmond,

Welcome to the Forums! :beer:

Refer to page 1-26 of your ASUS manual for the procedure to clear the CMOS.
Try it and let us know.

 

[Old Hippie]

Later I discovered that when the power cable has been removed for some time and then I reinsert it into the socker, the onboard led stays green (not blinking) for ca 10 seconds and then starts blinking again. If in that time, when it's not blinking, I press the power switch, the system turns on (the fans start spinning only and I hear harddrive powering up for a moment) but nothing else happens (no info appears on LCD at all, even no error messages).

I'm voting PS.

 

[KGB]

Originally posted by: Old Hippie

Later I discovered that when the power cable has been removed for some time and then I reinsert it into the socker, the onboard led stays green (not blinking) for ca 10 seconds and then starts blinking again. If in that time, when it's not blinking, I press the power switch, the system turns on (the fans start spinning only and I hear harddrive powering up for a moment) but nothing else happens (no info appears on LCD at all, even no error messages).

I'm voting PS.

Yeah... me too but clearing the CMOS costs nothing.

 

[desmond5]

Okey, I cleared CMOS, inserted the power cable to the socket and noticed that the blinking had stopped. As that was a really good sign, I powered the system and (as everything seemed normal), entered BIOS to enter the correct settings. However, I suddenly got very busy and left the computer running (at BIOS screen). When I got back after a hour or so, I resumed to tweak BIOS settings (no restart or anything in the meantime) but suddenly the system just powered down and the god damn onboard led started to blink again. To make sure, I cleared the CMOS again but without no result - the blinking stayed.

So, it's pretty clear it's because of psu...or motherboard. I personaly also feel it's psu, but how do I make sure ?

Many thanks,
Desmond

 

[KGB]

Originally posted by: desmond5
Okey, I cleared CMOS, inserted the power cable to the socket and noticed that the blinking had stopped. As that was a really good sign, I powered the system and (as everything seemed normal), entered BIOS to enter the correct settings. However, I suddenly got very busy and left the computer running (at BIOS screen). When I got back after a hour or so, I resumed to tweak BIOS settings (no restart or anything in the meantime) but suddenly the system just powered down and the god damn onboard led started to blink again. To make sure, I cleared the CMOS again but without no result - the blinking stayed.

So, it's pretty clear it's because of psu...or motherboard. I personaly also feel it's psu, but how do I make sure ?

Many thanks,
Desmond

Des,

There is really no way to be absolutely sure.
Can you borrow a PSU to try?
If so, make sure it has enough "balls" to drive the system or disconnect extraneous hardware to lessen the burden.

 

[desmond5]

Yeah, it was PSU. I don't understand how it got broken as it was like 2 weeks old.

 

[montag451]

Cheapie make?

700w cheapie = approx a flakey 300w branded.

 

[KGB]

Originally posted by: montag451
Cheapie make?

700w cheapie = approx a flakey 300w branded.

FSP = Fortron

RMA it under warranty.

 

[montag451]

Spotted it too late