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PC won't power up!! HELP!

K

kimcheeboy

Banned
I'm quite experienced at building PCs over many years and this problem is rather baffling. I'd wonder if anybody had the same problem. I currently am running a TBird 1.4, KT7-E and Enermax 350W in a full tower. One day, I tried to power up the system by hitting the front power button by no avail. So I opened up the case checking to see if the power switch jumper had come loose, but it had not. I checked all the power connections and still no power up. I unplugged everything including monitor, USB keyboard, USB mouse, network and sound connections. I left it all unplugged for about 15 minutes, then I only plugged in the power cable and it powered up...then I followed to plug in all the peripherals and everything was fine. I hadn't shut off the system for 1.5 monthes and it was perfect. Today, I did a full power shutdown and the same problem occurred and the same solution solved it although it was rather finicky.

Anyways, I figured it could be two things:
1.) The motherboard not really wanting to respond to power up commands

2.) The PSU not powering up, but seems to work perfectly once running.

3.) The front Power Switch.

Anybody had a similar problem and a solution? Suggestions welcome, thanks!
 
what happens when you only unplug the power cable...let it sit, then plug the power cable back in? (i.e. DON'T unplug all other stuff as well)

if it consistently boots up fine using that method, then knowing that would help in troubleshooting your problem
 
When I only unplug the AC cable and nothing else, then I plug the AC cable back in after a while, the system will NOT boot. I've tried just about every permutation of cable plug ins and PSU on/off switch settings. Almost makes me think that the system is being shocked and needs to dissipate the charge before it will power up...
 
well, first thing i'd try is clearing the bios

either use the clear cmos jumpers, or (what i usually do), just take the mobo battery out for about 30 minutes and then replace it

you haven't done this yet have you?
 
I've cleared the BIOS and it seems to help in terms of boot up reliability , but I haven't replaced the battery yet. I did just buy the board this past August brand new
 
well, i've occasionally seen faulty batteries even in new mobos. it's probably worth stopping at radio shack and picking up a CR2032 lithium battery for a couple of bucks (that's what most mobo batteries are, it should say on it)

of course, the better thing to do would be to grab a multimeter and actually test the battery.

the other thing i do in situations like these, even though it's not the easiest thing in the world, is i completely STRIP the computer

take everything apart, (take time to clean it too) and then re-assemble it from scratch. i can't tell you how many times this has resurrected systems with freak problems.

but i'd check the battery before doing that
 
but can you confirm that a fault/dying battery will withhold a system from powering up? I don't lose time on the system clock, nor had I ever had to change the time upon bootup...
 


<< but can you confirm that a fault/dying battery will withhold a system from powering up? I don't lose time on the system clock, nor had I ever had to change the time upon bootup... >>



sorry, can't confirm it...all i can say is i've seen batteries do strange things.


another thing you might want to try would be simply shorting the two pins for turning on the machine MOMENTARILY

i.e. disconnect the power switch, and touch a screwdriver across the two pins just for a sec...see if computer turns on. if so, then you have a bad power switch (unlikely)

also, check to make sure the reset switch isn't stuck down or something
 
yea, I've checked all the switches including using a 2 pin jumper and manually trying to short the power switch pins with no success. I'll give the battery thing a shot...only a $4 experiment!
 
I see you have a lot of things plugged into motherboard and power supply unit...
Do you have the same problem with bare minimum hardwares?
 
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