something's whacked on my comp... help please

Jan 19, 2002
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k, i took my computer (for specs see profile) apart so i could do some drilling on the case, put it back together yesterday and now it wont boot. what happens is this: the led on the mobo shows normal power to the board, i press the power switch, and the computer starts. all the fans spin up and everything. then, after about 2-3 secs the reset led on the mobo comes and the computer shuts down without even posting. i also see one or two colored rectangles on my monitor along with the "no signal" msg after the comp shuts off, but this doesnt happen all the time. tonight when i get time i'm gonna disassemble it again and try to pinpoint the problem, but i would appreciate any pointers on specifics of the problem. heres what ive tried so far:

i thought it might be a power supply problem, since i had added a fan. but i have a 431 watt sparkle psu, and now there are only 4 fans in there, so come on. but i unhooked the fan anyway and it still happened.

checked the headers from the case power switch and reset switch several times, they are correctly positioned.

unhooked all my ide drives since my friend bent a few pins on ide 4, but the machine doesnt even post so i didnt think it would be a hd problem.

left it off overnight and tried again... no change.

so, basically, i only have a foggy idea of what it might be. what kind of problem does this sound like? the only thing i can think of is that my heatsink isnt seated properly and my cpu is getting too hot, and the temp protect in the bios is shutting the comp down to protect it, but the bios doesnt even load in 2-3 secs, right? anyway, ive held off clearing the cmos memory cuz doing that would shut off temp protect and then id fry my cpu if that is indeed the problem. help here would be greatly appreciated, so i'll give you all a preemptive thank you...
 

CAK

Senior member
Oct 23, 1999
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Did you reseat the CPU, memory and AGP card? Make sure they were in the slots all the way/correctly?
 

FishTankX

Platinum Member
Oct 6, 2001
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Another posibility is that when you were drilling on your PSU you wern't careful and metal dust particles got somewhere they shouldn't be and were causing a short. Or metal particles got blown/wafted down into the case, on to some electrical contact and fried something!! Take out everything except Video, RAM, CPU, and mobo and test with another PSU.
 

BrintonAA

Senior member
Jul 6, 2001
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This sounds like a CPU problem to me, it could be that the CPU or HS isn't seated properly as mentioned by CAK.

I had a fried Athlon when I was putting together my PC a year or so ago and the computer would boot up for only a few seconds and then crash. Usually it didn't even make it to the BIOS screen. This can happen from overheating the CPU, or possibly applying pressure on the CPU when you put on the HS. I'd borrow/buy a cheap CPU for your motherboard and try that, then see if the system boots up.

I suppose it could be a power supply problem, but it seems to me that a power supply problem is generally a more "it works or it doesn't work" deal, rather than the PS sort of working, like in your case. Besides, 431 watt power supply units are generally pretty good.

That's just my thoughts.
 
Jan 19, 2002
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thanks.. i dont have time to take my comp apart tonight, but im def doing this tomorrow. if you guys can think of anything else i'll be real grateful...
 
Jan 19, 2002
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alright, update, i pulled everything out of the case, ran a vacuum cleaner over everything (cuz i didnt have a air spray can) and tried to post with just cpu, vid card, and mem, completely outside of the case. didnt work. same problem: fans spin up, then the system shuts down 2 secs later. took off the cpu, cleaned the surface with alcohol, undid my unlock job (jic), and reattached the hsf. didnt work. switched out the vid card with my dads radeon 7000. didnt work. switched my memory for some crucial pc2100, tried it in several slots. didnt work. that pretty much reduces it to the mobo or the cpu, and my dad has a p4 system so theres no way to test those two for a little bit.

so i was all like, wtf, then i stared really closely at the underside of my mobo, and saw that one of the little solder dots corresponding to a pin on my cpu was missing. just one. could that be it? and if it is: is it fixable, or is my mobo gone? advice muchly appreciated...
 
Jan 19, 2002
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k, i fixed it. turns out it WAS the cmos. i was afraid to clear it before since it would shut off the temp protect, but once i made sure my hsf was on properly i reset it and it posted fine. course, no guarantee it wont crash and burn once i slap it back in the case, but at least i got it to post... thanks to everyone who suggested fixes.