What's going on here? Please help

[robertsmcn]

I was in the middle of playing a game on Saturday night when all of a sudden my PC just shut down without warning. I tried to fire her up again, but absolutely nothing - no beeps, no sounds - just plain ole' dead. The power strip I'm plugged into is fine and so is my wall outlet.

My first guess was that my power supply was shot, but a quick read of my motherboard manual leads me to believe otherwise. My mobo has three LED lights on it - Red, green, and yellow. I took the cover off the case to investigate, and when the power source is plugged in, the yellow light stays illuminated. My mobo manual states that the yellow light is a "standby power indicator. When the +5VSB supplies power to the motherboard, this LED indicator will light up." So again, I think the power supply is okay. Does this mean the mobo is okay too?

I then took off the heatsink and looked at the top of the CPU. It looked fine. My next guess was that maybe the heatsink was bad. My AMD manual states that if a heatsink fails or is improperly installed, the CPU will immediately fail. (From the very first time I built this rig, I would occasionally hear a high pitched whining sound indicative of a moving part such as a fan). So I installed the stock AMD heatsink that I never used (I had been using a Thermaltake). When I tried re-booting, I get the same thing which is nothing. The fan does a quick turn or two, but that's it. My only other guess at this point is that the CPU is dead. What does anyone think?

Here are my relevant specs:

Athlon XP1800+
Abit KR7A-133R motherboard
Enlight 7237 case
GeForce 3Ti200

I don't overclock at all and things have been running relatively smooth for the last two years since I've built the system. I will say this though - about three or four months ago I started leaving my PC on 24/7. After about 2 months of having it on all the time, it would eventually shut down after 7 or 8 hours, even if just idling.

 

[robertsmcn]

Anyone??

Bueller.......Bueller.......Bueller..........

 

[Matthias99]

If, when you try to power it on, you get a quick jerk on the fans but nothing else, either your power supply or motherboard is having issues. On *most* motherboards, it'll spin up the fans even if the RAM or CPU is bad, as long as the PSU is OK.

That indicator light doesn't necessarily mean the PSU is OK; it just means it's putting out a very small amount of power on the 5V line. It might be able to do that and still not be able to bring the system online.

 

[bldckstark]

Aallllrrrighty then. Remove all devices and reconnect them one at a time, or vice versa, disconnect each device one at a time and restart. At some point you may find that one of the items solves the problem. At this point it could be any of them. Do the video card, and memory last. The beeps heard after removing the GPU and memory will tell you if that is the problem. I think it is 2 beeps for memory missing. It should be 8 beeps for the video card missing. If you do all of this and you haven't found the problem then it is one of the remaining objects, the power supply (the yellow light just means the 5v rail is operational, not the others), the CPU or the motherboard. You will need to put the CPU in something else to check it, and use another PS to check that (assuming you don't have a voltmeter). You can try to start without the CPU but I can't remember it that gives any result? Any way you look at it you may want to start perusing pricewatch.:camera::brokenheart:

 

[TD77077]

Like Matthias99 said. I'd bet on the PS.

 

[robertsmcn]

Thanks, fellas.

Okay, since it looks like the PSU could be the guilty culprit, I think my first strategy is to get my hands on a new or used one and try that first.

BLDCKSTARK, my only issue with your suggestion is that even if I had one bad device, would that cause my system to be completely dead the way it is? I'm talking flatline here when I push the power button. Other than the quick jerk of the heatsink fan that I described, there are absolutely no beeps, sounds, whistles. Nada, zip

 

[robertsmcn]

It was the PSU as it turns out. I went ahead and bought a 300W Antec at Circuit City, figuring I could just return it if the PSU wasn't the problem. I popped it in and was up and running in minutes. Thanks for all your help and suggestions. You guys are great.

 

[OZEE]

300W seems a little small for that computer... hope it keeps working.

 

[bldckstark]

By the way, yes many parts if they are bad can cause the system to dead stop. If the item is short circuited the system will shut itself down immediately after power up, so it may look like it never tried to start. Glad to hear you got it back up and running, and good luck with it.