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Trash Talk - Boot Problem

Helicon - Fri Dec 26, 2003 9:11 pm
Post subject: Boot Problem

I left my comp running to rip a cd, and had to leave it for several hours unattended.

When i returned it appeared to be sleeping, but did not respond to any keyboard or mouse input, and did not return from sleep mode as usual

The power cable to the computer was later unplugged.

Now:
When i plug in the power suppply the Power LED Light(green) on its ASUS a7n8x-dlx lights, but pressing power buttons does not start the machine and the Power LED at the front of the case does not light.
The fans do not start, thought they "flutter" almost unnoticeably as if they have received a small twitch bit of power.
I have unlplugged all drives and the Graphics Card, to no avail.
The machine runs MS Windows XP Home.

I have both a ps2 keyboard and mouse. Neither the optical led in the mouse nor the keyboard numlock indicators come on.

So far as i can tell, power is making it to the motherboard, but does not get passed to the other components.

i have checked the atx power and reset buttons, and they function and are connected properly.

The machine has booted successfully before...
i have made no hardware changes besides unplugging the drives and gfx cards from power supply (350)...

Any suggestions...?
I assume some of you (or quite a few) are familiar with the a7n8x-

If i need to be redirected elsewhere, please forgive me for missing obvious results...

I am
f r u s t r a t e d

many thanks for any help or suggestions

Dr Brain - Fri Dec 26, 2003 10:55 pm
Post subject:

Try removing all your ram, and see if the computer yells at you. This will tell you if the computer is getting to the POST testing phase.

If not, it's either your Mothervoard, CPU or your power supply. If you have some spare computers lying around, you can try switching power supplies.

Helicon - Fri Dec 26, 2003 11:05 pm
Post subject:

its definitely not posting... the fans aren't even spinning

The mobo and cpu are both new...

i am having doubts about the power supply
i had installed a Radeon card, and i remember the instructions for using what looked like a power cable "splitter" (it came in the package) seemed a little weird, but i just assumed ATI knows more about their card than i do.
also, the cooling fan in the power supply doesn't spin... so maybe its just not pumping power...

i am going to mess with it tomorrow again, and if i don't get it i'm taking it to a computer repair shack. i just don't have the time (or patience when i'm on vacation) to be messing with (messing up??) this machine

Mine GO BOOM - Sat Dec 27, 2003 1:32 am
Post subject:

Smell it. Stick your nose really close to the motherboard and the power supply. Sounds like something burned out. I lost a power supply and a 1400 atlon a month ago, to be replaced by a Sonata and 2500+ barton. Worked out nicely for me sort of.

Don't buy cheap-ass power supplies in the future. I had an old 400 watt supply that I was running at like 110% for about 8 months. Thankfully, it only took out my motherboard (didn't test CPU in another board yet) and not my hard drives. A year ago, a crappy power supply took down one of my brother's drives, with around 40gig or so of MP3 and other stuff.

Cyan~Fire - Sat Dec 27, 2003 9:44 am
Post subject:

Check your voltages against the black (ground). They should all be 12V, 5V, or 3.3V. That should tell you if it's the power supply or not.

Helicon - Sat Dec 27, 2003 10:26 am
Post subject:

Cyan~Fire wrote:

Check your voltages against the black (ground). They should all be 12V, 5V, or 3.3V. That should tell you if it's the power supply or not.

could you please rephrase... i'm just a little confused

Dr Brain - Sat Dec 27, 2003 2:22 pm
Post subject:

Use a multimeter to check the voltages coming from the PSU. If they are fine, the power supply is fine. If they aren't, you have found your problem.

Smong - Sat Dec 27, 2003 4:29 pm
Post subject:

The fan in the PSU isn't spinning, isn't that enough evidence?

Dr Brain - Sat Dec 27, 2003 4:52 pm
Post subject:

Smong wrote:

The fan in the PSU isn't spinning, isn't that enough evidence?

Yes, must have missed that when I read his post.

Helicon - Sat Dec 27, 2003 7:03 pm
Post subject:

so its a psu problem... i thought so... i just don't have a spare around my parent's house to test it against. My father finally got me to break down and take it to a Fry's Repair Desk.
Chances are they are going to tell to buy a new psu. It was a std mwave psu (brand=Austin), and probably wasn't worth the money.

I just hope that the mobo and processor are ok
What are the chances that it shorted them???

i think i know what the problem was.
I just installed a Radeon gfx card, and the instructions in its mmanual directed me to use the packaged powerline splitter with the hard drive's connection point. i thought it was suspicious to not just use an extra power cable, but i haven't done many installations of gfx cards, so i took their word for it.
chances are that may have shorted it, seeing that those two components are really the only 2 high power munchers i have (old 12.9 gig hd and a Radeon 9800 xt)

many thanks for all words so far

PS
if something *expensive* did short out (IE mobo, cpu) what are the chances i can get that on warranty??? Mobo,psu,cpu, and memory were ordered as a pretested barebone from mwave.com

Helicon - Fri Jan 02, 2004 11:47 am
Post subject:

good news, by a miracle of X, the psu shorted and nothing else was damaged....

yeeeeehhhhhhaaaaaawwww!!!!
(as is said here in the south)

i did, however, learn a lot about warranties, shipping costs, and "OEM Warranty Second Chance Repair Costs" while i sweated over it.

many thanks to all who helped calm my fears, and helped me to determine what the possibilities were and how to fix them...