Why my computer no start?

[Breakfast]

Breakfast comes back from honeymoon, which has been brilliant to find that Virgin Atlantic's helpful baggage handlers/footballers have managed to shred his holdall and although he has retained his dirty socks the big old SDRam card with most of the pictures from the holiday. Thanks for that, Virgin.

Anyways, now quite tetchy he thinks that at least he can check his mail and see what has been going on in the world, but no- he switches his computer on and the power light flickers momentarily and then goes out. He tries switching it on again and nothing happens at all. After switching it off and back on again using the "real" power button on the back of the PSU the power light will flicker on and then off again as beforeThe duration of the flicker is less than a second and there are no beeps or other noticeable signs of live, although the speakers audibly fire up and then switch off again.

I haven't been around for the last two weeks and the house has been empty. I absolutely haven't touched any part of the configuration of the computer in ages. The only obvious thing I can think that might have changed could be one of the motherboard batteries going flat ( the pc is going on for three years old now)  but I don't really know if that would have this kind of effect. Anyone?

(Oh great now windows has switched on sticky keys its amazing how much the world hates you when you have jet lag)

[Hansdampf]

ECS K7S5A ?  

I had the same problem (perhaps blown capacitors?)
...until I bought a new mainboard

[erikd]

I had the same problem too with my previous mainboard; it switched on but it immediately switched off again.
Unplugging the power outlet for a few minutes solved it but it kept coming back, so I bought a cable with power sockets with a 'main' switch on it.

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[blahblahblahh]

In this situation, Abit will replace for free, althoguh it takes around 3-5 weeks. If you have a decent mobo, you should get a similar service.

Check with the manufacturer - this way, we found out that Abit for instance includes an "emergency floppy boot OS" and you can stick in a floppy with an Abit BIOS on and it will boot and auto-flash just in case the BIOS has accidentally been corrupted.

[Falken]

Sounds like a typical day for anybody relying on the electrical grid system in Guildford.  

[Breakfast]

Is there some magical way anyone can think of to not make it be the motherboard? I would really like the problem not to be caused by that...

The trouble is, when you are replacing the motherboard then you may as well get a slightly newer one, because it doesn't really make much difference in price and they probably don't make them like the old one any more. And if you're getting a newer motherboard you may as well get a new processor to go with it- I doubt they even still make them for the type of processor I have. But a faster processor may need faster memory and it doesn't make much difference if you are replacing the mobo anyways and while that is all going on a graphics card wouldn't hurt and then you're pretty much getting a new PC...

[erikd]

Maybe the problem is the power supply instead of the motherboard?

[Breakfast]

Now that's the kind of news I want to hear.

Unfortunately I've got a feeling it's probably not right because I think usually once the PSU goes you don't get any response from the on switch.

If I do need to go up a level is it worth going for a PCI express type board and one of them new fangled cheapo Athlon 64 type processors so I can at least upgrade a bit when good parts become cheap or should I go for bargainous end-of-line old-fashioned stuff and worry about upgrading when the time comes?

[Raghar]

Do you have old PSU? If so try to connect it and test it, otherwise try to clean dust from your computer and look if all cables INSIDE of the computer are well connected. Look at the outside cables as well.
Any sound from HD?

[Breakfast]

Doesn't get far enough for a sound from the hard drive- I'm not even getting to the beep from the bios. Just a little flicker from the power light, no more than a second in duration, probably a bit less.

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[Raghar]

Tried to connect another PSU? Have you looked inside if no connector is lose?
Do you have old board, or old PSU? Try to use them to verify if problem is motherboard or PSU. It seem your PSU for some reason doesn't want to switch itself up. I suspect you don't hear a weak buzzing noise from PSU after you tried to power up the computer.

No storms when you were away?

If I do need to go up a level is it worth going for a PCI express type board and one of them new fangled cheapo Athlon 64 type processors so I can at least upgrade a bit when good parts become cheap or should I go for bargainous end-of-line old-fashioned stuff and worry about upgrading when the time comes?

That's the question. I choose the cheap way and choose reliable components, at least attempted to.
Other alternative is Nemiah, wait half year - 3/2 years, then convert Nemiah into nice computer for viewing video and other stuff, and update with powerful computer (and create a small home network).

If you have DDR memory on your board you aren't in as bad situation you could have MB/CPU pretty cheap.

[erikd]

Does the PSU power up when you unplug the motherboard?

[Argoyle]

I had the same problem with one of my computers and it was the PSU that was broken. As soon as I unplugged CD-ROM, HDD and floppy and just had the motherboard itself plugged in the computer started. As soon as I connected the HDD again it showed the same symptoms as before.

Switched the PSU and the computer is happily working again.

[Breakfast]

Ooh! Some diagnostics! I'll try them tonight...

Of course, I've got the new kit on order now, but it seems that Dabs take days and days to pack your order so I can probably find the problem before they have even put it in the post...

[glheim]

Don't know how it's going with your box, but there's a quick way to test the power supply (at your own risk of course).  You can jump pins 14 and 15 of the atx connector (with ac  unplugged, and perhaps every device in the system unplugged too).  Then, plug in ac, and see if the power supply fan stays on (don't run long, just need a few seconds). If it doesn't work, then your psu is toast.  Careful with this procedure, doing it too much can damage the psu.  Good luck

[cfmdobbie]

Don't know how it's going with your box, but there's a quick way to test the power supply (at your own risk of course).  You can jump pins 14 and 15 of the atx connector (with ac  unplugged, and perhaps every device in the system unplugged too).  Then, plug in ac, and see if the power supply fan stays on (don't run long, just need a few seconds). If it doesn't work, then your psu is toast.  Careful with this procedure, doing it too much can damage the psu.  Good luck

I have no idea what that does, but it sounds like a really, really bad idea!

[Raghar]

It reminds me how did I connected LED diode to my old PSU, just two wires and 4 possible holes they could be plugged into.
That diode was really hot after few seconds. And when I finally managed to light it up it was yelow instead of green. Then I connected it into another hole, PSU are really nicely protected agains circuit shourtages.