Ok, I'm absolutely stumped. I had a problem with my PC, where the PC would refuse to spin up at all, although power was being supplied to the mobo. However, leaving unplugged for 24 - 36 hours resulted in the PC being able to boot up again when it is plugged in. I bought myself a Hiper 580w Type R PSU to replace my cheap 480w, and continued to have this problem intermittently. This led me to investing in an ABit UL8 mobo, Athlon 64 3500+ Venice processor and a new stick of 1gig RAM (having run memtest on the new mobo with old memory and actually crashing memtest) However my problem remains, this time it actually switched itself off and refused to start. I'm completely at a loss as to what could be causing this, as removing the power from my Maxtor Diamondmax9 250gig and Seatgate Barracuda 7200.7 40gig, and using a different graphics card (I currently have an ATi 9550) does not allow the PC to start, nor does resetting the CMOS. I've even tried different power leads, and different power sockets to start the PC but still nothing until about 36 hours after being unplugged from the power. (btw, the rear fan and LED come on when i put the power back in back in and the mobo light comes on, even if the PC refuses to spin up) I have reseated the motherboard, disconnected, tried to power up, failed, and reconnected everything, i really don't know what to do next! Any ideas? Cheers
so, you got new CPU, new mobo and new ram, and tried diffo graphics card?, try a different hard drive, i see you have 2 there, is the maxtor hard drive the main hard drive in there (the oe with windows on)? what ram have you got? is it pc3200 DDR 400? i too find this puzzling, maybe somthing is overheating, check and see if your h/s and fan is seated properly on the cpu, check to see if everything is secured and inserted properly. what do you mean by spin up?, the monitor comes on or somthing? i am thinking maybe you've got a damaged cable in there, but doesent seem that likely, i had a simaler problem once, and it ended up been a damage IDE cable, but then again with your problem it couldent be, as you said you left it for 36 hours and it booted up, this seems like somthing been overheating :\ Also, try a different power cable for the computer. try your computer with only the graphics card, motherboard, one stick of ram and of course the CPU, connect all nescessery cables, dont connect hard drives, cd/dvd drives, and ay other things that you may have, and see if your computer turns on and you should see a boot up screen, then probs go onto no operating system found as you wont have hard drives connected
Here are some things to look for if your PC won't power on: Check the power cord and outlet. Check the power supply's connector to the motherboard. Disconnect and reconnect to be sure its firmly connected. Check the power supply. If you can test it in another PC, try it. Axion Technologies sent along the following graphic to illustrate one way of testing whether or not an ATX power supply is functional: Check the power switch on the PC's case and make sure it's properly connected to the motherboard. Try shorting the jumper pins that the switch uses to power on the PC. If that works, the switch is bad. Make sure the motherboard surface is not making contact with the metal case (except at its mounting points). Take the motherboard and power supply out of the case and place them on a non-conductive surface (wooden table, etc.). If it boots, something was probably shorting out in the case. And if your PC powers on but gives you a blank screen (won't boot), here are some tips: Make sure all of the cards, the CPU, and the RAM, are properly seated. Remove them and reinsert them to be sure. Remove all non-essential components and disconnect non-essential cables (including IDE, floppy, etc.). All you should need to reach the initial boot screen (memory count, etc.) are: the motherboard, CPU, RAM, power supply, and graphics card. If it boots, start adding components one at a time, and boot up each time. When the system won't boot, you've found your faulty (or incorrectly installed or incompatible) component. Buy a POST (power on self test) diagnostic card. POST cards can tell you why the system is hanging up during the the boot-up. SysOpt used to sell one of these, but you can get one at http://store.yahoo.net/binarygear/index.html. Troubleshooting with a POST card. Some of the above tips are, of course, common knowledge, but novices don't always think of everything, and experts sometimes overlook the simple possibilities. If all else fails, make a post to SysOpt's message board so others can offer even more tips. Main page is with pictures as well. Source: Check my signature~!
I wouldn't advise on buying a POST card just yet if at all, I've never needed one and you can usually figure things out with some patience and a few steps to follow. As Willz said try with minimal components (barebones) see this thread for more info. Make sure nothing is shorting out on the case -- check motherboard stand-offs are correctly positioned and that there are no exposed wires or other metal parts touching where they shouldn't be.
thanks for all the help I've done everything that you've suggested before, and have tried it all again, just in case I missed something, but still no luck :s (by spinning up, I mean the PC actually starting at all, i get the fan to "flinch" briefly, but then nothing) I'm pretty sure it's not an overheating thing, as it happened with the old chip which had a different heatsink and fan on it, and currently when all is running ok, it idles at a comfortable 29 degree celsius! the maxtor drive is the one with windows on, but I'm not even getting as far as that, and trying to start without it connected is just as fruitless. As for memory, I have memtested it (its DDR400) and tried another stick from a mates PC, also with the same result of nothing! The plot thickens!
Try all things you can on your mates PC to make urself sure that if any part is faulty...like ram, hdd.....mobo if you can~!
i would suggest you trying to start withought it connected to see if it actually boots, disconnect all harddrives, dvd/cd drives. the reason i say this, is becouse maxtor hard drives, from what i have seen around the forum and other forums, they seem to not have much of reputation, somthing to do with the bearings in them i think. its not "fruitless" trying to start with no cd/dvd drives connected and any other things, as from what you have said, seems it would be a good idea, you've replaced the motherboard,cpu and memory and tried different graphics cards, starting with non of the other things connected could identify what is at fault. all you have to do is disconnect the ide or sata cable w/e your using, and the power cable, no need to take the hard drive out of the case. and then if that doesent solve it, maybe its your case? in contact with motherboard maybe?
