computer powers on, will not boot

[Dr_Layne]

I build my my own PC's. Recently I built a new PC for myself, and decided to keep the case, and transfer the old parts to an older case I had so I could sell the old PC to a Friend who's PC has died. The PC was working fine for a few days, then suddenly it would not power on any more. I opened her up and reconnected the power supply connections and the case power switch connections. The computer will now turn on, but only via the power switch on the PSU. The front switch on the case will not turn the PC on or off, nor will the reset switch function. The Power LED and HDD LED's are blinking rapidly and the fans are moving. The drives will not power however.
Before I start tossing money at it, I'm trying to figure out if the CPU is fried, the MB is bad, or the Power supply is bad.

Steve

[freebird73717]

I've had similar problems after power surges from storms. Computer would power on but not boot. My soulution was to completely unplug the computer from the wall and wait about 10 minutes before plugging it back in and rebooting. PC then booted without problems. Might not help you at all but wont cost you more than 10 minutes of your time.

Good luck!

[Bjs]

You need a new psu , grab one above 450watts .

Same thing happened to a local garage owner , everything except the drives would power up , slapped a new psu in with 500watts , and its been good ever since .

Now his accountant is bugging me to set up the dsl firewall for him to access the system from his own office . After the last fiasco with the network (screwed up by quicken technician) , I am not looking forward to it , and I do not want to give him the dsl access password . I'll show them a safer , easier method , which both will understand without much trouble .

[Dr_Layne]

I figured it's most likely the PSU since the dvd drive won't power up and the hdd does not spin. I'll grab one later today. This would be first time a anatec PSU went up on me. I've used them exclusively for all my PC's. It's also possibly my Friend may have done something to damage the PSU. They are having problems with their internet connection so they were switching back and forth between pc's using the same power cable. This time I'll set up the PC myself including the internet connection, so they won't have to do that again.

Steve

[TBoneit]

Just to be sure when you moved the parts to the older case it is mounted properly?

Things I've seen:
Motherboard screwed down tight to the metal of the case with an arc where it curved up to the back of the case.

Motherboard with only on or two standoffs

motherboard with brass standoffs even where there was no opening in the mobo for the screws to pass through.

Motherboards with a floppy power cable plugged onto pins on the mobo, yep they fried it.

Socket 775 fancy Asus where it looked like the customer dropped the processor into the socket sideways and bent the pins in the socket. No warrantable, we tried for the customer, customer ended up buying another mobo.
Smart move by intel removing the pins from the processor and making the motherboard maker deal with that headache.

Won't boot, no 4 pin power connector to motherboard.
Intel core 2 duo, ran very slow but didn't crash, power supply to small.

The I bought all these parts on Ebay and they won't boot. We ended up putting a older processor in and flashing the bios then their cpu was supported.

Bad USB device eating the USB2 ports on the mobo (ASUS)

Customer: It didn't work right, so I played with the jumpers. !!
and on and on.

Good Luck

[bevills1]

I too had the won't boot due to no 4 pin power connector for CPU and solved it by switching PSU between 2 systems of which 1 had the connector needed. Check http://shop3.outpost.com/product/4548667 to find 600W PSU free after rebate.

[AlecWest]

Check http://shop3.outpost.com/product/4548667 to find 600W PSU free after rebate.

Hmm ... that link didn't work for me. Here's one I found that's pretty reasonable:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2974309&Cat...W&CMP=KNC-GOOG

[buttzilla]

The same thing happened here at work on a dell workstation after a very bad power surge during a storm. We replaced the dell power supply from another one we had laying around and it booted fine. We had a apc power surge battery back up that was working fine and it still didnt prevent this. Go to show that you never 100% safe from damage from a surge. But i guess it could have been worse if we didnt have one.

[bevills1]

Check http://www.slickdeals.net/ for 5/9 to see the offer has expired with that PSU now priced at $90 but was available when I posted it. The $65 rebate is good until 5/31, and it wouldn't hurt to check back on the outpost site in case offer is repeated before rebate expiration.

[Dr_Layne]

Replaced the PSU today. Did not solve the problem. Either CPU or the MB died. Guess I scrap them and keep the case.

A_L