I [AM STILL] the biggest dumbass on the planet [UN-FIXED!!!!!]

[Will Hay]

So I removed the drive from my liteon 5005 standalone dvd recorder and, despite the new drive being a retail version and not an OEM I assumed I wouldn't need to fit it in my PC and play a dvd first.
Wrong.
The new liteon drive wouldn't play commercial dvd's once fitted in the standalone and, as it was all secured I took the whole unit upstairs and, rather than remove the new drive from the standalone and fit it in the PC I simply connected an IDE cable and power cable to the drive [the drive that was sat in the standalone] and powered up.
I ran a dvd, disconnected everything and sure enough, having connected the standalone to my tv the 5005 with it's new liteon unit is now playing [and recording] perfectly.

Something it hasn't done for a couple of years.

Problem is...


...my PC won't power up

No power, no lights nothing.

I guess I may have busted the power supply, but hell knows how.


With absolutoly no power on boot, it can only be the power supply, right?

Thing is, with the power cord fitted in the back of the PC and the swutch set to 'on' I can hear a small noise, so I'm sure it's running.

Any advice gratefully received.
Will

[edDV]

Reverse everything you did?

Take notes, drop pebbles when you enter the cave. Keep that flashlight down to reveal the 100 meter drops. A few bumps to the head are minor by comparison.

[Will Hay]

I did that, but I was dropping bread instead of pebbles and got hungry.


I suppose I need to know whether replacing the power supply is the likley cause, without wasting money finding out.
Will

[freebird73717]

I just had to read this post because of the thread title.

I doubt it is your power supply. Have you made sure that all of your cards are secure and and connections firmly plugged in? You probably bumped something loose when connecting the ide cable to run the dvd drive.

[waheed]

Its not always necessary to be a power supply problem. Last time i had a similar problem, PC would not switch on at all, no power nothing, I naturally assumed it was the PSU. However, since there are 4 PCs in the house, I get to test each component.

It turned out that the PSU was fine (worked in other PCs) and the graphics card was the culprit. It was a faulty GPU. When I inserted the GPU into the other PC, they would not switch on either. Without the GPU, my PC would then switch on.

As freebird mentions, check to make sure all your cards are secure and all connections are plugged in.

[GMaq]

Hi,
For a dumbass you've got a killer sense of humour! Check the seating of the RAM & Vid card first, With PC unplugged take the RAM out and try one stick at a time if you have more than one. As has already been pointed out most likely a popped card from carrying the case upstairs.

I'm gonna be laughing about those bread crumbs for a couple of days!

[Chuck584]

I'd first check to see the cable from the power switch to the mobo is firmly seated. If the connector is loose, it will never boot.

[Epicurus8a]

I may just be the biggest dumbass on the planet

No. The biggest dumbass on the planet is W.

[lordsmurf]

Yeah. At minimum, there are 62,040,606 people that are dumber than Will.

It might be something as simple as wiring not being 100% in place, just loose enough to not power. Those molex plugs really do suck for this very reason.

[budz]

Hey! Will Hay nice to see yah! Drop me some bread ($$) and I'll fix your problem.
As others have mentioned check to see that your cards are secured.

[Midzuki]

lordsmurf wrote:

Yeah. At minimum, there are 62,040,606 people that are dumber than Will.

Very incorrect. I calculate 4,210,935,690 so far (2008/02/29@06:15 GMT).

[cdanddvdpublisher]

Quote - For a dumbass you've got a killer sense of humour!

If you don't have the brains, you have to make up for it some other way!

[Will Hay]

It'll take me three days to clear the dust inside the case, then I'll check the bits.
Looks like Chernobol in there.

I came downstairs after removing the case and having a dig around and my wife thought I'd opened a 5kg bag of cocaine and sneezed before I snorted.

I'm surprised, I did think I'd get a flicker of power somewhere, but I hope to shortly stand correctly [albiet with an asbestos lined set of lungs, assuming I can hire an industrial vacuum cleaner in the next few days].

[the 'dumbass' was a tribute to all my US friends, all of whom I've never met; God bless].

Will Hay
Homer Simpson is my real dad.

[Will Hay]

Would a dead BIOS battery be the problem?

[redwudz]

A dead BIOS battery will just lose your system dates and times and default the system BIOS to the original where any BIOS mods will be lost. Shouldn't be a problem even if it's dead. If your dates and times are wrong, maybe. But those batteries can last up to ten years.

[Joe The Dude]

It'll take me three days to clear the dust inside the case, then I'll check the bits.
Looks like Chernobol in there.

I came downstairs after removing the case and having a dig around and my wife thought I'd opened a 5kg bag of cocaine and sneezed before I snorted.

I think that what happened was that some of the Dust got into a connector somewhere in your PC.

Before you remove the dust from your case, grab a pencil and some paper and make notes about what plugs into what.
After getting out as much dust as you can while everything is still connected (except for the Power Cord to the Wall - that should always be disconnected while working inside a PC case, as you probably already know), disconnect everything: Data Cables, Power Cables, RAM, PCI and PCI Express Cards (you get the idea).

CAREFULLY use a vaccum on the RAM Slots, the IDE and SATA ports (both on the Drives and the Motherboard), the PCI and PCI Express slots, and the Molex Power connectors coming out of your Power Supply.
While vaccuming the Motherboard, make sure you don't bump or bend any capacitors, or suck them up into the vaccum. :P

You may need to remove your power supply from the PC Case, so you can get at it better with a vaccum.
If you decide to open your power supply, you need to be EXTREMELY careful.
I'm 99% sure that if you touch the wrong part(s) inside of a PC Power Supply with a bare hand, you could get a shock that may kill you, if there's enough charge in any of it's large capicitors (yes some of them do retain charge even after disconnection from a wall outlet).

Heck, while you are at it, if you can remove the FAN from your CPU (like by unscrewing 4 screws) without needing to dismount the whole Heatsink assembly from the Motherboard, then you are in luck, as that's an easy way to get at that heatsink with a vaccum, and ya won't have to mess with thermal paste.

Some video card coolers can be a real pain to dust.
If your Video Card has a fan, all l I can do is wish ya luck, and reccomend that when the time to upgrade comes in the future, you try to get a fanless card.

Example of a good attachment to use for vaccuming (if ya have a big vaccum):

          ___________
<-- To PC \__________() --> To Vaccum

Of course, the smaller, portable vaccums (most of witch are rechargable and designed mainly for cars) have even smaller attachments, and are ideal for PC Cleaning.
I reccomend the ones that are mini-canister style and have a Hose.

You could make your own vaccum cleaner attachment on the cheap, if you take the guts out of an ink pen, and have some duct tape...
However, depending on how much your vaccum cleaner sucks (pun unintended), you may need to poke some holes in the duct tape to reduce the suction, so you don't accidentally suck any components off of your motherboard.


As you can tell, I've never been a fan of using 'cans of compressed air' to blow dust out of my case, and all over my house. :P

Anywho, good luck, and be sure to let us know how it went, and if you survived the ordeal.


Edited to add:
It's not a good idea to touch the vaccum to your RAM or any Chips on the Motherboard or Cards, as ther is a possibility that a static discharge might occur; damaging or frying them. If you really need to dust them off, you can try putting them on a paper towel (if it's removable) and using a dry Q-Tip,.
Or, you can take your PC and/or removable stuff outside and connect your vaccum hose to the "Exaust" of your vaccum cleaner (most have this feature, but not all), and use the empty-ink-pen-and-duct-tape-mod to make a free air-blower.
8)

[rhegedus]

With absolutoly no power on boot, it can only be the power supply, right?

Not so long ago I took my new PC apart to fir a new HD then put it back to gether, pressed the "on" button and....... nothing.

Took it apart, checked all the connections were secure, put it back to gether, pressed the "on" button and....... nothing.



Drove half an hour to PC World, bought a new PSU for £99, drove it back unpacked it and then realised, "Oh yeah, there's a power switch on the PSU that needs to be on too......"



Fortunately, the guy at the counter at PC World was in stitches when I told him so I got my money back but lost a lot more inside

[TimA-C]

I had a Hiper 350W PSU that every now and then would give very similar symptoms to those you've described. I found I had to unplug the power lead from the PSU, then unplug the PSU from the mobo, then plug in the power lead (mobo still unplugged), unplug the power lead, plug in the mobo, then plug in the power lead and everything would work for another few months. I think I ordered the replacement PSU the third time this happened. Got an Antec one which scared the cr@p out of me when it blew with a VERY big blue spark about 14 months later. Went back to Hiper for a 580R and now a 630M, been very happy with both of them.

You might find it worthwhile to get your hands on one of the PSU testers that are available now. They only cost around £10 here, so maybe $15 - $20 in the USA? The basic ones just give you LEDs for the various voltages that the PSU should be outputting, but I'm guessing they're not too accurate. The slightly better ones (IMHO) give you test points to check with a Voltmeter. Either way you'd know if your PSU was dead or not.

Anyway, good luck!

[oldandinthe way]

It could indeed be a dead power supply. But it could equally be any component in the system creating a short circuit and "crowbarring" the power supply.

Disconnect everything but the mobo and the video card and see if the system displays the appropriate bios start up. If it doesn't and does not provide beep codes the power supply is the cheapest and most likely possibility. The detritis in the box makes it even more likely the problem is the power supply.

[lingyi]

From out of the shadows...

Check to see if your motherboard requires an additional 4pin connector in addition to the normal 20/24 pin.

You may have knocked it loose or out when installing/removing the DVD drive. My other system's motherboard has the 4pin connector right behind one of the 5 1/4" drive bays, preventing the addition of a drive.

I'm not 100% sure, but I seem to recall that the PSU will power up with only the main connector attached, but the system won't power up without the additional 4pin connector. Giving you the symptoms you've described.

Hope this helps!

[Will Hay]

I p*ssed around with it a few nights ago, no loose connectors but in doing so disconnected the power leads from the case to the mboard [K7S5A] and can't find the manual.
The Elite site is about as good as a chocolate teapot.

I'm having a proper play around tonight, a pal's coming around with a spare PSU so I'll report back.

If I don't solve it I may well take the opportunity to upgade, but I'd rather not spend anymore having just spent a few quid on the [Dell] laptop I'm typing this on.

I'll report back, from the grave at worst

Thanks folks
Will

[Will Hay]

It was the PSU; thanks folks




Now, where is 'off topic'.





Man, I missed you



Take care all,
Will

[hudsonf]

Glad to hear you got it fixed.

[makntraks]

Biggest dumb ass?!?!?!?! I ain't even going to touch that one!

Glad u got straight,
makntraks

[peter06]

Oh... Can you edit your first post? Had to go through the whole story to find the point .

[Will Hay]

The ultimate compliment.
A Will Hay post with a point.

[Will Hay]

So, I fixed the PSU.

The processor spins but even with only the primary master drive fitted and knack-all else...


...absolutely nothing works.

Motherboard next?

Will

[stiltman]

does it beep?
does it make it to the BIOS screen?
Did you take EVERYthing out except for the video card?