Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: AdmRose on January 13, 2004, 11:33:04 AM
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Well I had to shut down my desktop last night, and when I went to restart it all the lights came on as did the cooling fan, but the computer just wouldn't start up. I tried turning the power off and then back on but only got the same result. Then I tried disconnecting the power and reconnecting and STILL the same result. I tried it all again this morning before I left and I still got the same result. My computer is custom built and has always been a little iffy about turning on, which is why I've always kept it running. I don't know if I should take it to Best Buy and have them look at it for gobs of money, so I thought I'd ask the thinktank here first. Any ideas what the problem might be?
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do the CPU fan work ?
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Yea the fan works its just the OS won't start up.
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Try turning off the power switch on the back of the power supply for about 10 seconds to reset overload protection, if this works you probly need a biger power supply.
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I tried that and it turns back on, but the OS won't start up and the on light, status light, and CD ROM light up and stay lit. Pushing the buttons on the front has no effect.
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Do you get anything on the monitor?
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Just the monitor self-test to show that its working.
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If you have an old vidio card try that and see what happens,
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Unfortunately I don't have one handy.
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If your hard drive light is coming on and flashing then your system is probly running just not getting through to monitor, mabey you could take out the vid card and test it on a friends computer.
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if you need a card to test, let me know - I have an AGP card you can borrow
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I had this exact problem on my Guam box last week. It was a dead RAM module. Try reseating your RAM and PCI/AGP cards first. Strange, when mine first failed to boot, I had a continuous series of beeps and then no beeps after I reseated the RAM, etc. It finally booted with the good module in Slot 1 and still worked when I added a spare to Slot 2. If you have a spare or two installed, try installing one at a time and even in different slots if your mobo supports this. If ya only have one then try it in another bOx. This is the easiest/cheapest test and will at least narrow down your problem. I have also had mobos with one dead slot.
DJ229 - AIR MAFIA
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Last time *I* had this problem, the system wasn't detecting ANY drives, and the reason it wasn't detecting them is that the rail putting power to the hard drives had gone tits up and wasn't supplying power fast enough to initialize the drives on boot/reboot.
Replaced the powersupply and everything was hunkydory.
What powersupply do you use, how old is it and what are its numbers?
(amps at 3.3, 5 and 12 volt lines, over all wattage, wattage at each line and combinatoin wattage for 3.3+5 volt lines)
BB
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Ummm....I can tell you if you can tell me where the heck to find that info:confused:
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There should be a label on the power supply inside your case that has the info.
It should look something like this:
(http://images10.newegg.com/productimage/11-129-126-02.JPG) (thanks to Newegg.com for their product info pics)
BB
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try resetting the bios before you do anything else
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If it's a custom box and if it's been iffy about booting from the get-go I'd be willing to bet you have a grounding issue.
I'd open the box and pull and reseat all the cards and RAM, not so much to make sure their seated correctly but to try and unground the motherboard.
If you feel comfortable with it, I'd pull the motherboard and reinstall making sure your using as many spacers as you can.
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Originally posted by BB Gun
Last time *I* had this problem, the system wasn't detecting ANY drives, and the reason it wasn't detecting them is that the rail putting power to the hard drives had gone tits up and wasn't supplying power fast enough to initialize the drives on boot/reboot.
Replaced the powersupply and everything was hunkydory.
What powersupply do you use, how old is it and what are its numbers?
(amps at 3.3, 5 and 12 volt lines, over all wattage, wattage at each line and combinatoin wattage for 3.3+5 volt lines)
BB
I found the label...
Amps at 3.3V - 14A
Amps at 5V - 30A
Amps at 12V - 12A
Overall wattage - 300W
I couldn't find the wattage at each line and combination wattage, though.
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300 watts these days is like trying to pull a 48' semi trailer with a model A ford......even if it turn out not to be the problem I'd replace it. Check the ram...I had a stick that wasn't seated correctly and it drove me nuts
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man, thats WEAK. Before anything else, I'd replace the PSU. Its simple, no reinstallations of anything are necessary, and it needs to be replaced anyway. That's probably been your problem from the start.
some suggestions in the under 50 dollar range:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-103-408&catalog=58&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-103-913&catalog=58&depa=1
BB
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Any suggestions for the amount of power that I should get?
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pull all your cards but video card
ur 300 watt ps should handle just that load no problem, if you still have same problem, I wouldn't think it is the ps
gl
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350 should be ok, as long as its a quality 350 PSU. Some "400" watt PSUs are so inefficient that they're no better than a quality 300 Watt PSU.
Look for a 350 watt PSU with 200W (minimum - 210, 220 would be better) across 3.3+5 volt lines, and amperages similar to what is shown in the antec example above (over 30 A on the 5 volt line, 15 or better amps on the 12 volt line and 25 amps or better on the 3.3 volt line.
I run that enermax in my kids system (PIV 1.8, Radeon8500, 15 GB HD, 8 GB HD and a single CDROM) and have no issues - even though one of the specs is below my recommendations above (only 185 watts listed across 3.3+5V lines) Its amperages are outstanding though.
I have not heard a single bad thing about antec PSUs, and that one would be fine as well.
You *could* get more power if you want, but you start upping the price, and I'm not sure its necessary. A GOOD 350W PSU is almost always better than a cheap 400+W PSU.
BB
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Hmmm..the power supply wouldnt just start not being able to keep up would it? If you were running AH and all that other stuff with the same PS, it should certainly be able to fire up the computer. Unless it half-way died, which is unlikely. Can you boot with a bootable floppy? Do a little common sense troulbe shooting before you spend a bunch of $$$$.
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Its entirely possible.
My 300 Watt PSU running my kids computer just stopped giving the juice on the 12 volt rail - or its transient time (from switch on to full juice) was just SLOW - so the hard drives would not spin up in time, and the motherboard never could see them on startup - but otherwise it POSTed just fine. I thought it was the motherboard, so swapped it out, and still had startup problems, though not as severe, since it was a more robust motherboard.
I replaced the power supply, and all was hunky dory.
The reason I think its his PSU, is that before mine went completely tits up, it would sometimes start, other times not, but a restart or a "warmup period" followed by a restart would solve the boot issue, and then it ran perfectly fine.... until the next shutdown/startup.
BB
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Thanks for all the help guys. I got my new 400 watt power supply today, installed it, and rebooted the computer. It works just fine now, I guess the old power supply was either shot or just not strong enough. Thanks again!
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glad it worked!
*does little victory dance*
I was right! I was right! :D
BB
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Well, its back. I went to play Allied Assault the other night and my screen locked up, and I couldn't Ctrl/Alt/Del it, so I manually restarted it. Well, the same thing that happened at the beginning of this thread happened again, and I have no idea what is causing it. I took it to Best Buy and had them look at it, and after nothing happened the guy came over to me and said that the motherboard was dead. Any possibility this is what is actually going on?
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Could a bad motherboard cause the powersupply to go bad? Not likely. What could happen though is that a bad powersupply can damage a motherboard when it fails.
Did they test the powersupply? It's not uncommon for new powersupplies to fail within the first week or two.
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Power supplies are like BooBs The bigger the better LOL
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Well..ive had my share of compmant failures over the years. Ive had a bad power supply, then replaced it, and that power supply was bad too. Luckily a multi tester can find that problem.
If youve run a memory test program and everything checks out, maybe your vid card is shooting the craps, or overheating. Or gets crappy when its hot. Bad connects or cracked traces can work good until they get warm. I just had my ti4200 shoot the craps. if it wasnt for the strange colors popping up just before it crashed, i would still be pulling my hair.
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Originally posted by mrblack
Power supplies are like BooBs The bigger the better LOL
unless the nipples point down, (e.g. nat'l geographic stuff).
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Damn. :(
No beeps or anything on post?
Do you have any idea what your temps have been? Did you accidentally fry your processor?
(yuck on downward nipples whitehawk - I didn't need that visual image... :p )
BB
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Originally posted by BB Gun
Damn. :(
No beeps or anything on post?
Do you have any idea what your temps have been? Did you accidentally fry your processor?
BB
No beeps at all. My temps were all normal because my board had an emergency shutdown if the temp. got too high. I don't think I fried my processor cause it acted the same way before the new power supply was put in, but it started up fine after I installed the new supply. (BTW: My processor is an Althon XP 1100...hardly worth crying about if I *DID* fry it...yay! Excuse to upgrade! :D)