Can a PC Desktop case cause problems?

in another thread you may of seen i was having problems I've only just remembered something but I'm not sure if its quiet possible...

The case i was using for a rig i was setting up for myself didn't work and i tried heaps of things someone said it was DOA anyways the problem was i turned it on nothing would come up on the screen yet the exact same problem happened when my mate owned the case with everything different different motherboard,ram etc

i couldn't work out the problem i thought it might of been the ram and/or motherboard as i found out it used some really cheap ram (some Asian type) and some motherboard i wasn't able to find a manual for even (also some Asian rip off it seemed like other models but either had one too many PCI slots or not enough etc) so either it was that and/or it was the case maybe the wires are faulty or something (the PC does turn on but nothing comes up on the screen just like the PC before it)

So could my theory be right? i do have another case but the motherboard doesn't fit in there well doesn't align right (too small) but i guess i could try but only if it could be the case giving me grief

thanks in advance and sorry if i should of kept this question in the other post i thought seeing my question had been answered it was just better to start another one

 

As long as you've used standoffs and the case isn't shorting the board, I don't really see how a case can cause a system not to POST.

 

yeah thats what i find pretty hard to think a case could do it also just an idea i had for when the other PC *which had been working fine* then all of a sudden did that

 

I have a PC that won't post.
I think it's blown capacitors.
Note the red ones how the 3 segment top seems to point up (take my word - they do).
The green one shown, the top is flat.

 

I have a question i think i know the answer but encase im wrong ive taken the CPU heatsink off as i was like okay motherboards dead but could still uses the cmos battery and processor etc so i went to take the processor out and it might of just been me but it seemed it might of not been in fully (like top corner) felt like it sort of fell in to place...

so i took it out put it back in and it didnt seem to feel like it did when i first went to take it out so im thinking maybe it wasnt in fully or it was only just in at the time the person used it but seeing it went to another state and through the mail it could of got bumped out a little?

 

i think a few pins wernt in but yes its going to be a few weeks or so till i can try got no paste =[ and i dont wanna order anything online till next year

 

ah awesome thanks thought it was a must need thing well it is but i thought you couldn't not use it at all even for a little while

 

ohk cool cheers for the info you've been very helpful

 

Do you need a CPU to POST?

 

Lol, yes. You do actually need a processor in there!

 

If there is no CPU will you get a 'beep'.

 

Not necessarily, actually. You often won't get a beep with no CPU, you certainly don't get one if you forget to power the CPU, just nothing will happen. Took me a few moments to figure that one out the first time I made that mistake.

 

Is that the same as 'You sometimes will get a beep with no cpu'?

Which then begs the question - what initiated the beep.

I Googled this before asking and found umpteen people conflating the POST (you need cpu, ram, video to get POST) with beeping.
I have yet to read the unequivocal 'to get beep or post you must have a CPU' or variations to that effect.
This isn't new, it's just learned people making wrong assumptions about who they wrote the article for - if I was that smart I wouldn't be reading it, if I'm that dumb, they shouldn't be writing it the way it's written.

 

To be honest, you're right, it's completely variable. At least two of the boards I've owned will POST without a graphics card installed [and no, they're not integrated graphics boards] yet I've heard plenty of stories of boards that won't without one.

I merely posted what I did because your post implied you would always get a beep with no CPU installed [or indeed, extrapolating this, a faulty CPU], when that's not always the case. I have never had a board beep if a CPU was installed but not powered, and doing that will hang POST.

 

I took the motherboard out of the case -still beepless.
Checked the 'suspected' capacitors - reading capacitance ok.

I've ordered a 64 bit cpu to replace the 32 bit (which I can't find on eBay) - the Asus site says it's compatible with the board.
Will update when it arrives.

 

the caps are duff.. believe me .. they may read ok on a meter, but that's not stressing them under working conditions.. they will have gone high ESR which basically means under applied working voltage they are leaking like mad .. the harm may have already been done and the board blown, but the only way to really find out is to replace them... all of them .. the ones the same colour and make .. especially the one associated with the agp +5v line.