Hi, I'm relatively new to the computer building world, but after struggling for a few months, I managed to put a system together that has worked pretty well for the past year. 1 week ago the power on my system died suddenly while I was working: screen shut off, fans went off, LEDs died, everything. It was just as if someone had turned off the power. So I waited a minute and turned the power back on. It seemed to power up, the lights went on, the fans went on, the CPU fan went on, the LED on the motherboard went on, but beyond that, nothing happens. It doesn't boot up, the monitor stays in powersaver mode and doesn't recognize that the computer is on. The CD Rom drive doesn't go on and I can't eject the CD in it. Nothing connected by USB appears to be powering up. Do you think this could be a power supply issue or do you think my motherboard may be fried? Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.
could be psu or motherboard, disconnect all data cables from motherboard to the drives to see if cdrom will open. check the motherboard to look at the metal upright cans which are capacitors that the tops are flat not domed as domed is not good. remove all cards except video & 1 stick of ram, reseat those & the power connector(s) to motherboard also with all cables removed from drives than power up system. post results.
The capacitators (?) are flat and not domed. I did as you suggested and disconnected the data cables from the CD rom drive and the hard drive. When I turned on the power, the led on the CD rom drive started flashing and I was able to open it. Does that mean the problem is definitely with the motherboard? Should I still follow the next step and disconnect cards and ram?
okay. disconnected everything except video card, 1 stick of memory and fans from motherboard. checked connections on power and remaining hardware and powered on successfully. monitor worked and screen indicated it was searching for something to boot from (also motherboard beeped twice)so should I put everything back together again and see if it works? I've never actually disassembled any part of it before, so if you have any useful advice about things to keep in mind when reassembling, your suggestions are appreciated. Thanks again, torakichi
add 1 peice of hardware at a time till computer stops posting than remove that hardware & continue installing 1 hardware at a time. post results
well, I'm writing this thread on my freshly reassembled computer. First I bought a can of air and sprayed all the dust out of my case and off the fans and other components. Next, I reconnected the cables to harddisk and then CD ROM. When I did that things appeared to be working fine (except I didn't reconnect my keyboard and mouse so I couldn't do anything when it finished booting). After that I added in ethernet card, USB card, and ram. Everything worked!! I'm still not sure exactly what caused the initial problem, but everything seemed to start behaving like expected when you had me disconnect everything except reseated video card and reseated stick of ram and reconnected power cables. When I was reconnecting the power cables I thought that some of them felt a bit loose, so maybe that was part or all of the problem. Thanks so much for your help! I am SO glad I came to afterdawn before buying a new motherboard or power supply!!! Thank you again. Torakichi
I currently have a similar problem with my computer. My computer shut off without warning while I was using it. It would not turn on so I took it apart to find the problem. I replaced the PS and it turns on and CPU appears ok. it tells me I dont have a bootable drive installed. it does not see my cd, dvd drives or 2 HD all connected to it. the Primary Cd drive opens and closes and the BIOS only sees the A: drive. I'm puzzled because I swapped out my 2 HD into another computer and they work fine. Is my mobo partially fried? are my IDE controllers fried from my bad PS? it is frustrating me and i'm about to send my 2 year old ASUS mobo back for a new one. Any ideas?
try using a known good ide cable with known good hd. also check all the cans(capacitors) are flat topped not domed. clear the cmos
I tried a good IDE cable with a known bootable HD and still no luck. HD and cable are from the older computer I'm using right now. cans are all flat and I sent back my board for a replacement already. It was still under warranty so I have nothing really to lose. Thanks for the suggestions. If my next board has the same problem then I really won't know what to do. I can't see the problem being anywhere else except the mobo.
possible it might have been the hd power connector if you used same 1 on both drives & faulty will show same problem on both drives but won't know till you get new motherboard
