Hi, When I came home today my step-sister told me that my pc wouldn't start anymore. She had been browsing the web a bit and then had left it on. About 3 hours later she heard a small 'pop' noise and the pc shut itself down. All that time no one had touched the PC. At first I thought it was a cap that had exploded inside the power supply, so I took it out and tested it. Well, it worked just fine, so I put it back in. When I press the power button, I can see the power supply start spinning for about 0.5 seconds and then it just shuts down and nothing happens anymore. I can press the power button as much as I want to, just nothing happens. When I remove the power chord and then plug it back in, it starts all over again: 0.5 seconds fan on, then everything shuts down again. Does anybody has any idea what could be causing this? The pc was working just fine, well, except for one blue screen saying something about an error in the registry, but that can't have anything to do with it, since the pc now can't even get to the POST sequence. Help!
Sounds like there is a short on one of the power lines (12v, 5v etc). It could possibly be the PSU's internal circuit breaker. Remove the power lead for around 10-15 secs after remving any shorts you find.
The psu is working just fine. The fuse is OK. I don't think there are any shorts, the only thing that's connected for the moment are the big mobo connector & the 4-wire mobo connector. Damn, I really need to find this problem.
No, since the pc doesn't even get to the POST stage. I'm pretty sure that even if there was any image to be shown, the monitor woulnd't be able to show it, since it needs at least 2 seconds before it can show anything, because it's a CRT monitor.
have you cleared the CMOS what happens if you boot with only the motherboard, ram, cpu, and graphics card connected. then what happens if you boot with out ram. Ben
try checking the capacitors, it could be a dead cap on accross one of the supply lines causing a short.
Which MB do you have? DOH!! Just checked your site. Very strange...hmm...when clear your cmos..make sure the power is unplugged from the back & remove the battery. Leave the shorting plug on for about 10 minutes.
I tried booting without video card & ram, so nothing connected at all. Well, the same thing happened. It certainly is not because the cmos jumper is in clear position, unless the thing has a mind of it's own, which I'm pretty sure it hasn't . I took a good look at all caps and I can't see anything wrong with them. Then I decided to try booting without the CPU and starting unscrewing the heatsink. All 4 screws just keep turning when I try to unscrew them, the only option left is taking the mobo out. Then I'll be able to unscrew it. Oh, I'll try resetting the CMOS too. Aargh, man, I hate this .
When you tested the PSU, did you actually try it on another system, or just with no load? The "pop" noise generally indicates something got damaged, maybe as a result of an overload, and the PSU is now damaged? My suggestion would be to test the PSU on another system if you have not already done so.
No, I didn't put any load on the PSU, but I didn't see any exploded cap either. I'll be bringing the pc to a store, so they can check it out .
Ive had virtually the same problem, except mine will occasionally boot, then just restart, and wont post again, i unplug the pwoer, plug it back in, it does the problem he described, its gay. nothing went pop, but it happens regularly, then just randomly it will boot again. Hihgly annoying, helllp
Well, in the end I had to change the mobo & cpu. Either one of them was broken, but to be safe I changed both, because: if the mobo was damaged and I put in a good CPU, there was a chance the mobo would damage the CPU and if the CPU was damaged there was a chance it would damage the new mobo. So, now I got a P4 Prescott 2.8 Ghz & an MSI Neo2 mobo, yay .
