Argh! Compy won't boot! Help!

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drdeutsch

2[H]4U
Joined
Sep 17, 2004
Messages
3,775
Okay,

Well, I took my computer apart in order to give it a good cleaning/dusting. It's been about a year since I've done this, but since I keep my computer up off the floor, it was relatively clean. Anyway, I disconnected all the cables and once inside, I took out my graphics card and sound card, blew them off with some air, blew off everything else and used a nice little mini-vacuum to suck up all the other stuff.

I never disconnected any cables, save for the CPU Fan, which I took off in order to blow the dust out of the heatsink and reapply some arctic silver ceramique. The CPU was not touched, except by the credit card to spread the thermal compound.

I put everything back together and Viola! No boot.
I looked everything over, made sure everything was connected properly and seated and tried again, and... no boot.

I know it has power, since the green light on the mobo comes on. I know everything is seated correctly, as I've checked it three times now. I know everything is connected, as I've looked and checked all of them and there are no missing/dangling cables.

The only thing that seems not to work is the power on button, even though I never touched it (I did just unplug it and reseat it after looking in the manual to make sure it was in the right spot).

Any ideas? I'm running out of options here, I fear, but I need this computer to work.
Thanks.

Should have mentioned:
Asus A8N-SLI Premium
AMD X2 4400+
Nvidia 7800 GT
2 GB Corsair RAM
Audigy 2 ZS

Nothing is overclocked. I've been having trouble with the speakers cracking/popping so I took it apart because the CPU temps were a little on the high side (about 55C).

drdeutsch
 
i didnt think you should use a vaccum due to the effects of the dust becoming staticaly charged or the motor EMI
 
Make sure on the motherboard the cables that come from your power on button didn't mistakenly get unplugged or fell out.
 
Luke,

Really? It's one of those tiny hand-held vacuums specifically made for cleaning out keyboards and other computer related products.

Himmler, I've already done that. Checked them, unplugged, rechecked the manual, and connected them again.
 
It's not the CPU, as I swapped CPUs and it wouldn't boot. It's not the RAM, since I swapped the RAM and it wouldn't boot. I did them both singly and then together from a known working Folding box, and I still get no boot, no fans spinning. nothing.

Dead mobo?
 
That is weird, stupid question but did you check all of your power connections? Is the switch on the back of the comp on or off? :D
 
Don't worry about pointing out the stupid little things. I forget those all the time.

Yes, the switch is in the on position.

I've just swapped the mobo (Now I'm using an MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum with my X2 4400 and Corsair RAM. Still no post, no boot. What the hell is going on here?

I think I must be overlooking something so completely simple that I'm going to put out an invitation on Craigslist when I'm done for somebody to come over and slap me.

To summarize, I have tried:
Swapping out CPU with known working CPU. No POST, no boot, no fans spinning.
Swapping out RAM with known working RAM. No POST, no boot, no fans spinning.
Tried booting up with PSU, CPU, and RAM connected. Nothing else. No Post, No boot, nothing at all.
Unseated and reseated CPU. I got nothing.
Swapping out CPU and RAM at same time. Still got nothing.
Swapping out mobo and used original CPU and RAM with known working Mobo. No POST, no messages on the MSI D-Bracket, nothing.

I'm at my wits' end here.
 
Do a complete power flush. Pull the power cable from the back of the computer. Hold down the power button for 5-10 seconds to drain any power left in the system. The light on the Mobo should go out. Replug the power cable in the back, and see if the system will now power on.
 
Fuse, That worked! Thanks!
I had tried that before, but I didn't hold it down that long. I thought 2-3 seconds would be enough.

Alright! It works with the swapped-out mobo with apparently no problems. I guess I should try the original mobo again, eh?

Thanks again!
 
Okay, put in the original mobo, CPU, and RAM and tried again. The green light on the mobo turns on to indicate power, but once again I get no fans spinning, no POST, no beeps, nothing.

Dead motherboard, I would assume, but would the light turn on if it wasn't working properly?

Any other ideas before I dish out some money for a new motherboard?
 
Reset the BIOS with the clear CMOS jumper and try again. Connect only what you need to post, processor, video card and 1 stick of ram. If you think it might be the power button on the case connect the reset button in it's place and try it. The two buttons are identical in operation. You can also take a small screw driver and momentarily short the two pins on the motherboard. If you have a spare power supply I would try it.
 
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