Computer shuts off after a few seconds

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glitchtastic2

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Apr 3, 2007
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I just rebuilt my computer and it's having some weird power issues. When I turn it on, most of the time the fans will spin up and the lights will come on but it won't POST and nothing appears on the monitor. Sometimes I can get it to POST but the machine shuts itself off after 10 - 50 seconds. As far as I can tell it's not a heat issue because when I'm actually able to get into the BIOS it shows a CPU temp of 37C and system temp of around 55C. I'm not sure if it's an issue with the PSU or the motherboard or the video card or the RAM or what.

Honestly, I'm wondering if maybe the PSU I got is underpowered. It's a 500W Antec SmartPower unit. I'm trying to run a dual core AMD processor and an X1950 Pro(along with 2 GB of generic DDR2 RAM).

Any advice?
 
Sometimes it can be your videocard overheating and shutting down the system. Check your card's HSF.
 
Yeah, I actually got the video card from Best Buy and was thinking about swapping it for another... it didn't come with either a manual or an install CD and that seems suspicious to me. I'm usually good at spotting reshrinkwrapped items but I think they slid one by on me. Returning that is going to be the first thing I try.
 
Is the motherboard speaker connected? It should emit some kind of beep alarm to indicate what's wrong with it. My first thought was the motherboard thinking the CPU was too hot. You might want to re-seat the CPU and maybe the RAM. You have to try to isolate what component may be causing problems. On the other hand, it could be the PSU. Your parts do seem a bit power-hungry, but 500W is a hefty amount. Not sure how much power your system needs though.
 
I should also point out that the whole reason I'm rebuilding this system in the first place is a power issue -- the system wouldn't turn on at all after a recent power surge. I replaced the PSU, CPU, MB, video card, and RAM so to be having a power issue again is frustrating. Could something else be causing the problem? Could a faulty power button be causing the issue? If I put a jumper on the power button pins and try just turning the system on from the power supply, would that work? Would it harm anything?
 
glitchtastic2 said:
I just rebuilt my computer and it's having some weird power issues. When I turn it on, most of the time the fans will spin up and the lights will come on but it won't POST and nothing appears on the monitor. Sometimes I can get it to POST but the machine shuts itself off after 10 - 50 seconds. As far as I can tell it's not a heat issue because when I'm actually able to get into the BIOS it shows a CPU temp of 37C and system temp of around 55C. I'm not sure if it's an issue with the PSU or the motherboard or the video card or the RAM or what.

Honestly, I'm wondering if maybe the PSU I got is underpowered. It's a 500W Antec SmartPower unit. I'm trying to run a dual core AMD processor and an X1950 Pro(along with 2 GB of generic DDR2 RAM).

Any advice?
Click to expand...

I recently had a similar problem with a rig I was building for school. All the fans would spin and all of the lights would light, but the system wouldn't POST. Turns out, there was a fried lead on the motherboard. Examine the PCB closely under good lighting and check for noticeably dark spots. My motherboard had a very prominent mark on it, but if that's what's causing your problem, it might not be so apparent.

Just something else to check:)
 
Monkeypillow said:
I recently had a similar problem with a rig I was building for school. All the fans would spin and all of the lights would light, but the system wouldn't POST. Turns out, there was a fried lead on the motherboard. Examine the PCB closely under good lighting and check for noticeably dark spots. My motherboard had a very prominent mark on it, but if that's what's causing your problem, it might not be so apparent.

Just something else to check:)
Click to expand...

I'll definitely look at that but the weird thing is that it actually will POST 1 out of 10 times I turn it on. I'm starting to wonder if the case is shorting it out since it dies if I touch any of the ports on the back of the computer. I've always used metal standoffs on my builds but I'll try getting some plastic ones this weekend.

If it helps at all, when the system does POST it's showing these values from the PS:

12V rail: 12.37V
5V rail: 4.99V
3.3V rail: 3.2V
PCI-E: 1.5V
 
Try another PSU... bet the lovely fuhjyyu caps went TU in it during the power outage...

Now have 3 of those dead POS...
 
OK, it was the video card... looks like Best Buy definitely sold me a reshrinkwrapped defective card... CURSE YOU BEST BUY!!! :mad:

Now I've got a slightly different problem. I'm pretty sure the hard drive is borked(I'd been having problems with it before). I had to run chkdsk to get it to repair some bad sectors and then do a new install of Windows. I'm trying to get it up and running again but the nForce driver installation program keeps crashing at the beginning. Is this because of the hard drive being messed up? I can't do anything with the computer until I get these drivers installed because the network jack won't work. If I replace the hard drive, should that fix the problem?
 
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