Computer won't boot.

B

Blakestr

[H]ard|Gawd
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Aug 11, 2004
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Last night there was a power outage...what woke me up was my UPS beeping when it switched to battery power. Rather than just wait for it to beep off, I just clicked it off, which shut down my computer.

This morning I left for a couple hours with my computer running and when I came back it was off. I figured maybe another power outage, but when I went to power it up, nothing happened. I checked inside and the motherboard light was on. So I unpluged it, toggled the power switch a few times and plugged it back in. It powered on but it hung on the windows loading thing (a black screen with a mouse cursor). I shut it down and tried safe mode...it got through and loaded everything. So I backed up some important files and rebooted. It rebooted fine to normal windows and I figured it was perhaps, just a fluke. While playing Total War 2 the computer just shut off. About a year ago I had a similar problem with it shutting off, but I found it was because some of the cables for the fans were loose and the fans weren't running so rather than burn up, my computer shut off.

I was actually in the middle of typing up this on it when the machine just died (Using diff computer now). I couldn't get it to boot at all, even though there is power to the motherboard. The post light says 0.1 which the manual says is defined as :

"Expand the XGroup codes locating in physical address 1000:0" Whatever that means.

Here's what I'm running

Abit KV8 Pro
Amd 64 3000+
2 gig kingston value
x800 XTPE
hda mystique 7.1
WD harddrive, I think one of the 7200 rpm models (80 gig)
all running on Windows XP

Hopefully this is a fluke I am going to head out to the store and grabbed some canned air and spray it down good because it is a little dusty which could be a problem. As you can see it is a budget build...it is a two year old system I built in college and needs to be retired. I am planning to build a new one in a few months but I am just now about to get a new job and having money but I was hoping this one could last me until then because right now I don't have the money to buy the good build I want ($2000) range, and I don't want to buy a new system that's budgeted.

Any ideas? New Power supply maybe? (It is 450 antec clone) Thanks for the advice.
 
do the fans spin when you power up?

do you have a spare PSU to test with?

strip it down to the bare minimum and see if it boots.

also, i'm not sure i'd retire that system. with the current pricing on 939 chips, you could bandaid that thing for cheap for another 18+ months easily (if she's still alive that is)

zv
 
I should clarify...it won't post...the motherboard light comes on but when I hit power nothing happens...I'm going to investigate the power key itself if I can, maybe there is a problem with it relaying somehow.

I have no spare PSU I'm afraid either.

EDIT - I remember we have an old gateway we don't use...I'm going to try swapping out the PSU from it (it's like a pentium 2 gateway)...just to see if it works...the voltage might not be enough to run it and my video card and stuff...but if I can get it to work hopefully I can mark this down as a faulty power supply.

I thought about 939 chips but it is a socket 754 board I'm afraid so I can't go that route...pretty much the highest they go is 3700+ and it isn't worth the prices I've seen...
 
Update - I didn't bother with the gateway PSU because it wasn't compatible...was gateway's own brand with a piece of hardware plastic molded onto it...

Anyway I cleaned it out good and sprayed air through every oraphus (sp) I could find. I plugged it in and hit the switch. I saw the same boot message come on the motherboard...and heard a distinct crackling sound...the unmistakble sound of something BURNING! I shut off the power and saw a few puffs of smoke linger out of the fan of the power supply. I took the PSU out and dissaseembled the case and looked in it...there was a lot of dust...could it be I had blown some while cleaning onto something and made it catch or short out? The thing is very compact and I was looking for burnt wires but couldn't find any...I saw a line that kind looks like a burn trail or scoring but I am not familiar enough with circuitry to tell the difference...this was very even...

The question now is, was that most likely the problem, and all I have to do is order a new power supply? Is it possible the thing sent out a shock to my motherboard and all my devices, ruining it? It seems possible but I am hoping it is unlikely.

Come on you computer CSI people, tell me how this thing died :confused:

Meanwhile I'll be shopping for a new power supply I guess.
 
A psu can potentially take other hardware out with it, but it's not a 100% given that it will, either. Start with your psu, and see what happens.
Not posting can be a definate sign of memory issues. Try one stick, switch slots around and see if that works.
 
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