URGENT, Please help me.

[ServiceInteract]

I bought myself a new video card, the ATI Radeon x1600 Pro. It's going inside a Compaq sr2006nx tower, going to wire the new card up to my TV and the on board graphics to the monitor.
Dual screen, one of which would be a TV. That with the ATI remote I have, it'll be awesome.
Anyways, I installed it yesterday, fired up the computer, installed all the drivers and such. I left it on overnight, that's what I always do, but today when I got home, the computer was off. And cold, the shutdown must have happened hours before.
I pressed the power button, nothing. It just sat there. I unplugged the computer, plugged it back in, and pressed the power button. I got half a second of life out of it, the LEDs and fans turned on, then turned off. Then the computer wouldn't turn back on, untill I unplugged it and repeated.
So I then tested the power supply by shorting out the green and ground wires, and hooking up an LED. It worked perfectly. I plugged the computer back in, and pressed power again... I got a second out of it, same as before. It keeps just giving me that second, after unplugging and plugging it back in.
Now, I tried to take out the video card... and behold - It worked! I put it back in.. same thing. Took it out again, and worked. I guess this issue STARTED with the video card.
Anyways, I asked around, and people suggested that I got a higher wattage PSU. Mine was 160 Watts, appearantly that's really really bad. I went out today and bought a new 500 watt one.
I came home and installed it, it fit perfectly, I connected every thing up, and I had the same EXACT thing as I did with the old power supply. I took out the video card (and here's where it gets weird), and it worked.
It worked without me even touching the power button. I figured it's a generic PSU, it has a switch on the back, maybe that's why. So I plugged in my moniter into the onboard graphics, and the monitor just sat there.
I got an orange light on it, meaning it's plugged in with no signal. I put in the old power supply, and reverted everything back to how it was originally, exactly how it was. I plugged it in, and the power button didn't work!
This is when I figure out that something is REALLLLLYYYY messed up. The screen still won't work. I thought I would try to log in remotley, I have a program called logmein, that allows me to take control as soon as it's online.
I went to take control, and the computer showed as offline.

So my question is, what is going on here?

 

[sdlvx]

The graphics card is one of the highest drain devices in a computer. You more than likely killed the PSU from overloading it. Then, it more than likely caused some damage to *something* (see video card) when it went out.

I'm sure someone is going to come along who is smarter than me, but if I were in your shoes, I would find a spare video card and see if that works in that motherboard with the new PSU. I would get rid of the 160w PSU right away. I didn't even know they went that low. It's pathetic, really.

You should also be wary of generic PSUs.

Also, you should be able to use the monitor AND the TV out on your x1600. I can do it on my mobility x1600 just fine (laptop monitor + TV), and I've done it just fine with older ATI cards, like an x800 pro. An x1600 will probably clobber whatever onboard chip you have, and you'll see better video quality and better 2d quality as well (such as colors).

 

[ServiceInteract]

I don't have a spare PCIE card to try, which sucks. And, the PSU isn't generic. I thought it was, but it's not. I hope when you say it caused damage to *something*, I hope it's not the mother board, because there's no way I can afford that. Anyways, second opinions are always nice. Thanks for your input.

 

[Nenu]

The graphics card is one of the highest drain devices in a computer. You more than likely killed the PSU from overloading it. Then, it more than likely caused some damage to *something* (see video card) when it went out.

I'm sure someone is going to come along who is smarter than me, but if I were in your shoes, I would find a spare video card and see if that works in that motherboard with the new PSU. I would get rid of the 160w PSU right away. I didn't even know they went that low. It's pathetic, really.

You should also be wary of generic PSUs.

Also, you should be able to use the monitor AND the TV out on your x1600. I can do it on my mobility x1600 just fine (laptop monitor + TV), and I've done it just fine with older ATI cards, like an x800 pro. An x1600 will probably clobber whatever onboard chip you have, and you'll see better video quality and better 2d quality as well (such as colors).

Sadly I feel this is likely as well.
A PSU failing can take out any component
The way it doesnt power up with the graphics card and powers on without the power button with no gfx suggests that the motherboard or something on it has a problem.
The graphics card may be faulty as well but we'd best get your system working first.

Does anything smell like burnt electronics?
If you have any PCI cards or USB devices plugged in, remove them + unplug all drives too.

When it does power up do you get any display using the onboard video?
If not, try using just one memory stick at a time and see if the instant power on stops or if you get video.
Try different memory slots too.

 

[engiNURD]

It sounds like something is getting shorted when you plug in the vidcard.

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You could try clearing the CMOS.

Setup everything outside of the case, with the mobo on top of its cardboard box. Plug in only the essentials:
- PSU (namely: main 20/24-pin ATX connector and 4-pin ATX12V P4 CPU Connector)
- CPU w/ HSF
- Single stick of ram
- Videocard if there is no onboard video
- Monitor
- Keyboard
- System speaker/buzzer

* Use a screwdriver if your board doesnt have an onboard power switch. Jump the two power switch leads to turn the power on.

If it won't post, try different RAM slots. If it still won't post, pull out the ram (so no ram in the system) and listen for error beeps. If none, pull the vidcard and listen for error beeps. If none, re-seat the CPU and HSF, then try again. Report back with results if you're still having issues.
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Which PSU did you buy?