System won't power up....

[Jodo]

A couple of hours ago my system just turned itself off. I wasn't gaming or doing anything particularly taxing at the time, just a bit of surfing. When I tried to restart it, it was no go, so I thought that maybe the CPU had overheated for some reason, and left it for 20 mins to cool down. (I've OC'ed the CPU in the past but it was a little unstable due to stock cooling so I brought it back down to retail level.)

Anyways, when I came back to it it still wouldn't start. The only reaction I get is if I unplug the power cable and plug it back in. If I then switch on, the CPU fan, GFX fan and PSU fan all start to spin up for half a sec or so and then all is quiet again.

Now my question is this....is this reaction just a bit of power that's leaking through the PSU when I plug it in ?(because I've had dead power supplies before and this has never happened. They have been truly dead). Or could it be that the PSU is ok but the motherboard is dead? And please don't say it's the CPU 'cause I can't afford that right now

My specs (please don't laugh!):

AMD 2800 Barton
Epox 8RGMI M/b
1 Gig Dual Channel
GeForce 6600 AGP (overclocked but with decent cooling. No problems for over a year)
2 H/D's
DVDRW
300 watt PSU (I know, I know, but I've run this rig like this for over a year with no stability issues)

Oh and I've cleared the dust out of the PSU in the hope it was overheating or something. I also took the on switch apart in case it was that that wasn't staying on, but didn't notice anything wrong.
I know I need to change the PSU anyway, but I need to get the system back up and running ASAP if anyone has any ideas????

Thanks.

[Clunk]

is the any leds lit up on the motherboard? any power getting through at all? if your psu has gone, it could well have taken the cpu, board,ram and graphics with it. it happened to a friend of mine on an athlon 1400 system with a cheapo psu. grab another psu and see if it works, for the sake of about a tenner, its probably worth a try.

[Jodo]

Thanks for the reply Clunk.

No LED's lit up on the motherboard, but I don' t think there are any on there anyway. Have never noticed any. My mouse and LED's for wireless keyboard ARE lit up. Sorry should have mentioned that!

[Mithrandir]

First thing I would check is the fuse in the plug.

Secondly, if that doesn't fix the problem I would say it's the PSU.
I had an old PC that blew 2 PSUs and I finally bought a higher wattage PSU and it's been working (touch-wood!) smoothly ever since (for an ancient PC).

Good luck and lets hope its just a fuse in the plug!

[killie99]

disconnect all the disks, dvd/cd drives, all pci cards and memory and then see if it stays on and beeps for a memory error, it it doesn't then you need to try a new power supply. If the rig powers up, add in the memory, if that works add in the graphics and keep going til you find the culprit.

[Xaar]

i'd say it's probably the mb thats damaged (most likely caused by the psu).. obviously, it'd be easier the test with another psu 1st, and if that resolve it, then it's very likely the mb

[Jodo]

Thanks for all the replies guys,

I'll work my way through the advice and let you know what happens.

[DavidGriffiths]

Jodo,

The exact same thing happened to me this morning. We are having issues with our cable tv, so I was on the phone to their support staff last night. They asked me to reboot my computer a couple of times (we also get our internet service from them). The last thing I did was turn it on and walk back to the TV. This morning, when I woke up, my computer was off.

I hit the power switch, and nothing. Pulled the power plug out of the motherboard, plugged it in, and I get a second of power (fan spins, lights on the power supply), then nothing. If I hit the power button, the same thing happens. I only get that bump of power once until I pull and replace the power cable into the motherboard.

I have an ASRock 939Dual-SATA2, and this is my second copy of this motherboard. The last one went in exactly the same fashion about a year ago. It happend after I popped a circut breaker (drawing too much power using a space heater on the same circut as the computer).

The last time I switched, everything else stayed exactly the same (including the power supply); I just swapped out the motherboard (I didn't even need to re-install). Unfortunately, this motherboard is not longer in production.

I hate to say it, but I think you and I both have a motherboard purchase in the near future.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

I should mention that I have a good OCZ power supply (500 watts, I think).

[Jodo]

Hi David,

Yep, that's exactly what I think now. Well, I've gone a bit drastic and decided to claim on my home insurance.

When I was contacted by the suppliers (Powerplay, anybody heard of them?) I was told it would be collected tomorrow and the cover is like for like, but I was pretty much told that if they need to replace the motherboard then I should make sure that I have as much in the box as I want replacing!!. So, my old TV card that no longer works is going in, and anything else I can dig out! I doubt they'll have a socket 462 board and 2800+ Athlon to replace it with so should get an upped spec I hope. (I think Conroe is too much to hope for, lol, but I can dream!).