Help!!

[Clstrphbc_donut]

i need help with a mates PC. the pc is all connected up, but when he presses the power button, the fans spin for half a second and then it goes off again, what do you think the problem is? All drives, GFX cards, and PCI cards arent connected. Vague spec as follows(all the info i have) :-

900mhz duron,
pc133 ram (256mb),
generic psu
pcchips mobo

Theres no signal on the monitor, and i know this is vague but any help greatly apprectiated.

[Jonny M]

Run the mobo out of the case

[StarkMjolk]

Does the PC make any beep after than? Any life signs at all?

It is some kind of hardware issue.. first guess would be PSU. Does the same thing happen when you try to boot it again?

This is a far shot.. but try to reset the CMOS.

[Clstrphbc_donut]

im not sure, his girlfriend is typing, hes watching TV. He said he cant be bothered to fix it tonight, but can people please keep posting replies on how to solve this. He has reset the CMOS also

[Agent]

90% chance its shorting on the case. Do what Caged suggested - take it out of the case and try it like that.
It could also be an Incompatible USB dongle that your using. Some are wired differently on cases, from the ones supplied with the mobo. If your using front USB ports wired into the case, try unpluging them.

[StarkMjolk]

Well, it could be something short-circuiting the PSU aswell. You can start with trying to run the PC with minimal things connected. Disconnect all HDDs, CDs, PCI cards... just keep mobo plugged to power (guess the GFX don't have power of its own) and memory and CPU on the mobo. If you can't get it running then, you'll have to test all components seperately in another comp... That's the way I'd go atleast.

[Clstrphbc_donut]

all parts not needed (drives, pci cards etc) are NOT in it. Just CPU, mobo, ram psu. Still, it fires into life, fans spin, then it dies about half a second later. No signal on monitor. I'll get him to try taking the mobo out of the case, and using a different PSU. Thanks

[Clstrphbc_donut]

Problem = cracked core on the duron. thanks for all your help

[Agent]

Ack !

He must have been really heavy handed !

[eldren]

The problem there, I say, was cooling. First thing I thought when I started reading this thread was, check the heatsink, that it's seated properly. A poorly seated heatsink may allow the CPU to overheat and, depending on the CPU (How many watts of heat it puts out, etc.), cause the core to crack. Exactly that happened to me, and I have a cracked-core Celeron 667 to show for it.

[LayZeh]

Everyone thinks they can build PCs these days and fitting the cpu heatsink is always where they get got.