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PC Help needed

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 4:45 pm
by Danman
I've got a real Murphys law/ Sods Law situation with my wife's computer. It was going fine, unplugged and moved it to shift furniture, and now it won't power on - no lights, fan, nothing.
It is plugged in!
I have tried unplugging everything from the motherboard, even tried a new power supply.
The mobo is a micro atx one with no led to see if there is power getting to it or not - the power supply just refuses to power up!
Could it be the motherboard? How can I test it without getting a new one?

I have re-seated every connection, cable and plug.

I might have to swallow my man-pride and take it in to a shop to look at :eek:

Mobo, CPU and Ram are about 5 months old.

If anyone can think of anything to try (apart from a hammer!), sing out

Re: PC Help needed

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 5:25 pm
by Hardman
Some PSU's have a switch on them. Make sure it is on and the correct voltage setting (240V). If there is power the fans should turn on, you will also be able to hear/feel the hard drives spinning. Something to consider is maybe a faulty power switch in your case.

Since your PC is new, it should be under warranty.

I recently had a PC that appeared to turn on but nothing was showing on the screen. Tried different graphics cards and monitors but that did not make any difference. My conclusion was there was a fault with the motherboard or CPU and since it was only a Pentium 4 I binned it. However, it was getting power because all the fans still worked.

Re: PC Help needed

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 5:50 pm
by BK
These are things that I check and you may have already done so:

- Different power cable
- The new power socket you are using - does it power a lamp?
- If you have a volt meter you could test to see if power is coming from the PSU and if power is working then see if you are getting power on the mobo.

Failing that... alcohol... dosen't matter what sort, but now that you can't use the PC you might as well make a night of it!

Re: PC Help needed

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 6:49 pm
by Jetboy
http://www.overclock.net/faqs/96712-how ... y-psu.html

One way to test a PSU, jump start it. It'll at least tell you if the PSU is still going as the fans spin up, done it to a few PSU's and never had any issues

Re: PC Help needed

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:03 pm
by Gordon
Had one case of a PC not starting due to the reset button being stuck in.

Re: PC Help needed

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 8:55 pm
by Danman
Getting really peeved now....

Tried the hot wire trick - power supply is fine. So it must be either the switch or the motherboard?

It was new motherboard, cpu and ram into an older case, and I'm guessing its cheaper to buy new bits than to pay computer repair charges?

What happens if I short the jumper the power switch connects to, should that tell things to power up?

Unfortunately its the machine we do all our invoicing on too...

Re: PC Help needed

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:13 pm
by Harding Jr
I'm no PC tech but you're Ram/cpu may be fuddled out. So try remove various components so that it is only powering the basic's. Perhaps only the motherboard and CPU and you should be able to narrow down what exactly the problem is.

Re: PC Help needed

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:28 pm
by Danman
Found another post about by-passing the power switch (hot wiring with a screwdriver) - still no power. So maybe its the motherboard...

Re: PC Help needed

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:47 pm
by Scrunty
Symptoms sound a bit strange, more often than not mobos will only half die - the pc will power up but nobodies home.
Might not help but for the sake of ten seconds try reseating the memory if you have not already and clear the cmos for shits and giggles.
CPU being toasted is least likely, unfortunately motherboard is probably it.

Re: PC Help needed

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 9:55 pm
by Danman
Got it sorted :)
Took it into PB Tech today, they noticed the front usb port on the case had been pushed in a bit (kids?), it was shorting the motherboard. Unplugged the usb and all good.

Thanks for all the suggestions _b _b