back in january, the thing worked fine... until like March. then i stashed it away and in late july, my brother wanted it.

i went to turn it on, and it didn't show anything on the screen.
the fans were on, the memory was in all the way, the video card was in all the way, the processor was making heat, and the power supply was humming..... no screen

i tried everything, EVERYTHING.. and i figured it was the power supply... something had happened to it... and a few people agreed it was most likely the power supply...

so i just got a new one from eBay, same model, for a dell, for 5 bucks + 10 shipping... well, i hook it all up... same thing.

i have 3 different ram sticks, i tried each seperately in all three slots.... no dice.. the video card heatsink gets hot, the chipset gets hot, the processor gets hot, and even the ram gets hot after a few minutes, but there is NO screen. the video card worked on another computer, and the monitor worked on another computer. the little orange light on the mobo turns on... but, nothing loads... no floppy light... the only thing that happens with drives are the optical drive's light stays on. also, the power and reset buttons do not work... but the green led lights up...

i am totally confused. what is wrong? anyone want to take a hint? just provide me with some kind of help... thank you so much for your help

(intel mobo - 440bx agp chipset; p3 800mhz slot proc; dell 200w psu; voodoo banshee agp; kingston 128mb / kingston 128mb / dell 256mb (3 different sticks))

Do you get any beeps when you turn the system on? If you do, report the pattern here and someone will be able to help, unless it just says things are normal.

I am guessing that you have tried disconnecting everything and plugging back in again. If you haven't, you may want to try that. would also do a visual inspection around the AGP slot to see if there are any indications of damage that could be a factor.

Good luck,
Budfred

There are no beeps. I have taken everything apart and put it back together numerous times. No luck. :(

I believe no beeps means that it is time to play taps for your motherboard, but I could be wrong about that. What say you hardware wizards??

Budfred

Try a new CMOS battery. Pull everything but CPU, memory and video card and try to power it up without a keyboard, you should get a beep code. Almost any motherboard should give you a beep code if it doesn't find a keyboard. That will at least tell you if it is getting decent power and is in working condition.

With only bare bones system and new battery if it gets no video still, I'd say either the power supply is not producing the correct voltages or the motherboard is bad. After sitting for a while it could have either dust or corrosion inside the power supply, that could be causing trouble.

Also check for dust and lint buildup that could be causing a short between the motherboard and case. That should be a long shot, but possible.

Have you plugged in or unplugged mouse or keyboard while it was plugged in? Pulling or plugging in PS/2 devices can fry their respective buses if done while the board has power. That could cause it to fail to boot. In that case you might also not get a beep code.

CPU failure is also a possibility, but I doubt it, CPU failure is not a common problem, unless it gets really hot. I also see 200 W power supply, that's pretty low for the components you listed, especially with hard drive and other hardware to deal with. The power supply might not be able to produce enough initial wattage to bring up the components. Bootup pulls the most power it will probably ever be required to produce.

If you have more than one hard drive and/or CD ROM, it could be underpowered...After sitting for a while it might be weakened too. Moisture can cause trouble in the long run if it's not run now and then to keep it dry.

the original power supply that worked was the same one i got from ebay... 200w... and it worked until i tried that one day

and it makes no beeps when i have no keyboard. i dont even see a speaker... there's a little black round thing on the very bottom right with a + sign on it... that it?

Ok, now I'm confused. You just said: "and it makes no beeps when i have no keyboard. i dont even see a speaker... there's a little black round thing on the very bottom right with a + sign on it... that it?", but I thought you said you weren't seeing anything on the screen. Where are you seeing he little black round thing?? Are you talking about something you see inside the computer?

The speaker is likely to be mounted behind the face plate on the front of the case.

200 Watts isn't a lot, so that could be part of the problem, but probably not the main thing.

Budfred

argh sorry... i meant the black round thing was on the motherboard. and there is NO speaker mounted in the front of the case.

i have said already that my power supply has enough power to run it. the original power supply was a 200W!!! same exact power supply... i switched it with two other dell power supplies of the exact same model 200W and it doesnt work either. the 200W powered it for a year or more with a bigger hard drive, 2 optical drives, and a faster video card, sound card, and ata controller... now it is barebones... i am SURE it is not the 200W power....

For the parts you listed so far, 200W power supply is on the low side. If you only have one CD ROM, one hard drive and only the basics for add-on cards, it might sneak by, but it's still borderline underpowered. with 800MHz CPU, the Banshee video, hard drive, CD ROM, floppy and other cards (sound, modem) you're pushing a 200W power supply just about to its limits.

If you have CD ROM and CD-R/RW, more than one hard drive, sound, video, modem, floppy and NIC card, or SCSI card for scanner, and USB devices to power, extra case fan, high end CPU cooler, 200W probably isn't enough.

Have you tried a new CMOS battery yet? It sounds like it's not making it through BIOS, which could be because the battery is dead and there is no BIOS to work with. If it makes it through BIOS it should at least try to access the floppy once, and offer some sort of beep code. If it stops before accessing the floppy or any beep code, I think it's not making it through BIOS. Try a battery, see if that at least gets it through BIOS and we'll go from there.

I only have a video card, processor, keyboard, and one stick of ram in.

I tested the battery and it works, so the battery is not the problem. :(