Okay, first off.. I have had this PC up and running since 12/31/2001.

Components are Epox 8K7A motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 1500 CPU, 256 meg Crucial DDR ram, Enlight case, GeForce 2 card, One WD HDD, one floppy, one CD-ROM, Windows 98.

I was playing a game the other day and the machine just instantly cut off. I attempted to turn it back on and nothing happens. Pressing the power switch does absolutely nothing. So I took a Sparkle 250w PS and swapped it in. Still would not power on. I assume this is a good indication that the power supply is not faulty.

What I am trying to figure out is if I have a bad motherboard, as that's what I originally suspected and have already ordered another one from Newegg. I am not so sure it's the motherboard now though. Keep in mind, I'm getting nothing at all when pressing the pwoer switch. No fans, no LED's, nada. Never had a problem with this machine before, no heat problems etc. Just seems to have died on me.

I was wondering what your opinions are. Do you think it's the motherboard? I certainly hope so since I've already ordered a replacement. Bleh.

Welcome to http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif

If you are not even getting post and it is not the power supply, the likely possibilities are the mobo, the CPU, or a faulty connection. To test more thoroughly, you could take the mobo out of the case, with one stick of RAM and CPU. Connect the keyboard and monitor, keep the video card if you have one. Put it all on a nonconductive surface and try it. If it POSTs, then it is probably a connection problem. If not, it is probably CPU or mobo. If you know anyone who has a CPU you can borrow, you can test that option. You can also take it to a local computer shop to test, but that might cost as much as the new board.

Since it is less than a year old, is it still under warranty?

Good luck,
Budfred

I'm not a technical person, so bear with me. If I took the motherboard out and put it on a piece of cardboard, what all would I hook up to the motherboard besides the monitor and keyboard, just the main power connector from the powersupply? Then attempt to power it up? The machine only has one stick of ram.

My Enlight case has a power supply with no on/off switch. I guess that would be a problem when trying to troubleshoot the board outside of the case like that. (As in, how the hell would I cut the power on outside of the case with no power switch whatsoever?)

What I did just attempt though, is only hooking up the monitor and keyboard inside the case, and of course the main power connector. I also hooked up the two case fans. I hooked up the led connector wires and on/off switch wire connector, and tried to power up. Same thing.. nothing.

I have this second machine too, but I'm not about to start swapping parts, since this one works fine and I dont want two screwed up machines.

Yes, apparently the mobo was still under warranty. Being the impatient person I am though, and not realizing it had been less than a year sicne I built the machine - I ordered a new mobo before checking the RMA status with newegg. By the time they approved my RMA, the new board had already been shipped. This is really turning into a big headache.

You can use a power strip to cut off the power...and you can just short the pins that would normally have the power switch connected to them...

What would I use to short the pins the power switch wire would normally be connected to?

a samll screw driver...and you briefly short the two pins on the motherboard.

Kilyin
As your computer or components were not bought until December 2001 you should still be under the standard 1 year warranty as it is only 11 months. Put the original PSU back (if computer bought as unit) in and contact supplier to see if this is so. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

Hello Kilyin.

Here’s what my diagnostic charts say about your problem.

START UP
1. Is the PC dead? Yes.
2. Go to the SYSTEM test.

SYSTEM
1. Does the PSU fan run? No.
2. Are power supply voltages correct? If yes your fan in the PSU is faulty. It seems much more likely your voltages are not correct, in which case:
3. Disconnect all peripherals and adaptors and the system board.
4. Does the fan now run? If not your power supply is faulty. If it does, re-connect the system board.
5. Does the fan now run? If not the system board is faulty. If it does:
6. Re-connect one device and if the fan doesn’t run this device is faulty. If the fan does run, repeatedly connect one device at a time and re-boot until faulty devices are identified and removed and all functional devices are connected.
7. Re-test the system from step 1.

I haven't modified the PSU voltages, and I don't know how. The PC had been running fine and I didn't change anything, so it can't be the voltages.

I'll try turning the PS on with nothing connected to it and see what happens. I did however try switching the PS with one I know works, and got the same results, so I think the board is probably dead.

If you have already tried a different power supply, you are right and that is not the problem. You won't be able to run the power supply without anything connected because ATX power supplies don't work unless they are connected to a motherboard.

Budfred

So you are saying a standalone PSU (read nothing connected to it except a power cord) should turn on and the fan should be running?

Aha. Thanks for clearing that up Bud. I was kinda confused, hehe.

I packed the mobo up and sent it back to Newegg on Saturday. I have a new board coming because I'm impatient and didn't bother to check my RMA status before ordering a new board. I hope they will just credit me the new board since it's the same kind, but I will probably end up with a spare board :/

Newegg even as cooperative as they seem to be probably won't go for that. I just hope after going through all of this, it doesn't turn out to be the CPU or something. Sigh.

Actually, they might be that cooperative and it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Budfred

hope this isnt too late, but, i'm not sure if you can necessarily eliminate the psu as the problem. the sparkle is only a 250W, and may not have enough beef to power up the system.

Yea, I agree in upgrading your Power supply unit.