Power doesn't work after moving computer

[sheag]

I recently moved my Compaq PC in my car from one house to another. Now I can't get the power to work at all. When I plug it in and flip the switch, absolutely nothing happens, not the fan or anything. I have read through all of the posts on this same topic and I've tried all the suggestions. It's not the power cord, it works fine with other PCs. It's not the outlet. I've taken the tower case off and removed the metal power supply rectangle box and checked all the connections and reseated things and still nothing. I've never had a problem with the power before, and I refuse to believe that coincidentally my power supply went out just as I was moving. Is there a key to jumpstarting a computer after a move? My PC only has a power button in back, not on the front. Any advice or things to try gratefully accepted.

[classicsoftware]

Unless you are missing something simple, like a bad pwer cord or faulty electrical outlet,

I think you damaged the motherboard during the move. I have seen this a couple of times.
How well was the system secured when you moved it?
Was it in the original or similar protective packaging????

You will need to have the system check out by a reputable repair outlet with the proper diagnostic equipment.

Good luck

[diurnal]

Make sure when you cut the power on the "I" on the back is pressed down instead of the "O".You know that little black switch on the back, then make sure that 115 is showing on the back.Then if it still dont boot open the case up, make sure everything is shut down, and see if there is any loose connections aand plug them back up. Push on all connectors in securely, make sure they are tighten down , every connector in the pc , push them down tightly. Then try to boot,if still doesnt work post back.

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Sledgehammer will save the day!

[sheag]

OK, I did the best I could making sure all the connectors were plugged in. I made sure the switch was set to - and that it said 15V. Still not working. I know it's not the outlet or power cord. My main problem is, I live on an island and there are no reputable service centers here, just a couple of guys more than willing to charge someone for a new power supply or motherboard when this is just a stupid little wire or something, so I'd like to at least try to make certain that it's not something small before I take it in. The computer was moved about 6 miles, carefully. I just don't see how something catastrophic could have happened to it during transport. Is there any east way to at least determine whether it's the power supply or the mother board specifically, if indeed it is one of those two things?

Thanks.

[diurnal]

Unplug all the drives meaning the cd,hard drive, floppy,dvd(if you have one). In other words unconnect all the power wires to the drives, the little 4pin things that have the yellow wire and red wires on them,the floppy will be smaller thought.Dont unconnect the little ribbon cables though just the power wires.After that then boot up and see if it boots.If it does reconnect all drives again and boot up.DO this and post back./

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Sledgehammer will save the day!

[sheag]

OK, I unplugged all the drives and tried to boot it up. It didn't work, but when I flipped the switch back off I noticed that the little fan on the motherboard (not the one in the PS) moved. So then I turned the switch on the PS back on and fooled with the red wire leading to the motherboard fan, and egads, it started. Then I plugged all the drives back in and tried again, and once again, it powered up. The ps fan started and all the systems seemed to be operating, i.e, the CD Rom was working, etc. When I would power down and try and turn it on again, it would work about 1/2 the time on its own, and the other half of the time I'd have to wiggle the single wire leading into the motherboard fan. (sorry if I'm using incorrect terms, I don't know any of this stuff).

So then I plugged in a monitor and keyboard to see if the o/s was loading or what was going on, and that's when things went awry again. All the keyboard lock lights went on and stayed on, but it wouldn't work, and the monitor was powered on, but black. I was fooling around with the wires and nudged the PS box with my knee on accident, saw an orange flash in the PS through the little vents, and then the computer stopped and I haven't been able to get it to turn on since.

Does this sound like a short that has now resulted in a fried PS? I think I have an extra PS with the same connectors that I could try and switch out, or I could put in the PS that I'm using in this computer into the other one to see if that works. How hard is that for a novice to do? The only thing that I can't see how to disconnect/connect, is the single wire leading into the motherboard fan I mentioned, and then leads back out, or maybe it's two wires leading in? In the computer I'm using there's no setup like that, so I don't understand how that works. Does it mean anything that the computer was starting, but the operating system didn't seem to be loading? There were no beeps, etc., from the computer when I would succeed in turning it on, just the fans would start moving and the drives started working.

Thanks so much, again. You've been very helpful!

[diurnal]

Man your in a bind man. Look when you plug your keyboard and mouse up make sure everything is powered down. ANYTIME you plug anything up to your pc make sure that everything is powered down.Dont plug up anything while pc is on. Does the connector to the motherboard(From the powersupply) have two connections or one connector heres a link. http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/ATX_PS_in_8600_9600/ATX_supply_in_8600_9600.html
Does the connector look like the second picture on this page?


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Sledgehammer will save the day!

[mjc]

If you plugged the keyboard and/or mouse in while the system was still powered on thebest you can hope for is that the PS ia dead, but in addition to that it is quite likely that you have done in the motherboard. And the PS definitely is now dead...any time you see sparks flashing it is a pretty good sign that something undesireable has just happened.

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[sheag]

Oh hey, I'm no geek, but I'm not an idiot, either. :-) I didn't plug in the keyboard or monitor with the power on. Regardless, now I'm assuming the PS is dead, (hopefully that and not the motherboard) and trying to figure out if I can buy a new one and replace it myself, or if I need to get screwed for labor by having someone else install it. I currently am looking at the insides of three computers, two of which are working. Those two have power supply connectors that look the same, and yes, they look like the picture in the link. The one that is not working is quite a bit different. It connects in three places to the motherboard, all in a row next to each other. My other two power supplies only connect in one main place on the motherboard that I can see, with one big connector, like the pic in the link. As I said in my other post, the one place I am confused about disconnecting is where the one wire leads into and out of a fan on the motherboard. I can't figure out how to disconnect this or how I would connect it. All the palces I've found on the web imply that switching out a PS should be easy, but none of them discuss this particular problem.

[mjc]

It looks like this particular PS is of the AT variety...so that is the what you would need to replace it.

As for the fan lead...try tracing it, it should terminate in some sort of a connector some where, unles the person who installed it in the first place just added it into the another connector (which is an acceptable way of doing it if there isn't a location on the motherboard to hook it up)...but if you can't find where it is connected then you'll need find an alternate connection point when you do replace the PS (there are cables available that will connect to one of the drive connectors to give you the connector for a fan) and if the fan was misbahaving in the first place it probably should be replaced also (either that original connection itself has a problem or the fan is in the process of dying). Anyway, without some test equipment the process of finding out whether any thing else is dead is just going to be trial and error...maybe grabbing a book on building a computer and then tearing this one completely down wouldn't be a bad idea...give you some experience with in depth troubleshooting...

The way you descibed what happened after you plugged in the key board is pretty much the classic symptoms of plugging it in "hot", so I'm glad to hear that you didn't...this increases the chances of the the motherboard being OK.

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[Jeronimo]

If you cant find the connector of the power cable that leads to the fan
of your CPU, i can tell you that there is no big thing to cut the cable to later manually reconect it with the new PS. I have did that in two computers already, and i never had any problems. But remember that this is a last resort.
About the replacement of a PS, you are right when you say that no large experience (or expertise?) is required. You just have to pay atention to the Watts that your PC needs to opperate. If you have an AT, then you dont need more than 200 W to feed the devices of your machine. My advice is dont pay to anyone to do this, its a very simple installation.


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I´m learning english, so be indulgent with the muchacho.