PC won't power on, Fans spin briefly then goes dead

[Drifter]

I built a PC in January and immediately started having this problem where I would push the power button, but the lights and fans would only come on briefly (less than 1 sec) as if booting up then they would go dead. However, sometimes it would power on just fine, and when it worked it stayed on until I turned it off. If it failed I would reset the PSU and try again until it worked. There was no pattern to success or failure.

The power supply was a junker that came with the case so I replaced it with an Antec TruePower 430w, but the problem persisted. I then took the PC apart to do a barebones boot. I discovered that the problem only occurred when the power is connected the video card, a PowerColor Radeon 9800. I tried the card in another pc and there were no discernible problems, which led me to believe the motherboard, a Soltek K8AN2E-GR, was at fault. I RMA'd it and received a replacement and the problem still perstists.


Any ideas?

[Sylvander]

Is it only that board/video card combination that has a problem?
Does ANY other video card work with that board?

Could the BIOS configuration settings be causing a problem?
Reset the defaults?

[Drifter]

The only other card I could test doesn't require a connection from the psu, so it's of little help. However, I tried the Radeon 9800 in another PC and it seemed to work fine.

I will set up the new motherboard and try again to see if I can give more information concerning the BIOS.

[agentLX]

i had encountered your problem twice, and this were the reason that i had found...

1st encounter - the power supply was defective, it was giving a low voltage
2nd encounter - the cpu was fried to tender crisp (....but it tastes good :))

at first i had also suspected the motherboard(...which i had also returned for warranty), but it happened to be the psu.

[Drifter]

I replaced the psu, with an Antec no less. I guess I could have somehow managed to get 2 defective ones.

Was your cpu visibly damaged? When I took mine out it could of passed for brand new.

[agentLX]

Was your cpu visibly damaged? When I took mine out it could of passed for brand new.[/QUOTE]

sometimes, you could not visibly see the damage in cpus, they dont show any burns but i know what happened because it smelled inside the room when its fried.