no boot

[zgoldlazerz]

My mom just gave me this computer from her work (they give their old one to me for free, cuz they know i like computers ...) and she told me there was a problem w/ it, so they replaced it and I could have it. She said that i wouldn't turn on at all. I plug it in in my room to see what goddies I could find, lol. Well, I turn the PSU switch on and then hit to power button on the front. No go .... so I try it again ... wiggling the button a bit, then it boots up. So, I shut it off, then come back later to turn it on again .... no boot .... try several times.... no boot, then it boots up. So, I have a few bad PC's in my room, so I switch the power switch in the front, thinking that was going bad for some reason. I have the same problem. So, I thought about the PSU itself. So I shut it off, and as I turn it on, I look in the case to see if the LED turns on and see what else happens, then try turning it on. The LED light always turns on and the CPU fan wiggles a bit, but i can't get the computer to boot. What can I do. I'll try to post the specs of the PC next time. here's what I know now:

CPU: Pentium 4

that's it.... lol. Thanks for ur help, and I'll try to get it to boot up again and figure a way to get in the BIOS.... tried every setup button I know and couldnt get in. and to top it off ... I need access to my mom's work server in order to get on the desktop .... (Windows 2000 Professional)

[Sylvander]

Try these...
Sylvander’s Diagnostic Flowcharts
Download a copy of my diagnostic flowcharts from here
www.erniek.eclipse.co.uk/downloads/sylvanderdiags.zip
and print them to leaf through.
Begin on the STARTUP chart.

[jcnoernberg]

So you've eliminated a simple bad push-button switch? You could always trace that back to the two pins on the motherboard... and very carefully short them for a second and that should trigger the computer to boot (make sure you're sure before you do that!)... Do you know if the powersupply is good? If you unplug all the motherboard connectors, then short the green wire to any black wire, that will make the supply turn on... you have to have at least one device (cd rom, harddrive, etc) connected for this to work. hmm what else.. You could disconnect everything except one stick of ram and go from there, keep adding pieces until it screws up?