PC Won't Turn On

[moroms]

I'm having a problem with my computer. Its running on Windows XP Pro, Athlon X2 3400+, Asus some SLI mobo, eVGA 6800GT, 2 200+gb hard drives, 1 gig ram (2 sticks of OCZ gold ram) & I have Zalman Plus Water Cooling - I think thats all thats relevant. Anyways, I was on my PC Friday when some programs were locking up. I was about to shut down and I didn't want to wait for the programs to unfreeze. I held down the power button on my pc for 5 seconds and it turned off (I do that a lot). I remembered I had to print a file from my pc so I tried to turn it back on like normal and that didn't do anything. So I turned off the power switch on the back of power supply and waited til the next morning to turn it on. Still nothing. I used to have problems with ram so I switched it with my other computers. Still nothing. I cleared the CLRTC or whatever the ram on the mobo is and that did nothing as well. I have no idea what to do. Any help would be really appreciated. Oh yeah, when I turn on my psu the green led on my mobo lights up so I know its recieving power. Its just that I can check anything until my pc turns but it never does. It doest respond to me pushing the power button. Whats up with that? Thanks for readin this.

[George Hallam]

i had a little problem before were the power button cable that conects to the MOBO came unplugged have a look
there should be a load of little wires connecting to the MOBO in the bottom right. the one you want is (usually) red and black and has the letter PWR on it.

also have you made any modifications recently (hardware wise) is your system OC'ed?

they should look like this (not exactly due to it being a different MOBO but you get the idea ;))
http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/1600/764506953674e4f3828oqp9.jpg

[moroms]

my system isnt overclocked and i was thinkin of checkin tht but i didnt believe it could have been the problem. im gonna do it today i ll let u know wht happens - thanks by the way

[moroms]

it didnt work - any ohter suggestions?

[DesiMaster]

can you asses more? does it turn on and turn off a second later or not at all?

if the first option, you could still have heating problems(hard with water cooling) or you could have ram/cpu problem.....

Either way, try a bare boot....

[Sylvander]

Yes, bare-bones boot called for.

Strip back the connected hardware to essential items only.
BARE ESSENTIALS = PSU, mobo, CPU+heatsink+fan, internal speaker.
[No RAM or video card]
If you think the on-switch is working, use that to switch on, otherwise just short the switch pins on the mobo.

If the POST runs & tests and warns by generating beeps, and the speaker is working, you should hear the warning beeps indicating the failure of the 1st RAM test. That's good, it means the POST is indeed running.
So then you reconnect the video car and there should still be warning beeps.
Then you connect one stick of RAM to the 1st slot and the RAM-test failure beeps should cease, and instead there should be the single beep indicating that post successfully reached an advanced stage in the sequence.
There should be a display and POST should then complete, but without any boot from a drive [no drives connected].

Begin connecting hardware items one at a time and running Startup after each to see if one of these items causes a failure to complete [or run] POST.

[Fruss Tray Ted]

can you asses more?

Can he what?!?! :eek: Along with suggesting a barebones boot leaves a bit up to the imagination... ;)

But you are correct, spelling errors aside, the bare bones boot is what is needed as a first diagnostic approach.

Then follow ups with RAM tests, Knoppix live cd to eliminate OS problems, etcetera.

Edit:
Sylvander is quicker to the punch once again... ;) /edit

[moroms]

thanks i thought i knew at least a lil about computers but shee never heard of a barebones boot. im do it asap (tom night). this may sound kind of stupid but how do i (safely) short the switch pins on the mobo? oh yeah and also it doesnt turn on at all no beeps nothing (otherwise id be able to fig somethin out). the power button does nothing when pushed.

[Paleo Pete]

this may sound kind of stupid but how do i (safely) short the switch pins on the mobo?

Find out which pair of wires go to the power switch, usually they will be labeled at the black connector(s). Remove the wires and touch both pins at once briefly with a small screwdriver, CAREFULLY. You're not likely to harm anything, most of the pins in the vicinity of the power switch will do nothing until the computer is actually turned on. The others will be things like the power LED, hard drive LED, reset switch, none of those should cause any problems if accidentally shorted while not powered up. The rest switch might cause it to try and boot up, that shouldn't be detrimental to the system either.

[moroms]

I disconnected my video card, ram, the 3 pci things i had and removed all of the connectors (hd led, pw switch on). I touched the screwdriver on the power switch pins and nothing happened. the green light was on on the motherboard still. so is my motherboard defective?

[mjc]

Until you try it with a different power supply...can't say for 100% sure, but it is looking that way. Modern power supplies have multiple lines of several different voltages (rails) and while some of them could possibly be still providing proper level of power one or more could go 'out' and you would still get something out of them...like the motherboard LED lighting up or the fans turning on, etc. And power supplies are more likely to fail suddenly...

[Sylvander]

You might consider the following alternative strategy...

Force the PSU to go to full power by shorting the green & black wires as shown in the following...
Powering an ATX PSU without a Mobo! (http://www.virtual-hideout.net/guides/atx_psu_mods/index.shtml)

You can also use this to test the PSU without a mobo.

[moroms]

will this help because I know my psu is working since the green light on the mobo is on? thanks for all of everybodys response so far i really appreciate it

[mjc]

No...just because the little green light on the motherboard lights up doesn't mean that the power supply is working 100% correctly.

[moroms]

alright me and my dad will do it tom - so basically i need a wire to connect to the wire thats green and any ground wire. does it matter which wire i use to connect em?

[moroms]

also can i leave the psu's cords plugged into my mobo, cd rom drives, hard drives etc?

[Fruss Tray Ted]

also can i leave the psu's cords plugged into my mobo, cd rom drives, hard drives etc?
I would NOT leave ANYTHING plugged into your PSU as you try the green wire method. It is for testing purposes only. It enables you a way to test the rails for voltages being present with a voltmeter or similar device.

If you have a shorted rail, hard drive, etc, and used the green wire trick to power your pc, you could burn something up more seriously than you anticipate, including your HOUSE! :eek: