Dead motherboard?

[Mini-Me]

Hiya.
:)

Generic PC with ASUS A8V-MX motherboard.
Unknown CPU speed, was told Windows XP when it was running.

Refuses to start.
Have power LED on motherboard glowing, but pressing power button results in nothing at all - no fans starting, no beeps of pain from the BIOS, no nothing.

Checked that the power-switch is actually working, but there is zero-ohms across the power-switch connector when it is pressed - I have seen boxes with crook power-switces stopping them from starting...

Replaced the power-supply in case it was crook, with a brand-new 500W one from stock(just sitting on the bench for the purposes of testing), but still no life when power button pressed.

My conclusion: Dead motherboard.

Yes?
No?

[123456]

Take out the power pin connector from the mobo and touch the pin(s) with the end of a philips screwdriver.

[Mini-Me]

No response...
:(

[123456]

When you plug in the PSU do the fans spin at all? I've seen them spin for a second or two and then die out.

Also - try reseating the CPU.

[Mini-Me]

As per my first post:
Have power LED on motherboard glowing, but pressing power button results in nothing at all - no fans starting, no beeps of pain from the BIOS, no nothing.

[Sylvander]

Probably the CPU not functioning or not connecting.
CPU must function for the mobo to tell the PSU to go to full power.

You can artificially do that by connecting the green & black wires [that go from the mobo to PSU].
See Powering an ATX PSU without a Mobo! (http://www.virtual-hideout.net/guides/atx_psu_mods/index.shtml)
BEWARE! Read the warning in red.

[Paul Komski]

In such circumstances I would always start with a bare-bones-boot (http://paulski.com/zpages.php?id=1718). You appear to have eliminated the PSU so you need to cut things back to just the CPU Mobo and a stick of RAM on a non-conductive surface. ANY faulty piece of hardware can cause the described failure.

[Dorkspawn]

I once had a power supply go bad that had the same symptoms you describe. Motherboard LED lit, but nothing else would work.

[Mini-Me]

Tried bare-bones boot etc, still no life at all.
Enough tinkering.
Discovered it is an AMD 2.2GHz single-core machine, so not really worth playing around with for too long, as an ex lease 3.2GHz dual-core P4 can be had for only a few hundred bucks, so I will just outright replace it...