Gentlemen, I do not mean to impose on the community in an undue way, but I feel we are a bit of a family here. And I need help. If I'm way out of line, I apologize. I don't mean to abuse this board.
...but speaking of abusing boards. Some of you were kind enough to give me advice regarding my computer in the Power Supply Forum. It seemed I had some blown capacitors, so I ordered a new motherboard which I received today. I eagerly installed it, hooked it up to the wall, and hit the switch. Nothing. Nada. Not a hint of life. Not even the meerest glimmer. What gives? The other mother board (the broken one) would at least attempt to boot, so I know it should at least be getting power. I'm really pissed. I've been forced into using this public computer for well over a week now. I disconnected and reconnected the power several times, and I have other devices hooked onto the same power bar, and they are all getting power. But my computer seems to be getting nothing. Any easy way to test if there is draw on the PSU (short of sticking my tongue on it)? I'm stumped.
Thanks in advance.
I am a hardware loser.
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Re: I am a hardware loser.
give it mouse to mouse *DUCKS*wussboy wrote:Gentlemen, I do not mean to impose on the community in an undue way, but I feel we are a bit of a family here. And I need help. If I'm way out of line, I apologize. I don't mean to abuse this board.
...but speaking of abusing boards. Some of you were kind enough to give me advice regarding my computer in the Power Supply Forum. It seemed I had some blown capacitors, so I ordered a new motherboard which I received today. I eagerly installed it, hooked it up to the wall, and hit the switch. Nothing. Nada. Not a hint of life. Not even the meerest glimmer. What gives? The other mother board (the broken one) would at least attempt to boot, so I know it should at least be getting power. I'm really pissed. I've been forced into using this public computer for well over a week now. I disconnected and reconnected the power several times, and I have other devices hooked onto the same power bar, and they are all getting power. But my computer seems to be getting nothing. Any easy way to test if there is draw on the PSU (short of sticking my tongue on it)? I'm stumped.
Thanks in advance.
sorry couldn't resist but seriously though
Okay a few issues here
- Is your PSU kicking and ticking, single test is to hook up a fan to one of the molex connectors and then turning the PSU on with the ole paperclip trick http://7volts.com/atxnotes.htm, basically short the pin on the green wire to the black wire.... if the fan starts spinning on your Power supply and the one that is on the molex connector then it's a good sign...
- Is all your devices alive and kicking?,
What a computer at least needs to POST (show that BIOS stuff) is
A Video Card hooked up to monitor,
RAM,
CPU, (and CPU heatsink stuck to CPU and fan going)
Power Supply
Okay make sure that all these components are actually working, by testing it on a computer setup that u know is working, by swapping it in and out piece by piece
good luck
Thanks, uokked. Hey! That's weird. This pissy public computer won't let me type the letter that uokked's name really starts with. ANYWAY...
I swapped in the old mother board, and it fired right up...and then crashed as usual. Yeah, I was worried that the PSU had gone too, but it seems to be giving power. I was just hoping there was some elementary thing I was forgetting when installing a mobo. But just to reiterate: It is showing ZERO signs of life. When I plug it in and turn it on, there is not humming, no lights, no spinning. It's as if it were never plugged in at all. This seems weird to me. If it made some noise and then conked out, I would know it had problems somewhere, but like it is now, it's as if it doesn't acknowlege my presence. Anyone else have any clues? I appreciate your help.
I swapped in the old mother board, and it fired right up...and then crashed as usual. Yeah, I was worried that the PSU had gone too, but it seems to be giving power. I was just hoping there was some elementary thing I was forgetting when installing a mobo. But just to reiterate: It is showing ZERO signs of life. When I plug it in and turn it on, there is not humming, no lights, no spinning. It's as if it were never plugged in at all. This seems weird to me. If it made some noise and then conked out, I would know it had problems somewhere, but like it is now, it's as if it doesn't acknowlege my presence. Anyone else have any clues? I appreciate your help.
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ez2remember
- Friend of SPCR
- Posts: 809
- Joined: Thu Nov 28, 2002 5:07 pm
- Location: London, UK
If you bought a new motherboard its unlikely to be the mobo thats at fault. I have not read your problems elsewhere in the forums so I am not to aware what happened before with your power supply. Have you read your motherboard manual thoroughly, there maybe be just a simple thing you have missed. Maybe your PSU is damaged badly and your motherboard would not except the conditions of your PSU. Too much influx in voltages and a saftey cut off from your new motherboard to disable any damage might be caused from it.
I hope you work out your problems, maybe more on safety as well as quietness should be in order.
I hope you work out your problems, maybe more on safety as well as quietness should be in order.
You know, maybe I come from the kick-it-till-it-works theory of computing, but sometimes that is the only thing that seems to help.
I upgraded my PSU recently (anyone want a nearly silent / grossly underpowered 150W psu?), and found that my motherboard wasn't booting beyond the RAM check. I reset the machine a few dozen times, swore a lot, made sure the connections were in... An hour later I checked the board. I used my old PSU, and it booted up fine. So I unplugged the old PSU, and jammed the new PSU connecter as hard as possible into the board.
It worked. It's happy. Que Sera.
OK, that story probably isn't as helpful as it sounded in my brain. I can think of a few possiblities. 1. a cable is loose. 2. Does it have one of those weird, extra P4 power connecters? 3. Is the power button wired to the right place? 4. Have you followed the Manufacturers instructions completely (they claim to be there to provide basic instructions, but really just show you how to avoid design flaws.)?
What board is it? What board are you replacing?
I upgraded my PSU recently (anyone want a nearly silent / grossly underpowered 150W psu?), and found that my motherboard wasn't booting beyond the RAM check. I reset the machine a few dozen times, swore a lot, made sure the connections were in... An hour later I checked the board. I used my old PSU, and it booted up fine. So I unplugged the old PSU, and jammed the new PSU connecter as hard as possible into the board.
It worked. It's happy. Que Sera.
OK, that story probably isn't as helpful as it sounded in my brain. I can think of a few possiblities. 1. a cable is loose. 2. Does it have one of those weird, extra P4 power connecters? 3. Is the power button wired to the right place? 4. Have you followed the Manufacturers instructions completely (they claim to be there to provide basic instructions, but really just show you how to avoid design flaws.)?
What board is it? What board are you replacing?
Thanks for your help people.
It's a GIGABYTE GA-7ZXE VIA KT133A CHIPSET ULTRA ATA100 ATX FORM FACTOR 1xAGP(4X)/5xPCI/3xDIMM W/ AC97 AUDIO and it's replacing an MSI K7 Pro. My old board would start up, then as it heated up, the Vcore would fall until it crashed (this would usually take about 3 minutes.) I thought it was initially the PSU, but it seems it stayed within acceptable ranges. There were some cracked capacitors on the MSI board, so bad mobo seemed a safe bet.
My system.
Tbird 800
256MB pc133 ram
300w PSU
Geforce2 MX
Yes, I know it's a sucky system. It's damn noisy too, but it's all I can afford right now.
I'll try reseating the cables again, but everything seemed to snap in really nicely.
It's a GIGABYTE GA-7ZXE VIA KT133A CHIPSET ULTRA ATA100 ATX FORM FACTOR 1xAGP(4X)/5xPCI/3xDIMM W/ AC97 AUDIO and it's replacing an MSI K7 Pro. My old board would start up, then as it heated up, the Vcore would fall until it crashed (this would usually take about 3 minutes.) I thought it was initially the PSU, but it seems it stayed within acceptable ranges. There were some cracked capacitors on the MSI board, so bad mobo seemed a safe bet.
My system.
Tbird 800
256MB pc133 ram
300w PSU
Geforce2 MX
Yes, I know it's a sucky system. It's damn noisy too, but it's all I can afford right now.
I'll try reseating the cables again, but everything seemed to snap in really nicely.
My guess would be to double check the connections for the Power and reset switches. It's really easy to switch them around. Double check the manual to make sure you've got them on the right pins. If you already do, try reversing them. (I've seen manuals that had them labeled backwards before)
Or the another unfortunate possibility is that your new motherboard is defective.
Or the another unfortunate possibility is that your new motherboard is defective.
I've tried it with and without the power and reset connectors. 
My old MSI board would boot up without those connectors at all. I can't get a sniff of life from this new one.
Also, tell me if this is weird. When I hook everything up, the PSU fan doesn't spin when I turn it on. Seriously, it behaves as if it isn't even plugged in. Is that weird? You'd think the PSU has some kind of feedback loop to make sure it's actually connected to something before it supplies power, right? It seems to me this isn't being tripped. I think the PSU thinks it's not connected to anything.
Thanks everyone for your help. I really appreciate it.
My old MSI board would boot up without those connectors at all. I can't get a sniff of life from this new one. Also, tell me if this is weird. When I hook everything up, the PSU fan doesn't spin when I turn it on. Seriously, it behaves as if it isn't even plugged in. Is that weird? You'd think the PSU has some kind of feedback loop to make sure it's actually connected to something before it supplies power, right? It seems to me this isn't being tripped. I think the PSU thinks it's not connected to anything.
Thanks everyone for your help. I really appreciate it.
foolish question...
OK, I know I'm sounding foolish for asking this, but having done tech support for some time and I have to ask. Are you using the on button on the front of the computer in addition to turning on the power supply? While your old one may boot properly when connected to juice, your GIGABYTE GA-7ZXE appears modern enough to support OS powerdown, Lan Powerup, etc. With bios controlled power, it shouldn't boot without a power button attached, and without a power-on signal from the motherboard the power supply fan shouldn't go on.
Just a thought.
Just a thought.
Again, thanks a lot guys.
The person from Mwave thinks it's DOA and wants me to return it. It may just be the sad truth. I guess my opinion of my technical skills is so low that i assumed it was something I was doing wrong. Good thoughts, seishino. I'll try every possible combination with those connections.
Cheers!
The person from Mwave thinks it's DOA and wants me to return it. It may just be the sad truth. I guess my opinion of my technical skills is so low that i assumed it was something I was doing wrong.
Good thoughts, seishino. I'll try every possible combination with those connections.Cheers!
I don't know if it helps or not, but I had a somewhat similar situation a few years ago. I ordered a PPro Asus motherboard with CPU from a mail order outfit (couldn't afford the high premium of the local shop). The first mobo worked but blew itself the second day (left a small scorch mark beside the AT power connector). I got it replaced, but the new one wouldn't do anything. I pored over the manual to see if anything was wrong. It all looked fine, but I finally figured out the problem. A bunch of jumpers for setting fsb/multiplier/etc. settings were missing. The manual said if you left the jumpers off it would default to "auto" settings, so I had figured it was ok. In fact, it needed them anyway. I scrounged up some jumpers, set the right values, and it worked like a charm. The mail order shop guy said they tested it before shipping, but either he was lying or they tested it and then removed the jumpers before shipping.
Of course, you see a lot less jumpers these days, so this may not apply directly. But there might be other similar issues. I assembled an Athlon XP system for my wife last January and had four days of issues with the Leadtek mobo before getting it working right and installing Windows. It couldn't read the fan speed from the Volcano 7 HSF, so the BIOS would shut down immediately to prevent frying the CPU. I tinkered with it a bit and somehow got it to the point where it wouldn't do anything. I was just about to RMA it when I finally figured out that a full clear of the CMOS got it back to a mode where it was happy. As I recall, the "clear CMOS" process wasn't quite described right in the manual, so I had to experiment before getting it right. Just food for thought...
Of course, you see a lot less jumpers these days, so this may not apply directly. But there might be other similar issues. I assembled an Athlon XP system for my wife last January and had four days of issues with the Leadtek mobo before getting it working right and installing Windows. It couldn't read the fan speed from the Volcano 7 HSF, so the BIOS would shut down immediately to prevent frying the CPU. I tinkered with it a bit and somehow got it to the point where it wouldn't do anything. I was just about to RMA it when I finally figured out that a full clear of the CMOS got it back to a mode where it was happy. As I recall, the "clear CMOS" process wasn't quite described right in the manual, so I had to experiment before getting it right. Just food for thought...