Computer Won't Boot

[thecoldone06]

I have a computer that when the power button is pressed, the light on the CDRom starts flickering and the fan on the processor starts spinning. Other than that, nothing happens. I'm thinking PSU but unfortunately don't have another to test with. Has anyone else seen this issue and what are your thoughts?

[NYJimbo]

I Has anyone else seen this issue and what are your thoughts?

You're not gonna like this....... :D

Shame on you for not having a PSU tester and/or shame on you for not having a decent replacement PSU to test with. Do you repair computers for a living?. I am not trying to be a bitch about it, but come on. This is "Dead PC Diagnostics 101".

Without being able to test the PSU or replace it with a known-good one you are guessing on everything else.

Go to newegg and buy a $20 PSU tester and a good $40 power supply (thermaltake makes a great 430 watt one) and put them aside forever as part of your repair kit.

If you think it could be your PSU but you have nothing to test that with, then what can you do ?.

For now try reseating cards, check the motherboard for blown caps, etc.. but you do need to eliminate the PSU either by testing or replacing it.

Sorry for the slap but without the right tools you might as well take the machine to another computer repair technician. :o

[thecoldone06]

I do not repair computers for my own company for a living. I am a Network/systems/PC admin for a financial company. I did not have a PSU laying around. This is for one of my IT co-workers which is why I didn't want to take company time to repair by taking a PSU out of an unused computer. However, I did it anyway. When i put the new PSU in the machine, the same thing happened except the light around the power button lit up and i could turn the machine on and off using the power button (the on/off button did not work with the old PSU). This would lead me to believe that the PSU is bad and could have caused the MOBO to fry. Now I don't have an extra MOBO I can throw in there so I think my co-worker is SOL.

[NYJimbo]

.... I did not have a PSU laying around. This is for one of my IT co-workers which is why I didn't want to take company time to repair by taking a PSU out of an unused computer. However, I did it anyway.....

Ok, from the first post it seemed like you didnt have a test PSU, but from the above quote it appears you did. Just a little confusing. Thanks.

[thecoldone06]

I apologize.

[NYJimbo]

I apologize.

That's cool. But it kinda sounds like if the original PSU killed the MOBO then you have got a bad PSU and a dead MOBO.

Still the only way to truly blame the original PSU is to test it or simply toss it and get a new one, but now that the MOBO is in question you need to put a known-good PSU on the MOBO and go from there.

Boot beep codes, lights, etc.. will have to be observed. It could be the MOBO is cooked but you still should try to strip it down to nothing and hook up a good PSU and go through all the normal tests to see if its not shorting to the chassis, bad video, bad ram, dead cpu, blown caps, other baked hardware that might be visible on the MOBO, the list goes on.

[thecoldone06]

Still the only way to truly blame the original PSU is to test it or simply toss it and get a new one, but now that the MOBO is in question you need to put a known-good PSU on the MOBO and go from there.

Maybe I wasn't clear in the 2nd post. I did put a known good PSU on the MOBO. The only change from the original symptoms is after the known good PSU was connected, the power switch worked as it should. Nothing else was different. It won't even start to boot into BIOS.

[TimeCode]

Now I don't have an extra MOBO I can throw in there so I think my co-worker is SOL.
If you stop there he is. Since you don't have a new MoBo, I'll assume that you also don't have a new CPU to try. But shy of the MoBo, that's where I'd start looking next.

[Pc Fixed Right]

What Brand Is this computer that you are attempting to bring to life? When you replaced the psu green lights come on but you get nothing on the screen? the fans spin? the cpu fan spins?

[thecoldone06]

What Brand Is this computer that you are attempting to bring to life? When you replaced the psu green lights come on but you get nothing on the screen? the fans spin? the cpu fan spins?

after replacing the psu, the light on the power button lights up, the cpu fan spins, and nothing else. I am able to get the machine to power down by holding the power button in. The old psu wouldn't allow me to do that, i have to turn it off by the power supply on/off switch. I'm going to take the PC home and see if i can't get it working. I have extra parts at home that i could swap in there. I'll let you guys know what i come up with.

[cbclark]

Did you try removing any PCI cards one at a time, such as modems, NICs, etc. Then move on to other things, like removing one stick of memory at a time if there are multiples, try a different processor, things like that.

I would be wary about replacing the system main board until I eliminated all the less significant parts first. :)

[Pc Fixed Right]

try removing the memory first one at a time to see if thats the issue. I know with HP machines bad memory causes no video typically