Desktop won't power on

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Steven R

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I'm working on a high end Gateway FX series desktop which was originally powering on/off every second or two. Tested the power supply which turned out to be good. Took out all but one stick of ram, swapped ram, removed graphics card and all to no avail. I ordered a new mobo, installed it and it powered up. Ran fine until I tried to restart the pc. Now it won't power on at all. I repeated the same steps as before.

Interestingly, if I test the power supply with a psu tester, all is fine. Plug it back into the board and no power. The power supply fan won't even come on.

I've tested ever component that plugs onto that board and they test ok. The only thing I haven't tried is a new CPU. Is it worth it or do I call this one dead?
 
The only thing a PSU tester is good for is to show when the PSU is dead; they can't show if it's good -- many a PSU has shown good, but actually fails when under load.

Replace the PSU with a known good one and retest.
 
Check for short circuits maybe? Unplug all USB/peripheral cables too, and see if that makes a difference.
 
So just to be totally thorough, I unhooked everything from the board except the 24-pin connector and 1 stick of ram and the power button. Dead. I tried all variations of ram in the 4 slots. Dead. Not even a working fan on the psu. This is now 2 psu units and 2 motherboards with the same result. The only thing that remained from one board to the next is the CPU chip. I don't have another one to try or I would.
 
deanholdway said:
Is there a reset button on the case? try powering up with it disconnected.
I once had a desktop in with these same symptoms and turned out to be faulty reset button (always on) causing no boot!
Click to expand...
I was thinking about the power switch also.
These are good items to have if you ever test outside of the case:
ControlSwitches.jpg


Steven R said:
So just to be totally thorough, I unhooked everything from the board except the 24-pin connector and 1 stick of ram and the power button. Dead.
Click to expand...
What about the CPU fan or case fans, did you test them? Fans do go bad and short out.


I would drain the flea power out and then watch the PSU fan if it moves a very little and then stops when you try turning the PC back on you've still got a short somewhere.


Steven R said:
Took out all but one stick of ram, swapped ram
Click to expand...
So you're saying you tried know good RAM or that your testing with the RAM that was in the PC?


Have you tried a new CMOS battery or maybe try starting without a battery?
 
B Trevathan said:
I was thinking about the power switch also.
These are good items to have if you ever test outside of the case:
ControlSwitches.jpg


What about the CPU fan or case fans, did you test them? Fans do go bad and short out.


I would drain the flea power out and then watch the PSU fan if it moves a very little and then stops when you try turning the PC back on you've still got a short somewhere.


So you're saying you tried know good RAM or that your testing with the RAM that was in the PC?


Have you tried a new CMOS battery or maybe try starting without a battery?
Click to expand...

I did test the fans and they are good. For the ram, I tested with both the existing and known good ram. I haven't tried the CMOS battery. Good idea also, thanks.
 
Total ID10T error. I forgot to plug the power switch back onto the motherboard. Once I did that, I go back to power up/down every second. I still have all other components off the board so I'm now leaning toward a short in the power switch. Sound right?
 
Sounds like the switch to me. I Just had a Dell do the same thing to me. It turned out to be the front panel circuit board (it has the power button, USB ports and audio jacks.)
 
This is an odd switch. Its several wires soldered onto the button itself. I think the only way to get a new one is to go to Gateway and see if I can purchase it. I'm not sure they'll let me.

There are wires going to the top and front of the machine where all the cool effect lighting is as well as branching out to the circuit boards for the multi card reader and a photo frame button.

I doesn't seem possible to just replace the power button. It would be a shame to have to scrap this expensive machine over a shorted out power button, though.
 
I was able to take a power supply wiring and button out of a good machine to test it. I still get the same issue so there is a short somewhere else in the wiring.

I think at this point unless I can get a whole new wiring set up, I'm done.
 
Steven R said:
I was able to take a power supply wiring and button out of a good machine to test it. I still get the same issue so there is a short somewhere else in the wiring.

I think at this point unless I can get a whole new wiring set up, I'm done.
Click to expand...

hmm try plugging in keyboard and tapping the key to get into bios when thats happening.....er well i suppose I should ask is anything coming up on screen or is it turning off too fast? 1 second seems too fast.
 
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