Hi...I built a machine about a year ago, my first build. Asus P4P800E, Pentium 3.0, 1 gig kingston, a few HD's, DVD ROM and DVD R, ATI AIW 9800 video card, and just put in a Sound Blaster Platinum something or other a few weeks ago. No real problems recently except that I kept getting voltage drops on the 3.3 lead when I played certain games, so I was planning to order a new power supply soon or later.

A few days ago my computer just died when I was surfing the web. Nothing intensive, maybe had 4 or 5 browser windows open, no other applications. It just sort of went dead, made that popping sound it makes when it shuts down--i thought either i had kicked the surge protector off at first, but nothing else was off. I figured my power supply had just blown, since it had been giving me problems, and it was a cheapo supply that came with the case. So I just went ahead and ordered a new one. Put it in today, fully expecting the machine to just come back on..and, nothing. Feeling like a total douche, I shorted the old power supply with a paper clip and viola, it still works. Oh well, I would have needed a new power supply eventually anyhow, just to play my games.

But where now? I really want to avoid taking it to a scuzzy repair shop and getting hit with some mammoth labor bill. But I can't afford to just keep buying new components off newegg if i have no idea what's the trouble. Anyone have a good middle path here that'd help me diagnose what's wrong cheaply? Any chance it's something really cheap like the switch, or are we definitely looking at a major component?

Thanks!!
Chris

i am haveing the same problem. my machine just randomly turned off on me the other day and i thought the power supply was shot. Put a new one in and it started for 2 seconds then just turned right off. I also noticed the fan on the CPU wasn't doing anything so i figured the cpu was over heating and it shut down as a protection. So i changed my heat sink and fan, because for some reason you cannot but a plain cpu fan in compusa. And that didn't work either. Unfortunatly, i think the problem might be the cpu burned out or motherboard shorted, one of those two. I think you might have the same problem, i haven't purchased a new board and cpu yet, avoiding high upgrade costs, but hope to get a new one soon and find out if thats the problem.

It sounds to me like your CPU has burned out. How old was your CPU cooler, and did you accedently ( or on purpouse ) change any of the dip switch settings, the little blue box with the white switches on it.

Getting a new CPU might fix the problemb, but it might just burn out again, so i wouldent do that just yet.