Computer will not boot

[Morimoto]

I put together a computer this afternoon from spare parts and for a while it worked fine. well, i decided to reformat the HD and install WinXP....as the HD was formatting my buddy looked at the computer and noticed that i did not plug in the CPU fan. i pulled out the power cable from the back of the computer to shut it down. i then removed the mouse, keyboard, and other things plugged in the back of the computer, plugged in the CPU fan, then put the power cord back in. the computer was just starting to power up when i saw that i had not connected the mouse and keyboard so i pulled the power cable back out. all this happened in the span of a few seconds. now the computer will not turn on....a green light on the front of the computer stays lit. nothing happens when i push the power button. it is not the HD light, but maybe a power light? i took the entire computer apart and put it all back together. i reseated all the comonents - even teh cup. my buddy thinks i killed the processor (a celeron 2.4). i think i killed the motherboard (MSI - don't recall the model num). how can i find out what is wrong? i do not have another mobo or processor i can trouble shoot with. any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance!

Make sure you never pull the power cable out...remember that you can always reformat things and redo them...never pull that cable out. If your hard disk is in the middle of writing and you pull that cable out...it can PHYSICALLY damage that hard disk...it can actually scratch the drive.

That aside...

First things first. You do not need a hard disk or CD-ROM to power things up. How I approach troubleshooting is by eliminating as much as I can possibly eliminate up front and then adding one component at a time. So..

Disconnect the CD, Hard Drive, DVD, Whatever...Keep the CPU and ONE stick of RAM. Uninstall any PCI devices...keep only the video card. Pop out the BIOS batter (looks like a communion wafer) and unplug the computer from the wall. Count to 15. You've just reset your BIOS to factory settings. Plug the battery and computer back in. Try powering up.

If you get it to power up, insert one compenent at a time until it stops powering up. Then you've found your problem. I hope you can at least get into a BIOS screen. I know something I've found considerably useful is a power supply tester (ATX) that I got at CompUSA. It checks all the power supplies I troubleshoot and I can eliminate that as a problem right away. The easiest way to test the processor is to plug it into another motherboard...but for some people this isn't an option. So, I hope you can get something to happen.

Reading your post...I don't think you've burned out your CPU...I would be more likely to believe that your motherboard is messed up since It draws a lot more electricity than the CPU does.

TKS

[jifiii]

I would say do the same thing, just remove all the extra things, the only thing you need to start with is the MB, CPU, 1 stick on memory. And start testing from there?

[Morimoto]

thanks for the suggestions guys...i will give it another shot after work today. you can be sure that i will never pull the power cable out again.

[jake patnode]

I cleaned the dust out of my computer, using "dust off". When I was done I plugged everything back in. Everything came on but now
I can't get no display, my monitor keeps telling me to check the cable. the cable ain't the problem. I don't have a hard drive led but it sounds and feels like its working. If you have any ideas they would be appreciated.