Member Avatar for S_Ali

Hi,
My PC which was running fine until yesterday.
Suddenly everything froze up. When I tried to reboot, nothing happened. The HD LED turns to solid red, but the power LED is off. All 3 Fans (2 Chassis fans and 1 CPU cooler fan are on). But nothing else happens.

My motherboard is VIA PM800-M2

Thanks

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by JemB

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Short summary: the symptom set — fans spinning, HDD LED stuck solid, power LED dead — usually means the board is getting standby power but the main supply/POST sequence never starts. That narrows the fault space to (1) PSU not enabling main rails, (2) motherboard held in reset by a short or failed component, or (3) an early CPU/motherboard failure. and already pointed toward those areas; below are safe, ordered steps to isolate the problem without repeating checks already tried.

  1. Safety first — unplug mains before moving jumpers or touching connectors. Press and hold the case power button for 10–20 seconds after unplugging to drain capacitors.
  2. CMOS reset cleanly — if the jumper was moved, put it exactly back, or remove the CMOS battery for 5–10 minutes with power disconnected, then reinstall. A wrong jumper position can prevent normal power-up. (This follows @JemB's point.)
  3. Eliminate chassis shorts — disconnect front-panel connectors (power switch, LEDs) and try a bench power-up outside the case on cardboard with just CPU, cooler, one RAM stick, and PSU. If it powers normally on the bench, a standoff/ground or front-panel fault is likely.
  4. Quick PSU test — if comfortable: short the PSU PS_ON (green) to ground (any black) to spin the PSU and measure the rails with a multimeter: ~12V, ~5V, ~3.3V. A working 5VSB with missing main rails points at PSU failure. Use a PSU tester if available; avoid live-probing if unsure.
  5. Remove peripherals — unplug all drives, cards, extra RAM. A shorted device or card can hold the board in reset. The solid HDD LED often means the board never leaves the pre-POST state, not necessarily the drive itself.
  6. Visual and audible clues — attach a system speaker for beep codes, inspect for bulging capacitors, burn marks, or a burnt smell around the PSU and motherboard. Photograph any damage before touching.

If a known-good PSU makes no difference and you still get no POST or beeps, the problem is most likely the motherboard or CPU and further component swaps or a professional diagnostic/repair are warranted. Reference: steps above build on points raised by , and .

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Member Avatar for BeastOverlordH6

Ahem, ahem. One of these three is the culprit, but now we ask which:
1.) Motherboard
2.) Processor
3.) Power supply
I do not feature RAM as it is rarely affected by power surges/current issues as specificed above.

From what you specify, your board can still produce light, and your board's fans are operational. The most common of cases is that the ultra-sensitive motherboard is damaged to a point where it cannot function as a motherboard, but, basically, as a series of power lines to turn on fans and lights. It could also be the processor, as I included on the list. Think of it as a last resort, unless your power situation is really stable. If the heatsink ever, for any reason, suddenly became loose in a process, the processor shuts down the machine automatically to save itself. Check the heatsink connection, then consider a new motherboard, and thereafter a new power supply (Antec, by name). MSI and ASUS are good names of motherboards in my experience.

Member Avatar for S_Ali

Ahem, ahem. One of these three is the culprit, but now we ask which:
1.) Motherboard
2.) Processor
3.) Power supply
I do not feature RAM as it is rarely affected by power surges/current issues as specificed above.

From what you specify, your board can still produce light, and your board's fans are operational. The most common of cases is that the ultra-sensitive motherboard is damaged to a point where it cannot function as a motherboard, but, basically, as a series of power lines to turn on fans and lights. It could also be the processor, as I included on the list. Think of it as a last resort, unless your power situation is really stable. If the heatsink ever, for any reason, suddenly became loose in a process, the processor shuts down the machine automatically to save itself. Check the heatsink connection, then consider a new motherboard, and thereafter a new power supply (Antec, by name). MSI and ASUS are good names of motherboards in my experience.

Thanks BeastOverlordH6 for your reply,
Well my CPU cooler Fan (Thermaltake) was also working. I did check the heatsink connection and it was a tight fit. However I tried to clear the CMOS by changing the jumper settings. Afterwards the power is not comming on at all, not even to the FANS.
I am hoping its only the power supply

thanks again

Member Avatar for JemB

check in the case for a grounding wire that's come loose from the chassis, usually under the keyboard near or from the fan(s). if this comes loose it will also give these symptoms. i've seen this on a number of laptops including dell and compaq. a dab of solder to ground it back to the casing will sort it. Also please excuse me a silly question but you did put the cmos jumpers back after clearing it? they only need to be changed over for a few seconds with the power and battery out, then put back as they were.

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