Hi newbie here :mrgreen:
I posted this message at the bottom of a similiar thread but thought i would actually start my own :cool:

Im not pc stupid and understand the basics and have built many, but this problem bugging me.

Lets say to start with my pc is running then just freezes.
only thing to do is hold power button in or reset.

Once done that when rebooting all fans and lights come on and things whire inside.

but thats where it sits, doesnt post, no messages on screen (just blank, but is lcd and normally takes a while to flick on, but not sure if that how long the pc takes to send a signal :-| )

Have tried to boot with removing things one thing at a time, untill left with just graphics card and one stick of memory, no drives what so ever, and have tried both my sticks (1gb pc3200) in all slots individually, still the same result.

NOW if i unplug the psu from the mains for a long time it will boot, but have to leave it hours, maybe days :eek: , but if i unplug psu from mains and mobo leave it a few mins pc will boot :) :-| .

Items that are new, psu, mobo.

Should state this problem started happening after i come home one day to find pc switched off and not restarting, with no lights on and found the psu fan melted and welded in place, so failed psu.

After that replaced psu and pc seemed ok, but then started doing above problem, and i noticed that the mobo wasnt reporting temps, not even in the bios, so thats when replaced the mobo.

problem still there, decided to do a reinstall on a ide drive not sata (first time it happened i thought it wasnt gonna ever switch back on but wanted info off my sata drives, and anyway in this process at one point it wouldnt switch on with a sata drive connected, but would with it disconnected, so thought that was it, but no, it then let me do a full install on my sata drive)

everything seemed to be working fine for a few days so thought the prob had gone :-| , and did some bench marking which it did ok, then i restored some clocked graphic card settings (ati x800x aiw) which had always been 100 % stable just a small increase, and then did the bench mark again and this is now the time it gone wrong again after running for a few days ok.

the new psu is a 600 w jeantech arctic, and reading in the manual of that it says about short circuit protection doing its job untill a short is cleared, now to me it sounds something like that by the way i have to unplug it from the mobo and then it will at least post and start to boot, maybe starting totally, last time it did and then i tried the bench mark again and it froze again and back to square one :sad:

so recon it gotta be pcu, ram, or graphics card, all quite expensive to guess at :sad:

but even the graphics card is only a few ,months old, ram admitedly is only cheap stuff at the momment :-|

I know all that may not make sense but hard to remember all that has happened and when, but all since my first psu died, but could it have been a fault elsewhere that fried the psu and it still present but the new psu got more protection so shuts itself down, or did the psu going down do some damage.

PLEASE help really confussed now :sad:

Thanks

Steve

ps just about to start ripping things apart to see if it looks like anything shorting anywhere.

pps two more qick points
1 hdd light stays on constantly when it wont post
2 when removing bits yesterday, at one point forgot to remove the mains and whilst putting hands in, not sure if touched anything or not, but the fans all light and spun for like half a sec, just a flash of blue and spin, then stopped, but still wouldnt power on afterwards, and still behaving in same way, so dont think that actually did anything, just SHOWED something maybe, discharging summit, if i touched something ?

Hi.

From what you described, I would say thet the power isn't getting through. Make sure that all of the power supply chords are plugged in all the way.

You say thet you PSU has a shorting protection. I'm sceptic if it would protect your bit from frying. Might just aswell give you the problems you've described. Nevertheless, you should check the fans if they are damaged in any way, and take a look at the USB ports. Remove any usb devices you have (including mouse and keyboard) and make sure that those 4 connections are not shorted. If you're not sure, you can allways unplugg them from the motherboard.


Try removing CMOS battery to se if you'll get the POST. If it's dead, it could make a short that would turn on the PSU prottection.

You should try to turn it on with bare essentials only (PSU, mobo and CPU - no graphic, memory, drives, cards nor unnecessary fans) to see if ti will give any lifesigns. Having a beeper would give some indications of what's wrong.

p.s. be sure to ground your self before you start ripping things out.

p.p.s. you can jerk the cables with the mains plugged in, as long as you dint touch any electronic parts.

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