My Computer Starts.... briefly

[johnthegamer]

Basically i turn on my custom computer i am trying to build and it sends no signal to the monitor and shuts off after about 10 seconds. I have a PA1 MVP 2 motherboard by Elitegroups. intel chip, nvidia video card, kingston ram stick of 1 gig thereabouts, a sata and a non sata hard drive hooked up to it, dvd/cd and cd drives hooked in... floppy... everything fits together so i assume it's compatible... don't know what isn't working. i'll provide whatever information i can this problem really disheartening

[DaveW]

What type of power switch are you using?

-Dave

[blue73]

PSU could be duff. Though if it's on for "about 10 secs" then maybe the CPU fan is goosed causing it to power down. Sounds painful mind You.

[monoflap]

What kind of beeps is it making? Also, just because parts "fit together" doesn't necessarily mean they will work together. It sounds a lot like an over heating issue to me. Is it consistantly 10 seconds or can you get further if you wait a while and let it cool off?

[FyR]

Unfortunatlly it really could be any part of your system at fault, however there are probabilitys of which one is most likely to be causing your problem, the least probable at the top going down to most:

CD/DVD Drives (Disconnect them, see if anything changes - unlikely but worth a go)

Hard Drives (Can you hear them spin up? If not, try disconnecting them and rebooting)

Motherboard Take out the motherboard and look for anything suspicious (scorch marks, missing components, i work with PCB's, some manufacturers instal "drop of resitors" that are soldered using low temp solder so if the get oo hot they fall off and open the circuit causing a shutdown - uncommon on PC's but worth a look. Can you do a temporary swap with a friend or use a compatable spare laying around?)

PSU and Wiring If your using a generic PSU make sure its rated at least 100W more than you need, most non brand manufatcurers state 350watts or whatever when in fact its no where near that. Try and borrow a known working PSU and changing it. Check your wiring, use a multimeter if you can, shorts are an easy mistake to make, when testing jiggle certain parts of the wiring loom to make sure you dont have an intermitant short, especially on custom jobs.

Video Card And CPU Check your fans are spinning (easy to miss on a vid card as there usually upside down!) Check your video card power is wired correctly and the connector is pushed home fully, check you video card is firmly seated correctly in the slot, remove the vid card and look in the slot for any debris (shards of wire ect). Remove the CPU and check for any damaged pins or charded marks, make sure the HSF is seated corrctly with not too much/little thermal paste.

Memory Most likely cause of my greyness! Memory is weird, some types work, others dont even if they are the same speed ect. Try and swap over a known working memory module and swap over. Make sure you memory is seated properly aswell, if you have fitted heat spreaders, remove them, sometimes, particuly poorly designed ones short out the legs on the memory chips. Go to crucial.com and buy a cheap stick guaranteed for your board and try it.

Im enclined to think its either your video card or your memory, but check through that little lot, keep you busy for a while eh ;)

Another thing to try, disconnect everything non essential for a POST, hdd's, cd-roms, floppys, ect, just leave your mobo, psu, gfx card and memory in - see if anythin changes.

Oh just a quick question, is all your stuff new or second hand? And when you switch on does your PC POST?

Hope my ramblings have helped!

Good luck - Paul

[blue73]

Absolutley spot on. Start from the bottom and work Yer way up. It's long and more than likley painful but it's worth it. Take Yer time, beg borrow or steal to get the results You need. Alright dont steal but You get what's been said. And all the best. Let us know how it goes.:D

[Omega]

What kind of beeps is it making? Also, just because parts "fit together" doesn't necessarily mean they will work together. It sounds a lot like an over heating issue to me. Is it consistantly 10 seconds or can you get further if you wait a while and let it cool off?


Crap man -- It'll take a few minutes for a computer to start overheatin'.

My slot A athlon did that, I booted it up fanless without knowing and it crashed, Then I noticed it was real quiet...

Touched the HSF and almost burned my finger.

Good thing It's expendable.

[johnthegamer]

can hear harddrives only one stick of ram in there 1gig abouts.... the monitor doesn't come on so could be the card.... maybe debris i'll check .... the cd drives worked with the last motherboard so i don't think it would be them.... the on button is connect to the motherboard through individual wires not one big hook in because it's a custom computer case from diablotek... the powersource is 600w i think that would be sufficient....Howabout this: the motherboard's monitor hookup is inverted from the video cards. as in the motherboard monitor port has pins not pin holes.... video card has pin holes only, which is where i stuck my monitor. could that shut off the computer entirely if it was a type of monitor and graphics card that wasn't supported by the motherboard?

[blue73]

can hear harddrives only one stick of ram in there 1gig abouts.... the monitor doesn't come on so could be the card.... maybe debris i'll check .... the cd drives worked with the last motherboard so i don't think it would be them.... the on button is connect to the motherboard through individual wires not one big hook in because it's a custom computer case from diablotek... the powersource is 600w i think that would be sufficient....Howabout this: the motherboard's monitor hookup is inverted from the video cards. as in the motherboard monitor port has pins not pin holes.... video card has pin holes only, which is where i stuck my monitor. could that shut off the computer entirely if it was a type of monitor and graphics card that wasn't supported by the motherboard?

Do us a favour and post some photos of Your mobo and the lead You're using. Cos somthing doesnt seem right. The mobo and the graphics card should have the same female connector and the video lead You're using whether its VGA or DVI should have the male connector.

[monoflap]

Crap man -- It'll take a few minutes for a computer to start overheatin'.

The reason I mentioned it was because my friend was building a P4 rig and he didn't have the heatsink on all the way. The comp would run for like 30 sec. and then shutoff.

[johnthegamer]

sorry what's a mobo exactly and has anyone ever heard of a small soft pack instead of thermal grease on top of the chip... came with the motherboard was only thing that looked like the right thing. heat sink ? another term an unfamiliar with... don't know the lingo just what fits where
ty all for help keep it coming plz

[blue73]

sorry what's a mobo exactly and has anyone ever heard of a small soft pack instead of thermal grease on top of the chip... came with the motherboard was only thing that looked like the right thing. heat sink ? another term an unfamiliar with... don't know the lingo just what fits where
ty all for help keep it coming plz

Right, mobo is just short for motherboard, sorry about that. And that small pack I'm guessing is a thermal pad instead of the paste or compound. Try removing the pad, clean all the surfaces with some good iso-propyl alcohol and apply thermal paste instead of the pad. Don't apply the paste without a rubber glove, like a surgeons glove. Nothing kinky just the oils in Yer skin could react with the paste. This is maybe why Your PC is shutting off, just bad contact between the HSF ( heat sink fan ) and the lid of the CPU. Maybe.

[FyR]

HSF= Heatsink and Fan. The heatsink is what sits on top of the processor to disipate heat.

P

[blue73]

sorry what's a mobo exactly and has anyone ever heard of a small soft pack instead of thermal grease on top of the chip... came with the motherboard was only thing that looked like the right thing. heat sink ? another term an unfamiliar with... don't know the lingo just what fits where
ty all for help keep it coming plz

Just one thing don't be affraid to ask questions no matter daft they might sound. Everyone in this forum is here to help...:D

[monoflap]

If the heasink is on properly, that pad should have melted. If it didn't your cpu was overheating and the heatsink wasn't on all the way.