1st post... need help Computer won't power on.

[alexanderH]

Ok I'll try and explain the paper clip theory a bit better for you. Sorry if it was confusing, it makes sense to me but I work with this stuff every day.

On the 24 pin connector you want to connect the green wire to any black wire on the same connector. So on the 24 pin connector I think there are 12 black wires. I don't know off the top of my head, but any black wire on this connector will do. Then you want to turn the power supply on using the switch on the back side of it where you plug the wire in. If done correctly and your power supply is ok what you will hear is the power supply fan, and you should feel air being blown out by the fan. if you are not sure if it is working at this point if you have any case fans I recommend plugging them into the power supply as you normally would. Another option however as a car guy I'm sure you still have a volt meter. So Check to see the continuity on the paper clip. or from the green to a black wire. It will save you having to jam a paper clip in there. If you get a good voltage reading on it, then your power supply should be good to go.

If it is not the power supply let us know and we will be able to help you out from there.

As for power supply costs, they range from cheap for crap to realtively expensive for over powered pieces. From what I understand about your machine, there is nothing too extensive on it and you should be able to get away with spending about $60-$80 for a new unit if required.

-Alexander

[alexanderH]

this mothrboard looks exactly like mine... i just did a search for asus mother boards but this one is almost exactly mine... it might be actually. Anyway if you look at the bottum of the pic there is the 24 pin connection. (my psu only supplies 20 but i just dont use the ladt 4 on the left.) anyway, the wire i was wondering about (probably means nothing) has a white and black wire wound together. if you look at the picture,on the bottom about 2 inches to the dead right of the 24 pin connector there is another white connector and this is the wire i was wondering about. this it the only wire that i sleeved that wasn't a simply molex one going to fan or lights. anyway just curious. Thanks for everyones help. As soon as i get my answers to my pervious post ill try stuff when i get home and then i will report back. Thanks again for everyones help.

From experience that connector should not prevent the computer from operating at all. However, and I must emphasize this. If that is the connector for your processor fan, and your processor fan is not plugged in, your computer will shut down very quickly after you try to boot or it may not boot at all. If you could give me the link for that motherboard I will be able to identify the plug a little bit bette and give you more acurate info though.

[bflanigin]

ok thanks i can't wait to get home tonight and figure this out.


hmmm.... more background, shortly after i got the computer the large 120mm fan wouldn't turn on the computer would overheat and shut off. It had a power wire going to the fan and a connector going to mobo. When i got a new fan, (the one that is supposed to move a ton of air with red blades, 97cfm) it only had a 4 pinmolex type connector. so i didn't care it was going to be on high all the time, i have a good sound system ill be alright. Now that connector that was going from the mobo to the fan is not being used at all but this is not the connector i was refering to. Are we on the same page? or did i misunderstand? thanks either way

(PS ever since i disconnected the big ffan and put a new one in the mobo doesn't read it and it give me a CPU fan error message when the bios starts up and i just hit continue because i check all fans everytime i start up. ill probably ask someone after i get this resolved how to change the bios to ignore that fan connection. )

EDIT to add i see you wrote processor fan is that the smalll fan mounted on the heatsink itself? if so then no its not this connection either because the fan on the heatsink work great. we can ignore this for now and ill do the power supply check and repost the result. ill try to take pictures

[alexanderH]

Well, you seem to understand everything pretty well for someone who struggles with this kind of stuff .
I am glad that your fan on the processor heatsink is working well. That is a key factor. Over heating issues could be overheating the processor/motherboard or the power supply. A cheap supply would be very likely to fail under severe heat. So this may solidify that it is infact a power supply issue.

However the CPU fan error, is going to cause you troubles. Because that means that the system thinks there is nothing to cool the cpu and as such it would likely cause a system failure. This means that the computer may not start at all, and if it does start it would most likely fail very very quickly. But we will try to confirm these things after you do a bit more diagnostic on your machine.


Take Care,
Alexander

[tofunater529]

I hate to be the pessimist here, but if you wiggled the wires while there was still power in the system and it then n longer worked, you may have caused a short and burned out anything and everything, but most likely you burned out your motherboard, however do test your ower supply just in case, because it may have been the component that started this whole mess.

Poor analogy... You don't when to refit the headers on the engine block while the car is running.

[bflanigin]

thats true and if i test the power supply and its good, again big if because i dont know yet. How do i test the mother board? or at that point do i say the power supply works so it must be the motherboard?

again ill do the power supply test this weekend and report back on sunday or monday

[alexanderH]

Well the funny thing with a motherboard or a cpu is that they are very difficult to immediately prove one is defective or broken. What you do to decide that, is isolate all the components you can that relate to the problem at hand.

You work with cars, so think of it as a car. The car starts, one minute, and you turn it off and go back out to start it and it won't.
It could be the starter, it could be a dead battery, you may not be getting gas into the engine, among other things.

While it would probably fix the problem to replace the whole engine, it would be unnecessary and in fact may not end up solving the problem anyways.

So you isolate components to see where the problem lays. This is what I am trying to do with you. If any of that made some sense, which I hope it did. Obviously it would be a little easier to be there and run through a standard diagnosis, but we do the best we can from such distances

[bflanigin]

ok well bad news.....

i grabbed a paper clip and un bent it. i unplugged the PSU and vaerified that the switch was in te off position. (i told my girlfrind i would live because she just erad an article in a paper about a kid who fried himself in the PSU last week....) i put one end of the paperclip into the Green connection port. Has third party check it was in Green. I then put the other end into a black port. Had third party double check. after another check i plugged in and turned on. ALL LIGHTS AND FANS CAME ON IMMEDIATLY. This to me is a clear statement of mobo failure. However i would be more than happy to explore any other posibiliies. The last thing i would like to do before i purchase a new mobo is double check there is not another mobo problem. I will take my voltmeter to each pin and erify coreect voltage, using this picture.

Anyone else have any Ideas before i bite the bullet and buy a mobo?

I will start another thread on which mobo do i have and which should i buy. (if i should upgrade)

how difficult is it to transfer my CPU from old mobo to new one? Is this best handeld by pro? if so..... who?

[Crazy Buddhist]

Anyone else have any Ideas before i bite the bullet and buy a mobo?

Yes .. read AlexanderH's post up there again ^^^ it may well not be your motherboard. It might be your CPU you have fried or even your memory.

With these things there is a need to rule out one by one each link in the chain to find the problem.

One way to do that is to keep buying new bits until it works. .... but as Alexander implied, buying a new engine isn't the cheapest way of replacing a fan belt or charging a flat battery.

At least we know your PSU is good progress

CrazyB

[bflanigin]

ok... so it could be the CPU or the motherboard.... whats the next test to find out? Whats the next step in diagnosis?