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

[.Maleficus.]

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

Borrow a motherboard, CPU or RAM and try those.

This entire time you've been trying to turn the PC on with a power switch, right? Maybe the switch or wire is broken? (Sorry I read about 3 words from each post to update myself). You could try shorting the motherboard to turn the PC on (though it probably isn't the switch).

[Crazy Buddhist]

Borrow a motherboard, CPU or RAM and try those.

This entire time you've been trying to turn the PC on with a power switch, right? Maybe the switch or wire is broken? (Sorry I read about 3 words from each post to update myself). You could try shorting the motherboard to turn the PC on (though it probably isn't the switch).

Spot on with the remedy. Mind you I always test the power switch in these circumstances. Though I believe he said at one point there was a little light on the Mobo when powered but not running ... sooo ... if that light isnt there ... it can't be down to the switch.

AH Have you plugged the little four plug power plug into the motherboard? If you not you aren't powering your CPU ?????

CrazyB

[bflanigin]

.... i dont really have any friends into modding, and dont have a ton of resources laying around. is this thw only way to check it?

[alexanderH]

Sorry for the long wait in reply. I have been away for a while, and since I've been back my machines have been completely disassembled. In order to mod on a budget you have to use current parts. It gets annoying, and there are chances to break things, but we do what we must!

Anyways back to the issue at hand...
As others have pointed out, that without such handy resources as extra power supplies, processors, and motherboards, you can still trouble shoot and repair computers. It does become a bit more slow and painful but you can in the end get there. There has been some time since I have faced an issue like the one you present. And knowing that it is not the power supply makes things much easier.
However if you can get pictures of your current configuration and and and all trouble-shooting work that you do, and post them up here things may move at a quicker pace. Moving on...

We are sure that the power supply is fine. Check.
Mother board?
Cpu?
Memory?

My first thoughts are to unplug all of your power cables to your computer. Plug the ones for the motherboard and cpu fan. Nothing else, no cd drives and no hard drives. These are unnecessary for what I want to diagnose next.
With only your motherboard plugged in I want you to try and boot the machine.
There are several outcomes you may encounter so please look at them all before you give-up.
Possibilities:
1) Your computer Does Not start, as per the original issue. - While one might assume that the motherboard or something on it is indeed biffed, this is not always the case. I will explain further in a moment.
2)Your computer powers on, (atleast the motherboard and CPU along with its fan. The fan is a great visual indicator at this point). If everything so far is fine, your computer should boot to a dos prompt or take you into bios (system setup).
3)Your computer powers on, but you do not get a dos prompt, a bios screen or anything beneficial on the screen.
4)Your computer powers on, and while nothing beneficial is on the screen you can hear beeps coming from the tower. They will be loud and annoying if your speaker is plugged in correctly, so you will not need to "look" for these beeps.

Recommendations:
1)Put on some good music, relax, and have a drink. You are going to have to go into some great detail to explain what you did, or didn't do. Unless you have pictures to do it for you. This is a key part of repairing your PC from the web
2)Great news! We can power down the system and plug in your hard drives and CD drives one at a time to see if anything is wrong with them. If not, you will be replying to this post from the computer that this post is dealing with.
3)Never fear! There is hope for such a situation. If you do not hear beeps as in case 4 you may have your speaker incorrectly hooked up, or it may not be working. This sucks a bunch of ass, because frankly it is very hard to verify that it is working if the system is not responding correctly to begin with. BUT your system could be a few steps from working again. See the next part.
4)Ok, so you eagerly turn off the computer knowing that something is happening, but that annoying beeping is well, annoying. There are a series of indicative beeps programmed into a motherboard. If there is a consistent tone and tempo to the beeps, like one every second or half/second, at the same tone this would indicate a problem with your memory.
A sound recorded would be GREAT right here, for us trying to assist.
There are other tones to indicate possible problems with video, processor, processor fans, and other random gadgets.
So PLEASE PLEASE explain as best you can the result from this step.

One thing I just remembered... How long have you had the computer and do you know how long it was used before you got it?(If it was used at all). You might wonder why? Well there are clock batteries in computers. And these tiny and very easy to forget batteries may seem unimportant and frankly useless, they can cause even the greatest system to fail all of a sudden. They are very easy to find on your motherboard (middle of the board on the vertical, and off the left side about an inch in - it is the round disk). If after everything up to this post has not worked. To kill some waiting time, I might suggest plugging everything in, and replacing this battery if you have sufficient resources, or can find it at your local stores. While it's not very expensive it could very well be an unnecessary expense.

Sorry for the long, and probably repetitive response. I was never very good as a writer:p
If you have any questions, PM or reply. I will tend to them just as soon as I can.
And to everyone else, if there are errors in my posts, please let me know so I can revise and edit them. I wouldn't want to give out any bad information.

[Crazy Buddhist]

Also we still do not know exactly what motherboard you have .. there will be codes and serial numbers printed on the top or sometimes the bottom .. with those codes we can get the exact Mobo information which will help. And manufacturers often make several quite different models that look, superficially, the same, so try and get those codes off the board.

CrazyB

[bflanigin]

sorry for the long wait im becoming an RA this year and training is killer.... also not having a computer... the motherboard i have is the exact one i posted a picture of. I will try to explain everything i did. then i will go check the test above.
First i took off the side panel and began to sleeve little things like wires for lights and fan ect. Then i unplugged all of the power cables and re routed to go around the chasis where the drives are and re connected everything. Unplugged HD then gave up on sleeveing that wire (wouldn't fit over head) then i plugged it back in (possibly wrong plug?) Then i turned on the psu and hit the power switch and nothing. I fiddledicked with the 20 pin connector and the light on the mobo flashed on the off again. I fiddledicked some more the laight came on then i turned on the computer. Ran fine for a few seconds then i shut it off before windows could start using the switch in the front. placed the computer back on the floor and nothing again ever.

now im gonna try only plugging in the mobo, and the fan mounted on the hewat sink of the cpu and report results. Thanks everyone for all of your help so far.

[Dilphat]

I was gonna say that...you must have placed the reset sw and power sw around. but you said you were able to turn it on. But I'm clueless without not having it in my hands.

[alexanderH]

I'm going to say that the problem lies in your connections. I highly doubt at this point that any hardware has failed you, that is unless you "fiddledicked" around with things while the machine was on.
But failing that, I do believe you may have contact issues on your mobo/power supply. I would recommend checking wires for nicks/shorts. As you have tested the power supply for working voltage (Think back to paper clip testing) That line of voltage should supply the motherboard LED. I assume you have tried messing with that connection and had no luck. If such is the case and you need/want your computer back in a timely fashion take it to your local computer store. While it may just be a missed plug-in, the diagnostic fee will be a lot less than replacing parts. And considering you are not so familiar with computers yourself it might be your safest bet.
BUT as you said you are becoming RA, why not check around the residence and see if anyone knows computers? I must assume that there are computer students, or students who know what they are looking at.

[faintingcow]

I've had some pretty weird motherboards, you should try to get the motherboard to power on with just keyboard/mouse plugged in. I've had a motherboard before that wouldn't power on sometimes if the speakers were plugged in.

[Greco101]

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