Pc Will Not Start

[kbaboom]

After pushing the switch on, the fans move for a second then stops. Despite this, the power light remains on, but nothing else happens. Pushing the reset button has no effect, and unplugging the machine is the only way of turning the light off.

Unplugging it from the UPS and plugging it directly to the wall socket won't work either.

Could this be a power supply problem? Or, is the CPU failing?

Any advice welcome.

Cheers!

[Para]

A PSU will kick out a 12v and a 5v feed. The 12v drives the fan and hdd's while the 5v supplies the system board.

If the 12v line had gone your system would of given you a Power On Self Test (POST) beep code error. This enable the support guy to get an idea what internal hardware has failed in a system that will not boot.

You can try disconnecting all drives then booting just in case someting is pulling your system down.

I think you will find your system board is at fault.

[kbaboom]

If the 12v line had gone your system would of given you a Power On Self Test (POST) beep code error. This enable the support guy to get an idea what internal hardware has failed in a system that will not boot.

You can try disconnecting all drives then booting just in case someting is pulling your system down.

I think you will find your system board is at fault.

There aren't any beeps. The light just stays on, nothing else happens. Even the monitor remains on stand-by.

If this AsRock main board is faulty, are there any recommendations as to which brand is more reliable? I used to have an ASUS and never had any probs.

Thanks, Para.

[Tywais]

There aren't any beeps. The light just stays on, nothing else happens. Even the monitor remains on stand-by.

If this AsRock main board is faulty, are there any recommendations as to which brand is more reliable? I used to have an ASUS and never had any probs.

Thanks, Para.

Disconnect the hard drives and remove the memory and any PCI cards you may have except the video card. Possibly one is loading the supply down. The CPU fan should run if one of these items are at fault. The power supply could still be at fault. If you can borrow one and just plug it into the power sockets and see if it works. AsRock is ASUS just their entry level boards. All I buy are ASUS for the university and myself and I buy a lot of them due to their reliablity.

[Guest endure]

There aren't any beeps. The light just stays on, nothing else happens. Even the monitor remains on stand-by.

If this AsRock main board is faulty, are there any recommendations as to which brand is more reliable? I used to have an ASUS and never had any probs.

Thanks, Para.

Disconnect the hard drives and remove the memory and any PCI cards you may have except the video card. Possibly one is loading the supply down. The CPU fan should run if one of these items are at fault. The power supply could still be at fault. If you can borrow one and just plug it into the power sockets and see if it works. AsRock is ASUS just their entry level boards. All I buy are ASUS for the university and myself and I buy a lot of them due to their reliablity.

Are you sure that it will boot with no memory? I thought it needed at least 64k of workspace for a machine to boot at all.

[Tywais]

Are you sure that it will boot with no memory? I thought it needed at least 64k of workspace for a machine to boot at all.

No it won't boot, but his problem is no effective power to the system. Should be able to see if the fans run since he is not getting anywhere near the boot stage yet. His problem is low level at the moment and need to isolate that. Also the board should have a green LED on it that is on all the time even with the computer turned off but plugged in. Let us know the state of that LED.

[Guest endure]

Are you sure that it will boot with no memory? I thought it needed at least 64k of workspace for a machine to boot at all.

No it won't boot, but his problem is no effective power to the system. Should be able to see if the fans run since he is not getting anywhere near the boot stage yet. His problem is low level at the moment and need to isolate that. Also the board should have a green LED on it that is on all the time even with the computer turned off but plugged in. Let us know the state of that LED.

Not meaning to be argumentative but why not remove the video card as well then? You won't get any video until the machine starts its hardware boot and the video card is as likely to be dragging the m/c down as anything else.

[Tywais]

Not meaning to be argumentative but why not remove the video card as well then? You won't get any video until the machine starts its hardware boot and the video card is as likely to be dragging the m/c down as anything else.

No arguments from me. You are right and I started to put that in my original post but for some reason left it out. The video card is a prime candidate for this type of problem. I've had this identical problem in the past and reseating everything cleared it up, including connectors.

Edited May 7, 2006 by tywais

[Guest endure]

Not meaning to be argumentative but why not remove the video card as well then? You won't get any video until the machine starts its hardware boot and the video card is as likely to be dragging the m/c down as anything else.

No arguments from me. You are right and I started to put that in my original post but for some reason left it out. The video card is a prime candidate for this type of problem. I've had this identical problem in the past and reseating everything cleared it up, including connectors.

No problem. Got any jobs going for techies shortly to move to CM?

[kbaboom]

Took everything out and put them all back in. And just as I was threatening it with a whack, it booted up. Strangely enough, it detected new hardware [floppy drive A:, ethernet adapter and RAID too]. I don't have an A: drive installed and I have RAID disabled. I wonder what caused this.

Rebooted and diabled drive A: and RAID in BIOS. But New Hardware Wizard keeps on detecting it.

Thanks for your replies so far. You've all been very helpful.

[Para]

When you look at your raid controller in device manager is it disabled (red cross) or shown as an unknown device with a question mark?

If you get the cross right click and enable see what that does if its the question mark right click then look in the properties.

You can also try uninstalling and reinstalling the device.

[Guest endure]

Took everything out and put them all back in. And just as I was threatening it with a whack,

It's the threat of violence. Fixes 'em every time