I am very pissed off. After spending over 450 dollars on upgrading/repairing my computer, and finally got everything working, it just powered down out of nowhere. The last time I checked, the CPU temp was 107 degrees F, the motherboard was 84 degrees F.
Now, when I press the power button, the fans go on and the lights go on for about half a second, then everything powers down. I’ve tried it over and over, waited about 40 minutes, and tried it again, same results.
Every component was functioning correctly for about 10 hours over 2 days. The power supply is brand new and of a very well known make.
Does anybody have any ideas what could be causing this? Suggestions for me to try?
Bad RAM, bad video card or Something is fried.
Do you smell smoke in the case?
the main things for a PC to start up are RAM and video. If either of them have problems the computer won’t start.
Another guess is that you PSU burned out, so try smelling for smoke around it. Some PSUs enter a protective “lockup” state after high energy peaks to protect themselves and the PC from burning. Try checking its manulal if it has one. Also check if your psu comes with an on/off switch.
Have you tried resetting the BIOS on your motherboard? Most motherboards that I’ve seen can reset the BIOS by moving a jumper on the motherboard. (This is more likely to work if you had been overclocking, or had changed some settings in the BIOS.) Anyway, hope you get it all figured out.
If the above advice doesn’t solve the problem, do what I do: whenever I have probs with my comp, I go to this site. If you can’t find the answer with a search of the forum, sign up and ask your question.
I don’t think I described the situation well enough. The stuff goes on for a VERY small amount of time. Too small for the computer to do anything, really. The fans just barely start up, and the lights are pretty much just a blink. It is also interesting to note that the light on the ethernet card comes on too.
afecelis: I was using my motherboard’s integrated graphics, although I don’t know if this is the problem. Also I’m fairly certain that the RAM is correct. Nothing burning. My last power supply caught on fire so I know what smoke looks/smells like in my computer. Thanks for the advice though!
I removed everything that was hooked up to the power supply/motherboard, still the exact same results. I think I’ve narrowed the problem down to my motherboard/ps. Thanks for your help!
DwarvenFury: I’ve never overclocked this cpu. I had reset the bios to default before the computer died. My motherboard manual doesn’t say how to reset the bios (the manual kinda sucks).
Eku: Thanks for the link. I’ll check it out.
Like I said above, I think it’s either the power supply/motherboard. There just doesn’t seem to be enough time for it to do anything at all.
When I unplugged everything but the motherboard the CPU fan still went on.
I’ll check the power supply with a volt meter tommorow. The power supply and motherboard are new…
Wow OMG this exact thing happened to me. Two times. I think I found out it was from a bad power strip. But if there is a spike out can you reset everything I don’t have a manual.
I am sure that you’ve checked this, but most power supplies come with a mains voltage selector switch. Is this set correctly? (115/220 etc.) (Especially since you said it was working) Idenheart’s idea is also a possibility, make sure your strip is funtioning.
It does sound like your power supply is going into current fold back.
I would turn it off, unplug it from your system, power it up, then check the output voltages. If the voltages are steady and correct in this condition (be advised that voltages may be a tad higher than rated as the p/s at this point would not be under load), power it down, re connect the mobo and try and get an amperage reading at the p/s output. If the initial surge on power up is too high (maybe exceeding the p/s ratings/mobo short?) the p/s could be shutting itself down to prevent damage to itself/system.
