[BGA]

Last night my computer froze. I rebooted and just as the desktop was loading the PC shut down. It then would not start. I press the power button and nothing happens. If I hold the power button in, sometimes it will begin to start - the case fan, the processor fan, and the GPU fan will start up - but then it shuts off within about 10 seconds. Nothing appears on the screen.

It seems like the power supply is dead but I'm not sure about that.

What does this sound like to you? Could it be the motherboard? Something else?

The PC is 5 years old.

Thanks for your ideas.


BGA




In case it helps:

AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Chaintech VNF3-250 mobo
Antec True Power 380S power supply
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256mb

[Carbon]

Short the power header with a screwdriver and see if it turns on to rule out that being the culprit.

I've heard this happen with dead PSUs but you might as well rule out the easy stuff.

[BGA]

Originally Posted by Carbon

Short the power header with a screwdriver and see if it turns on to rule out that being the culprit.

I've heard this happen with dead PSUs but you might as well rule out the easy stuff.

What is the power header?

[Carbon]

Place where the power lead from the case goes (it's two pins connected to what's likely a flat cable coming from wherever the power button is on the case). Put a screwdriver between the two pins the lead is connected to and see if it starts. If it does on the first try, the lead is broken: if not, the PSU is likely to blame.

[faithlessno1]

Hi, just joined and hope I can help.
I had this prob with my first comp about 7 years ago and it turned out to be the psu.
Had to get a new comp, lucky for me it was under warranty.

[Hybr!d]

Originally Posted by faithlessno1

Hi, just joined and hope I can help.
I had this prob with my first comp about 7 years ago and it turned out to be the psu.
Had to get a new comp, lucky for me it was under warranty.

Welcome!

[BGA]

Well I bought a new PSU and I got the same results. So it isn't the PSU.

What else could it be?

[Carbon]

Like I said, you should try shorting that header to see if it's just the cable.

[Bubba]

LOL Carbon, you may have said that in a way a trained (or maybe even semi trained) tech would understand, but I didn't and obviously BGA didn't.

After reading your posts and thrre times, let me see if maybe I DO understand. Take a screwdriver and place it on the two pins (on the motherboard) where the power button lead from the case plugs in to the motherboard? Ok, I if I have that right, then what the power button does is create open a circuit between the two pins? If those last two sentences are right then let me ask a question: How does the power button (and cable) get the power to create the circuit to turn the power on? The MoBo onboard battery?

[BGA]

Originally Posted by Carbon

Like I said, you should try shorting that header to see if it's just the cable.

I think I understand. Would the power header say "Power SW" on it? A really tiny black connector that would connect to the bottom of the mobo along with "Reset SW," "HDD L.E.D.," and "Speaker?"

This one has two pins. The only other cables that lead from the front of the case back in to the PC are those common 4-prong connections that you use to plug in the DVD, the GPU, the case fan, etc.