Think I've got a bad Qpack - won't power on.

After trying to get everything assembled last night into my new x-qpack it would fail to power on completely. It would get power(green stdby led on motherboard lit and fans spin) but would power off after maybe 15 seconds. So, as a veteran tech I started the arduous troubleshooting process. I disassembled/reassembled everything. Reseated CPU, ram. Reapplied thermal paste, etc. NADA - same thing. So I start swapping out components. Swapped out everything, ram, psu, vid card, all cards left off of motherboard. So finally I swapped the motherboard and cpu for another setup out of one of my other computers and the problem repeated itself. This is what got me thinking about the case itself. Now, I've heard of other people getting a bad dc switch and all but have never experienced it firsthand. So, I disassemble the front panel of the qpack and check the wiring and connection of the pwr switch header. Everything looks ok but to be sure I chucked it aside and grabbed one of my other pc cases and used the pwr sw header from its case on the motherboard. VOILA! Everything stayed powered on.

I've already sent an email to aspire asking if they can supply with documentation on correct wiring of the front panel etc or send me a new front panel. This brings me to my question for you qpack owners out there. Would any of you care to take a picture of the backside of the power button on your qpack? I know this is asking alot since no one wants to take apart their stuff. I would just like to rule out another aspect as to whether its wired incorrectly or if its just flat out defective. Thanks.

most of the time it is a short caused by the case...this has happened a few times on these forums. Normally, bending something or "taping" part of the little panel there helps. I'd have to show you a picture to kinda explain it but in all likelyhood you hae something touching the case shorting it out.

Normally I would agree but the problem was showing up when I had JUST a motherboard, cpu, ram, and psu OUTSIDE of the case on a ESD safe work mat with the pwr sw wire from the DISASSEMBLED front panel attached to the motherboard. I really tried to remove any potential for troubleshooting error on this one. Hopefully newegg can just send me a new one if aspire fails to respond to my email.

...just to make sure. you *are* using a "not the stock psu from the qpack" psu, right? cuz if ur not, u should be, so test that before RMA'ing.

but in the more probable event that you already are, i dont know what would b wrong.

Actually, it sounds like he tested a different PSU because he said he swapped one in.

I'd also swap parts into a known good system if you can. Test out as many of the components as possible to make sure each one is ok. However, given the description, I'd guess it's a bad front panel as well :-(

thats easy to fix, just make sure the switch is wired correctly, there has got to be a short somewhere, nothing a little solder couldn't fix........I own a Qpack too, and I love it.

Have you looked at the underside of the circuit board yet? Perhaps some extra soder has flowed from one pin to another, or something equally freakish.

Yeah, I gave this thing a few different rounds of thorough examination. The first PSU I had paired with it was a brand new antec true430. After that I tried my stand by enermax 350. The included psu never even had the rubber band taken off of the power strands

I didn't see anything that looked "unusual" in regards to stray solder anywhere. Ultimately at the end of the day I took all my original build components and just put temporarily inside one of my extra antec cases and the build powers on and runs just fine. The problem definitely lies within the switch.

Now, me trying to solder something is like giving a 3 year old a 5 gallon can of paint and a roller. So I guess its RMA time. At least I can have everything up and running and get to play around with winMCE in the meantime.

I've had this issue more than once, I just put a little electrical tape over any contacts that could do this, and be done with it. Also have seena qpack with a reset button stuck into place... couldnt fix it so just didnt have a reset button ;p.

yeah, try the elec. tape first...just put it over the leads and see what happens.

I had two Q-packs this week do the same thing, on both it was the on/off switch wire at the switch rubbing on the aluminum. To see if that's your problem just unclip the one face plate clip the by the switch and pull the face plate out about 1/8 of an inch. When you pull the front to repair the switch it has four screws from the back side to get the front off not just the clips.

Maybe Aspire just made a bad batch of switches...