Back at college... and my computer is DEAD

C

Chim

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 2, 2001
Messages
322
It was working fine whenever I unplugged it and left my house, but when i came to set it up at school this is what happened.

Basically, whenever i press the power button, the lights inside my case and the fans spool up for half a second and then become dead to the world. It does not post or do anything at all. If I unplug the power cord and re plug it back in and press the power on button, it repeats the same thing.

I started doing some sleuth work, and removed my motherboard and repositioned it thinking it was a ground problem. This did nothing.

Then I was fidgeting around with the main power cable that attaches to the motherboard, and found that if I tilt it at a weird angle my computer becomes powered and the cpu fans start spinning, lights are on etc. Computer still does not boot. Somehow, as I was constantly turning it on and off, it randomly started booting up. I got as far as the loading screen to see "error loading os". Then I went into bios where i lost control of my keyboard. I turned the computer off and have not been able to get it back up since.

I tried removing the cmos battery, etc. Any ideas whats up? Is my motherboard a goner? It's a DFI Ultra Infinity II, and a TTGI 350watt PSU
 
Error loading OS is normally one of two things (at least in my experience). Either your hard drive went poof, or your motherboard (or hard drive controller on it) went poof. I just actually had both happen to me simultaniously on Friday. I imagine it could happen if your PSU went unstable or something, but I suspect the other two first.

 
Well, if your board is dead, I have a DFI Lanparty Ultra B here I'm not using ;)...PM me if interested.
 
Either your hard drive went poof...
Click to expand...
Even with a bad hard drive, the system would post. It's not, so its not the hard drive.

He just moved the system, so we should assume a problem due to shock or vibration. Take out all expansion cards, then reseat the video card...any other expansion cards, leave out for now. Check all cables and power connections for fit. Then see if it will post. If not, take out and reseat the CPU. If it still won't post, then you should probably assume a stress fracture on the mobo. Do you have a heavy aftermarket heatsink installed?
 
Something very similar to that happened to me. I was browsing the web, and then all of a sudden the PC powered off. When I hit the power button, the fans turned on and then everything powered off again. I replaced the motherboard and everything worked fine again. My problem was the mobo, I bet it's the same for you.
 
I just got an ASROCK 939 Dual motherboard and am experiencing the same thing. I did install a new backplate for a different heatsink but had no problems doing it and can't imagine that effected anything. Fans and everything power on for a second then turn off. All other components have worked fine before. I'm going to try taking everything out and putting the motherboard back on the foam it came with and power up from there. Could be grounded against my case, haven't tested it yet. Might put stock heatsink on to make sure there's optimal contact with CPU. If these don't work I'm going to have to RMA it.
 
I had that happen on my Epox, where it turned on for a second and then off. It turned out to be a flaky ATX connector to the mobo. A bit of wiggling fixed it....
 
Your Ultra Infinity (love mine) is fine.

Your problem is your powersupply. Something in your PC is shorting out, maybe be as simple as a loose or faulty molex. But the PSU is detecting a short-circuit and then it's dumping all the power to ground after that one second when your fans spin to save the motherboard.

Now you said the ATX power connector was working at odd angles, I would assume that is where the fault may lie. Try a different powersource. Spinning fans and then off is 100% indicative of a power supply cutting out.

Just hope that fidging with that ATX power connector didn't corrupt your OS or something. Or perhaps that's indicative that the short is connected to the harddrive power.
 
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