[1001_raindrops]

Hi all, I have a problem with my brothers computer, it started with it not switching off once it had gone through the the XP close down procedure. Holding in the power button didn't make any difference it had to be switched off at the socket.

I went to the computer switched it on at the wall and all that happened was the power light came on but nothing else. No fans no hard drive nothing. I swapped the PSU and the same thing has happened there is nothing other than the power on light.

Could someone please tell me what could be wrong or am I right in thinking that the motherboard has been blown somewhere.

Thanks for any help.

1001_raindrops

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Hello,

It sounds like you keep on blowing your PSU's. This has happened with a couple of my builds before. Here are some tips on making sure this problem doesn't keep on happening:

1. Make sure your cables in your case are neatly organized. (this means using plastic cable ties)
2. Make sure you don't have metal from wires touching the sides of your case.
3. Don't ever work on carpet.

If you are doing all of the things listed above and you are still having this issue... I am going to need some more information:

1. What are your system specs? (as detailed as you can)
2. What PSU's have you attempted to install in your system?

Please let me know. Talk to you soon.

[crouchij]

Hello,

It sounds like you keep on blowing your PSU's. This has happened with a couple of my builds before. Here are some tips on making sure this problem doesn't keep on happening:

1. Make sure your cables in your case are neatly organized. (this means using plastic cable ties)
2. Make sure you don't have metal from wires touching the sides of your case.
3. Don't ever work on carpet.

If you are doing all of the things listed above and you are still having this issue... I am going to need some more information:

1. What are your system specs? (as detailed as you can)
2. What PSU's have you attempted to install in your system?

Please let me know. Talk to you soon.

[1001_raindrops]

Hi, thanks for the reply, I have found out it isn't the PSU that's causing the problem. I took out the memory and the pc started to boot up all the fans were spinning but the pc was beeping becasue no memory was in.

The really strange thin about it is that the on/off switch doesn't work. It starts to boot up as soon as the power cable is connected. It effectively never switches off unless you disconnect the power supply. I think this may have fried the memory.

Anyway, the specs for the machine are as follows:-

E machine 420
XP Home Ed
2.6 intel celeron
80Gb Hard drive Ultra DMA/100
3d AGP intel extreme (onboard)
10/100 Mbps Ethernet
266Mb DDR memory
CD-rw
DVD
230v PSU.

If you could let me know any possible causes for a computer power switch to not fuction that would be very helpful.

Thanks.

[Kemasa]

The power switch is a soft switch which is controlled by the motherboard. There are BIOS/CMOS settings which control what to do when the power is restored.

It might be that there is a short on one of the memory modules which is causing a power problem. Quite strange though.

[crouchij]

Maybe you could run Memtest86 to check to see if your memory is bad...

Let us know what the results were. Good luck!

[1001_raindrops]

I've given up on this particular problem since I don't seem to be able to do anything without the memory in. so I've given the computer to someone else who may be able to fix it. If they do I'll let you know what they did, since it may help someone else in the future if they have a similar problem.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.