[Samm]

Joey M
Now I know you have a Dell optiplex, I've looked up the service manual. I see what you mean about not being able to trace the wires etc back - it's a bl**dy nightmare. All you can do for now is check the connections at each point (eg where the power button lines up with the small round push button switch on the PCB, the cable connection from PCB to board and so on). Also check the ribbon cable for any chinks or damage. Make sure that none of the components on these boards are loose etc. Please make sure though that (1) you have the power lead disconnected from the psu first, and (2) do not overhandle any of the boards or components & wear an antistatic strap.

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A friends 5wv280 has same problem, no video on boot.
I changed vid cards (PCI/AGP) , power supply, memory, plugged-unplugged
everything. Nothing worked MB must be TOAST.

[THL3]

A friends 5wv280 has same problem, no video on boot.
I changed vid cards (PCI/AGP) , power supply, memory, plugged-unplugged
everything. Nothing worked MB must be TOAST.

[Goldberg]

Firstly I would like to say Hello.

I have been searching online for a problem I cam accross last night.

My scenario is as follows:

Families PC was broken, problem with Motherboard. Last week I bought a new PC Chips P3 motherboard/chip/Graphics card combo(Has a built in CPU) and 256 DDR ram from www.ebuyer.co.uk. I installed the motherboard, ram etc... and hooked up the existing HD and DVD drive.

For the past week I have been installing windows, Zonealarm, Avast anit virus etc... just to make it secure as the family have a habbit of downloading every nasty virus known to man!

So it's been running fine in a tower I have had for about 5 years. Last night I decided to put in the PCI Graphics card that they originally had to free up the 64mb Shared Memory. I went to power up the PC and..... Nothing!

I turned the machine off, cleared the Cmos etc..... and again nothing. So I removed the card and nothing again? At this point I was very angry!

I tested the Power Cord on a monitor and worked fine? I put the power cord back in and could hear the crackle you get when you first put it in so I knew it was OK and that the PSU is working to some extent. I wiggled the power cord slightly and the PS fan and Mother board fan came on automatically without me pressing the power switch! I also noticed that the first IDE drive (DVD Rom) light came on but stayed on?

There was no beeps, no whirring of drives no nothing other than fans spinning and DVD light constantely on?

I tried the PSU on another motherboard and got exaclty the same result? Does this mean I have a knackered PSU or do you think by coincidence I have 2 broken Motherboards (1 new which worked fine, 1 a couple of years old which also worked fine last weekend?)?

I can only think that it is a very low voltage PSU and by plugging in the PCI graphics card it has strained and somehow blew it'self slightly?

I have tried unplugging everything etc etc.... so any other ideas before I rplace the PSU would be appreciated.

[Samm]

Hi Goldberg, welcome to G2G

I think we can help you with your problem but before we do, I'm going to ask that you start a new thread. Do that and paste all the info you've already posted into it. We get very confused when there are 2 different peoples problems running simultaneously in the same thread!

Cheers

[Goldberg]

Hi,

I have managed to fix the problem, it was the PSU.

It was a 5 year old PSU so was probably on it's way, however I know what happened. I plugged the power cord into the PSU whilst the power cord was plugged into the main socket. I have since been advised that you should never do this! I managed to blow a track inside of the PSU. So I had to bite the bullet and buy a new PSU and now everything works fine Thankfully I have done no damage to anything else.

I would like to advise people to use common sense and ensure that the power cord is not plugged into the mains when you connect to the PSU. The Technician I spoke to said this happens frequently!

[earz]

sorry to ressurect this thread but i'm having the same problems w/ my spare pc (Compaq) . All the same syptoms as earlier posters with some additional info.

Symptoms:
Plug power cord into good outlet - green power light and HDD light come on next to power switch.
The psu fan comes on. Can NOT hear drives spinning, beeps and there is NO Compaq logo on known working monitor. Sometimes if PC is left plugged in for a while (time varies), "Compaq" will appear on the screen and it will boot normally. Everything will work fine for a while (once again - time varies). I was in the middle of a download the other night and then it just shut off and rebooted by itself. Normally one would suspect overheating but my fan works and I've got my case off so it should have plenty of ventilation.

After it reboots everything works fine for a while then it shuts off and reboots. If you shut down and turn the PC off, sometimes it will work when you hit the power switch, but most times just the two lights next to the power switch come on and the cycle continues.

Any clues as to what I should check into? Any help would be greatly appreciated.