[Goodfortitude]

Earlier today I had a problem with my pc rebooting on its' own. It turns out that I had a very loose connection of the psu to my MB. I fixed that, however, in the process I pulled off the clear cmos jumper and didn't realize which prongs I pulled it from. Neither did I realize what it was! So, I cleared my cmos. Anyway, I've been trying to reboot into bios, but my computer seems unresponsive. I get power to everything well enough. The lights on the keyboard flash once on startup. The monitor light comes on, however the monitor remains lifeless and no bootup at all. Infact, nothing happens except the power and fans come on. If I press in my power button to hold it in for 30 to 40 seconds it does not kill the power and I have to kill the power via the switch on the PSU. Someone PLEASE help me get into my BIOS! thanks a million.

Btw, I am operating in winxp and my mb is a 755-A2 if that's needed. I read my owners manual but not too helpful.

Edited by Goodfortitude, 18 December 2007 - 04:16 AM.

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Regarding the cmos jumpers there are only two options in which you can set the jumper. The jumper will always sit with one "leg" on the central pin so the two options are: central + side pin, or, central + other-side pin. If the battery and BIOS chip are ok then there is no reason why it shouldn't boot.

Just as a matter of interest, how did you discover that the connector was very loose? did you have any problems which lead you to open the box and check? I ask this because it might be that some damage was done already to the motherboard, cpu, or another crucial part. I assume that you did all this operation with the power cable (wall to psu) disconnected. Try to disconnect and reconnect (no power). Place the connection firmly in place. Also, check that the ram modules and video card sit well in place. Quite often, when working inside the box, we move these parts unintentially, causing failure.

[The Skeptic]

Regarding the cmos jumpers there are only two options in which you can set the jumper. The jumper will always sit with one "leg" on the central pin so the two options are: central + side pin, or, central + other-side pin. If the battery and BIOS chip are ok then there is no reason why it shouldn't boot.

Just as a matter of interest, how did you discover that the connector was very loose? did you have any problems which lead you to open the box and check? I ask this because it might be that some damage was done already to the motherboard, cpu, or another crucial part. I assume that you did all this operation with the power cable (wall to psu) disconnected. Try to disconnect and reconnect (no power). Place the connection firmly in place. Also, check that the ram modules and video card sit well in place. Quite often, when working inside the box, we move these parts unintentially, causing failure.

[dsenette]

you could also try unplugging the machine from the wall....pull out the CMOS battery and hold in the power button for a minute....then put the battery back in and plug the machine back in and try to start up

[Goodfortitude]

Fantastic responses. Thank you. Dsenette, I may well be trying that option soon, though I've never done it.

Skeptic, I do understand about the jumper now and it is in it's original spot now, as if it is not, the power will not come on at all and there are only two positions for a short jumper in this case. My bios chip was fine before and it should still be, knock on wood.

How did i discover the loose connection? Well, I suspection one to begin with. The way that my pc would randomly reboot some times several times over was exactly the behavior of a loose connection. I'm nearly 100 percent positive that if i would have simply plugged the psu all the way into the MB and then put the case back on it would have been just fine. But, noooo, not me, I like to touch things with my hands, look around a bit, pull stuff apart for fun. So, I pulled the jumper off, thinking that it was as simple as an electrical switch or "pathway". And, didn't realize the there were 3 prongs until I went to put it back on. I put it back on wrong...the first time...now it's on right.

Damage done to other components? I doubt it, it's always a possibility, but I doubt it. I'm usually super careful. I may be green, but I usually take a lot of care with unplugging before any work and handling carefully.

Just to let you all know, I am using an older, but well functioning, keyboard with a ps2 connection, not a usb port.

It's something weird, not sure what though. I find that most of my pc problems are relatively simple matters to address with someone with just a little more experience with how strange computers can behave sometimes.

Just to reiterate, I get power to all the components just fine, I just get no response when hitting the keyboard keys or mouse, there's no familiar beeping indicating that windows is loading up, and it doesn't load up, and if I shut it down I have to hit the power switch behind the psu to do it all again.

I'm going to try making sure my video card and ram is in place once more, and then try removing the bios battery for a while.

Thanks again.

Edited by Goodfortitude, 18 December 2007 - 12:30 PM.

[The Skeptic]

If everything sits properly in place then I would suspect, first of all, the power supply unit. It seems that it supplies the 12 volts needed for fan and disk motors but it doesn't supply the 5 volts needed for the electronics. This is a quite a common case. If you can, "borrow" a psu from another computer and try to replace it with the existing one. If not, you may buy another one. They are quite cheap. Where I live a 500W generic psu cost less then 20 dollar.

[Ztruker]

Before working with the PSU, try removing 1/2 of the memory (usually two sticks installed), see if it boots. If not, swap the memory. Also make sure the memory is firmly seated. I've seen bad/loose memory cause all kinds of weird problems. Check all other cables and power connectors to make sure they are also all firmly seated.

[Goodfortitude]

Interesting, you should say that skeptic. I was somewhat harped on for buying a cheap psu about 3 months ago. However, I looked my eyeballs out for a reliable name brand and a trustworthy build. I ended up with a Mad Dog, which i personally like and trust, that is reportedly exactly the same as the descent "FlowerPower". However, i did find this rather nice power supply, which really hums well and has nice features, for only 16 dollars on EBAY.

I will be disappointed if it is the psu. I can't stand it when people mindlessly repeat what they've only heard other people say i.e. Well you know, "you get what you pay for". Have you ever heard "you get what you pay for". Well I'll tell you what I've learned through the years......."you get what you pay for".

I once had a much more experienced co-worker come up to me and actually say, "do you know what happens when you assume something?" I rolled my eyes inwardly and I thought to myself, surely this old man can't be that dumb. So, ofcourse, I said "NO". "What?" Yep you guessed it, "you make an a$$ out of u and me." I did feel like one alright, because I actually allowed him to finish that.

Anyway, I've had Nike's shoes blow out on me in less than a few months. But, I still buy McGregor's because they have a great fit and last more than a year in great condition every single time.

In this case, PSU's may be one area where I will have to simply pay the cash necessary to get the job done.

Thanks Skeptic, appreciate the help, ignore my rant.

I'm just about to put the battery back in and boot up. Let you know.

Edited by Goodfortitude, 21 December 2007 - 07:48 PM.

[Goodfortitude]

Tried that just now ztruker. Still nothing. Hey skeptic, What I don't understand is this. What are the odds that the PSU was working wonderfully, until just yesterday when I plugged it in all the way. I mean, I'm not above admitting that it may be a bad PSU, but, it worked great and all I did was finish plugging the thing in to the MB and then switch my cmos clear jumper. And now, whalah, psu...broken. Just doesn't make much sense to me. Any idea what could've happened to it?

thanks for the help skeptic.

Edited by Goodfortitude, 19 December 2007 - 07:35 PM.

[The Skeptic]

I never, ever, buy brand names because I couldn't care less and I think that in most cases it's just a ripoff. I use these generic power supplies very often and never had any failure. I won't be surprised if the same manufacturer (chinese of course) is making power suppliy units for Dell or HP, for which you would pay, as an "original" part, three times the price. By the way, if you do decide to buy one, get 500W. 350W is marginal with modern computers.

Power supply is probably the most basic and cheap of the computer components. If something goes wrong with psy it can create problems like you wouldn't believe. Always, when I suspect a hardware failure, I rtry to eplace the psu first of all. it takes less then 5 minutes. You don't even take the old box out, just disconnect the cables and leave the replacement psu hung outside.

If this won't work then you may have a much more expensive problem.

[Goodfortitude]

I have a quick question. I pulled out the psu today and tried it on this old pc. It powered it up just fine. However, this pc only requires a 100 watt psu.

If the psu I have will turn my newer pc on, just the fans and lights that I can tell, then what are the chances that it's really my MB or another component that's failed?

I have a PSU on order through Newegg right now. I just want to know that I did the right thing. Or rather what my odds are of being right or wrong. Do you think the chances are good that the problem is with the motherboard? If a MB was faulty wouldn't it behave this same way?

[The Skeptic]

If the power supply from the damaged pc boot another computer without any problems then the problem is probably with the motherboard.

Edited by The Skeptic, 22 December 2007 - 05:38 AM.

[Goodfortitude]

Hey everyone,

Skeptic, I am concerned that you may be correct. I just got my new psu and that did not fix the problem. So, it is very possible that it could be the mb. However, let's take a look at another possibility, just to humor my low-techie self if you would.

One thing I have definitely learned over the years when trying to troubleshoot problems that you cannot see, is to ask the question, "what has changed?". In other words, if something is working fine one minute and it is not fine now...then what's different than before? In this case there is really only one difference. That is the fact that I reset the cmos jumper. I reset the jumper and now the monitor won't come on and the keyboard and mouse don't do anything. Not to mention I cannot power down using the main power button in the front of the computer.

I have already tried taking the battery and jumper off for 40 hours and holding in the power button for a minute or two, then putting the battery back in and the jumper back on the original position. That didn't work either.

Now, I have learned that sometimes resetting the bios can cause certain components to go haywire, like the mouse and keyboard for example. So, can this also happen where the monitor doesn't now how to function or the vga adaptor maybe? (Before anyone suggests it, remember that i am already using ps2 keyboard and mouse.) If this is what happened, how does one go about repairing the problem? Any online instructions, before I go out and buy a brand new Mainboard also?

[Ztruker]

What is the model number of your ECS 755-A2 motherboard? Need that to find anything on the ECS website.

[Goodfortitude]

755 A2 Rev:1.0A 15-H91-011012 This appears to be the Model No. It is the
ECS 755-A2 SiS755 chipset Socket 754 MB for the AMD Athlon 64 Processor.

[Ztruker]

None of that is the model number of the board. Go to their web site and you'll see what I mean: ECS Web Site