[Hedley1]

I went to turn on my computer today and when I pressed the power button nothing happened. At first I suspected it was maybe the power switch on the case. I unplugged the power cord from my Belkin battery backup surge protector and plugged the cord directly into a wall socket. When I pressed the power button this time I heard a spark-like sound behind the power switch and then the fans all turned on and then powered down within 10 seconds or so. I tried it again and this time the fans all came on and stayed on. Nothing else happened. When I plugged the power cord back into the surge protector, same result -- all fans power on, but nothing else happens.

I am running an AMD Athlon 2100+ that is around 3 years old. Motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-7VRXP v 2.0, also about 3 years old. PSU is an Antec Phantom 350w about 3 months old.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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Disconnect all the peripherals - printer/scanner/USB devices etc.
Leave only the monitor & keyboard connected.
Remove all the PCI cards (remember which slots they were in though)
Clear the BIOS using the motherboard jumper - place the jumper over pins 2-3 for about 10 secs then replace it back on pins 1-2
Try & boot again.

If you still don't have any luck, disconnect all drive cabling at the motherboard & remove PSU connectors from drives. (incl floppy, CD & hard drives).

The only components left connected should be the CPU + hsf, RAM, PSU, Video & the front panel connectors (power switch etc from case to motherboard & internal speaker).
There should be no drive cabling left connected to the motherboard.

Try & boot up again.


Can you tell me, when you said the fans power on but nothing else, does the system beep at all & do the keyboard lights flash up quickly just after powering on?

[Samm]

Disconnect all the peripherals - printer/scanner/USB devices etc.
Leave only the monitor & keyboard connected.
Remove all the PCI cards (remember which slots they were in though)
Clear the BIOS using the motherboard jumper - place the jumper over pins 2-3 for about 10 secs then replace it back on pins 1-2
Try & boot again.

If you still don't have any luck, disconnect all drive cabling at the motherboard & remove PSU connectors from drives. (incl floppy, CD & hard drives).

The only components left connected should be the CPU + hsf, RAM, PSU, Video & the front panel connectors (power switch etc from case to motherboard & internal speaker).
There should be no drive cabling left connected to the motherboard.

Try & boot up again.


Can you tell me, when you said the fans power on but nothing else, does the system beep at all & do the keyboard lights flash up quickly just after powering on?

[Hedley1]

I tried everything you suggested and nothing worked. All fans come on, but nothing else. There are no system beeps and my keyboard doesn't have lights.

I would appreciate any other suggestions you may have.

Thanks.

[Samm]

Sounds like the PSU may be the issue but the fans are coming on, so it's still working in some capacity. If you do have a spare PSU you could test the system with, then do so.

Can you tell me, are all the fans connected via the motherboard or straight to the PSU or a combination of the two?

Also, make sure the system speaker is connected, then remove all the RAM modules from the motherboard. Try to boot up again - the speaker should beep several times.
If not, then remove the AGP card as well & try to boot. Again you should hear beeps.

Let me know what happens

[Hedley1]

The fans are all connected via the motherboard. I tried rebooting without the RAM and without the AGP card and both times, no beeps.

[Samm]

[bleep] thats not a good sign!

Ok, the next step is complicated & you must follow what I say very carefully.
Basically, you want to remove the mobo from the case (this will eliminate any possibility that something's shorting it out + allow you to inspect the mobo)

1. Wear a static strap

2. Remove all the pci/agp cards etc. Unplug from the mobo, all cabling from case, fans (except CPU fan) & drives. Disconnect the PSU entirely from the system.
Leave the CPU+hsf & RAM in place and remove the mobo from the case.

3. Place the motherboard on a non-conductive surface. I find a pile of paper,newspaper or card works well. Make sure that the whole of the underside of the mobo is covered by it.

4. Inspect the mobo for any signs of damaged components. Look at the capacitors etc for signs of discolouration or charring. Make sure none of the tracks are broken (check front & back of board). Make sure theres no faint burning smells coming from anywhere on the board.

5. Connect up the video card, PSU, keyboard & monitor to the mobo. You may have to remove the PSU from the case to get it to reach.
If you can, remopve the system speaker from the case & attach it to the board. (Obviously it helps if you make a note of all the front panel connections before unplugging them in step 2!

6. Clear the bios again

7. With the PSU connected to mains & switched on at the back, locate the 2 pins that the soft power switch (front of case) normally connect to on the mobo. Using a flat bladed screwdriver, briefy bridge these 2 pins together. This should power the system on (ie CPU fan should spin) & hopefully you will get a display up on the monitor.

Let me know what happens.