[DrJimRidgles]

Hey guys,

I got a weird problem here. My computer has always run fine. Today, I hooked up a HDD from an old CPU of mine (using the ribbon cable; not a SATA drive) to get some old files from it. It booted up, I was able to access the HDD in Windows XP - everything was fine. Some files on the old HDD were blocked from me because the old HDD has its own version of XP on a partition. I wanted to try to get these files so I attempted to boot from the old HDD. I reset the computer, pushed F8, and selected the old HDD from the list (1 old HDD; 2 sata drives). It went to the black Windows load screen and never got passed it. At this point I just wanted the computer to be back to normal. I unhooked the old HDD and tried to boot. Here' where the problems began.

I pushed Power on my computer case, only to see my various blue led lights flickering (on my power supply, fans, lights etc.). In fact, the computer would not even boot-up at all, not even to the CMOS!! My monitor light was just flashing like nothing was even hooked up to it. The computer didn't sound the same either; kinda like it wasn't getting enough power.

I don't know what to do. Everything was fine before, not its all gone just because I had another HDD hooked up. Could the power supply just be overheated? It had 3 HDD, 1 DVD, 1 floppy, mobo, gpu running off it. Thing is, I have a OCZ Gaming Power Supply 600W, with all the necessary cables to run those devices! Why would it have the cables if it couldn't handle it?

If someone could please help me, I would greatly appreciate it.


UPDATE: It's getting worse. After about an hour of leaving it off, I tried it again. This time the processor fan wasn't spinning, neither was the PS fan. After about 10 secs they started spinning, but not at full speed. Still no boot up. Still flickering lights.


Update 2: I unplugged power to both my regular HDDs, the DVD drive, and the GPU and fired it up. It started beeping like crazy! I'm not sure what means or it it's normal, but it was quite startling!

Edited by DrJimRidgles, 18 April 2009 - 03:26 AM.

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We will need some more information

If this is a name brand system:
Make
Model
Operating System
Age of the computer
Memory Total
Hard Drive Size, How much free space
Also include your PSU wattage


If this is custom then We will need the following:

The CPU brand and model
The Motherboard brand and model
Ram amount and speed
Cd\Dvd rom interface IDE/ SATA
Hard Drive size and free space
Any cards in PCI slots
Any software installed\updated and driver updates done just before problem started

All this will help in determining a course of action to best correct the problem you are experiencing.


Sounds like your PSU or your MB is failing.

"UPDATE: It's getting worse. After about an hour of leaving it off, I tried it again. This time the processor fan wasn't spinning, neither was the PS fan. After about 10 secs they started spinning, but not at full speed. Still no boot up. Still flickering lights"

This is MB symptons of failing

"Update 2: I unplugged power to both my regular HDDs, the DVD drive, and the GPU and fired it up. It started beeping like crazy! I'm not sure what means or it it's normal, but it was quite startling!"

This sounds like mb or memory or psu

Lets try to isolate the mb and see if it is the problem


please remove the motherboard from the computer along with the power supply

place the motherboard on a piece of card board larger than the motherboard,

this will eliminate a short from the mobo to the case witch could be a possibility

Install the cpu with, 1 stick ram in dimm 1, power supply, video card, case switch and case speaker
Connect ps2 mouse and keyboard along with the monitor
Repeat the above and power on

If the computer now boots into bios you most likely had a case short so make sure when installing the motherboard in the case that you use standoffs and they line up with the mounting holes in the motherboard and none of the standoffs touch anything else on the underside of the board.


Thanks to Cbarnard for these instructions

Edited by rshaffer61, 18 April 2009 - 09:38 AM.

[rshaffer61]

We will need some more information

If this is a name brand system:
Make
Model
Operating System
Age of the computer
Memory Total
Hard Drive Size, How much free space
Also include your PSU wattage


If this is custom then We will need the following:

The CPU brand and model
The Motherboard brand and model
Ram amount and speed
Cd\Dvd rom interface IDE/ SATA
Hard Drive size and free space
Any cards in PCI slots
Any software installed\updated and driver updates done just before problem started

All this will help in determining a course of action to best correct the problem you are experiencing.


Sounds like your PSU or your MB is failing.

"UPDATE: It's getting worse. After about an hour of leaving it off, I tried it again. This time the processor fan wasn't spinning, neither was the PS fan. After about 10 secs they started spinning, but not at full speed. Still no boot up. Still flickering lights"

This is MB symptons of failing

"Update 2: I unplugged power to both my regular HDDs, the DVD drive, and the GPU and fired it up. It started beeping like crazy! I'm not sure what means or it it's normal, but it was quite startling!"

This sounds like mb or memory or psu

Lets try to isolate the mb and see if it is the problem


please remove the motherboard from the computer along with the power supply

place the motherboard on a piece of card board larger than the motherboard,

this will eliminate a short from the mobo to the case witch could be a possibility

Install the cpu with, 1 stick ram in dimm 1, power supply, video card, case switch and case speaker
Connect ps2 mouse and keyboard along with the monitor
Repeat the above and power on

If the computer now boots into bios you most likely had a case short so make sure when installing the motherboard in the case that you use standoffs and they line up with the mounting holes in the motherboard and none of the standoffs touch anything else on the underside of the board.


Thanks to Cbarnard for these instructions

Edited by rshaffer61, 18 April 2009 - 09:38 AM.

[Karnac]

I would swap in a known good power supply, the addition of the second hard drive appears to have had an adverse effect on the systems power resources....flickering etc.......it doesn't take much for the DC voltage to be affected causing these symptoms.......then I'd check the MB.