[killingalchemy]

okay.. I built my brand new computer. and I loaded up windows xp and then got the motherboard drivers and video card drivers loaded.. then I sat and played a game on it for a little while.. all was well with it. and I was loving it. I then turned it off for a little while becuase it had been on all night and I had been having to restart a lot doing all the changes in BIOS. so I thought I'd give it a rest. (I'm weird like that)
I was about to turn it on but I decided to plug in my joystick before I turned it on.. so when I plugged the joystick into the front usb port I heard a loud POP and then the front LED flickered on and then off. and I smelled some kind of burning. so I unplugged it. and waited a little while. plugged it in, turned on.. nothing. I'm guessing Fried PSU.. but.. I'm hoping that's all that happened.. I heard that if a psu fails it can ruin all the hardware too? I'm hoping that didn't happen.. anyway I can find out before ordering a new PSU?

Edited by killingalchemy, 16 June 2005 - 10:33 AM.

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Old fashioned multimeter test the power connections if it is turned on. You can test all the different components of board, if you had an old computer the easiest way to check your components is to connect it to the old one and check it will still go the psu should be between 150-180W minimum if it isnt disconnect as much as you can.

What manufacturer was the psu from? If it was a reliable company they will send you a new one and it should be ok. Also wether your components are ok is generally down to the quality of the board and most importantly the PSU. From what ive read on this problem happening to other people they can often lose a stick of there ram for some reason and the other is ok so you might wanna check that out.

[warriorscot]

Old fashioned multimeter test the power connections if it is turned on. You can test all the different components of board, if you had an old computer the easiest way to check your components is to connect it to the old one and check it will still go the psu should be between 150-180W minimum if it isnt disconnect as much as you can.

What manufacturer was the psu from? If it was a reliable company they will send you a new one and it should be ok. Also wether your components are ok is generally down to the quality of the board and most importantly the PSU. From what ive read on this problem happening to other people they can often lose a stick of there ram for some reason and the other is ok so you might wanna check that out.

[audioboy]

open up the case and give a good look at the mobo. especially where the front USB ports plug onto the headers. look for anything that looks burned, capacitors that are bulging or leaking, etc. if you cant see anything that looks obviously screwed up, I would try disconnecting the front USB headers and seeing if you can power up.
are the plugs for the front usb on a multipin connector or individual pins? what Im worried about here is if they are individual, it can be easy to get the pins on the wrong headers, thus sending voltage to places its not supposed to go.

and its not weird to let the machine rest. I do that all the time, especially some of the cranky ones at work. they often run better after a good nights sleep (downtime).

some of the guys think that makes me strange, but what convinced them is when they see me petting and saying nice things to the systems. think what you want, but those systems run well when I do that, and they start glitching out bigtime when people yell at them.

[warriorscot]

You have to give the old pc some tlc, otherwise i would never have got this clunker through half life 2.

[Doby]

and its not weird to let the machine rest. I do that all the time, especially some of the cranky ones at work. they often run better after a good nights sleep (downtime).

Well guys I don't think its the rest that helps but I do think the reboot is what maks'em run better especially with windows 98/me, some programs just leak memory and system resourses fall so a good reboot/refresh helps alot.

As for this problem yea I agree with audioboy the front usb probably shorted for whatever reason so disconnect them and see if it'll boot if it does see if the rear usb work. I would not try to connect the front usb again

Rick

[killingalchemy]

Sorry for the late update, fellas.but it turned out to be the PSU. but I think the usb shorted it out.. amazingly nothing else was damaged.

the usb sonnectors are a small 4 pin connector and a single pin ground.. but the places for the front usb on the mobo look different (5 pins on top, 4 on bottom) so a guy told me to put my connecters on the top row... which is what resulted in the short.. but I unplugged those and am not using them. anyways.. the psu was straight dead.. I took it up to where I bought the case (stock PSU) and he tested it and said it was dead... he then put the system on a test psu and tested all the components and they were all fine.. and all my ram was fine so they took a psu out of a case and replced it free of charge. and I am right now posting on my new Computer. :-D thank you guys for all your help.

[Doby]

Your welcome, glad you got it going