[BIL123]

Hi Guys,
Here's my problem.When I turn off my computer for more than 10 min.and try to power up again I get no beep, no monitor,no mouse,and no key board.All the fans work and it sounds like it's working but won't boot into windows and no bios screen.To get it to start I have to unplug power cord from back for about 10 seconds, plug it back in, push power button and it works fine until I turn it off again.Sounds like a psu but changed it and same problem.
amd xp 1800+
2x512 ddr ram
gforce agp video card
250 bestec ps
xp home sp2
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance,

[Advertisements]

Hey,

OK, first off are all the fans on the motherboard working too? Like the CPU fan and board fan? Because it sounds like you might have a motherboard or CPU malfunction, especially if you don't hear any beep codes when you boot. Also, check to see if the backup battery on the motherboard is pushed in all the way, and if it is, try replacing that first. (Thats the small flat silver disk that is sitting in your motherboard that kinda looks like an overgrown watch battery. You can bring it into any radioshack and they should have one, plus its not expensive at all). Another thing you might want to check is how hot is your computer getting? The ten minute wait you were talking about might be because the motherboard or other componants are getting too hot and won't start because of that.

And finally, the catch-all, make sure you have all the wires and cables plugged in and that they're properly secured.

--Chris

[cheathawk1]

Hey,

OK, first off are all the fans on the motherboard working too? Like the CPU fan and board fan? Because it sounds like you might have a motherboard or CPU malfunction, especially if you don't hear any beep codes when you boot. Also, check to see if the backup battery on the motherboard is pushed in all the way, and if it is, try replacing that first. (Thats the small flat silver disk that is sitting in your motherboard that kinda looks like an overgrown watch battery. You can bring it into any radioshack and they should have one, plus its not expensive at all). Another thing you might want to check is how hot is your computer getting? The ten minute wait you were talking about might be because the motherboard or other componants are getting too hot and won't start because of that.

And finally, the catch-all, make sure you have all the wires and cables plugged in and that they're properly secured.

--Chris

[BIL123]

Hey there, thank you for prompt advice,going to check mb battery today but Aida 32
(software program) tells me the battery is at about 3.3 volts.The mb and cpu are running cool and all fans even cpu are fine.Seems like just won't go to bios yet even cd drives have power.Yet once I unplug and replug power from back the machine works perfect, (left it on all night downloading trial version of WINDOWS VISTA.)That will be another post in the os section.

[WinCrazy]

Aida32 is not telling you what the battery voltage is. Go ahead and replace the battery - it is probably a CR-2032 and costs less than $3. When the battery is replaced go into the BIOS program and set the date & time. Also set the device boot order to CD, Floppy then hard drive. Saving the settings will cause a restart. Power all the way down and then try to restart.

Edited by WinCrazy, 13 June 2006 - 02:27 PM.

[BIL123]

replaced the battery and same problem,begining to think mabey power switch. i have to investigate, this is one strange problem !When the computer makes it's mind up to start it
works fine until I turn it off and leave it off for about 30 mim.

Edited by BIL123, 13 June 2006 - 09:02 PM.

[Samm]

I'm going to butt in quickly -
The problem is not being caused by the bios battery. Nor is it being caused by the on/off switch. If the switch was the problem, you wouldn't get any power to the system at all, including fans etc.

One thing I did notice is that your power supply is underrated for the system. You really should be using something in the region of 350-400W PSU.

Is this a big brand computer (e.g HP, Dell etc) or is it custom built/generic? If it's branded, let me know what make & model it is. If it's generic/custom, use Aida to find out the motherboard Make & model number instead.

[BIL123]

Hey Samm,it's an emachine witha Fic am 37 mb but the ps is bestec.The problem isn't as bad now as if i press the power switch 4 or 5 tries it will boot up. When it dosen't boot all fans and cd drives still get power but no bios beep and the floopy dosen't get power so monitor says no video signal.I tried a 450 watt psu and it did the same crap!

[HaraldR]

Hi Bili23 You havent mentioned the motherboard brand but I suspect the motherboard may be the problem.

[WinCrazy]

The motherboard is a "Fic am 37".

I'm voting that you have a weak power supply that's confusing the motherboard at power-on.

Can you try using another power supply to see what happens ?

[BIL123]

Yes WinCrazy, tried a 450 watt and had same problem, just pulled mb and it looks fine,no swollen resistors or burn marks but who knows.I left machine on all night but turned it off for 1 hour and would not boot at all.I guess that's all she wrote for for this computer.Unless someone has more advice I'm looking at another mb.

[Samm]

OK, have you tried booting up with only the minimal hardware connected? Unplug any USB devices in particular (except USB keyboard if you don't have a PS/2 one). Basically the only external devices you should have connected are the keyboard, mouse (if PS/2), monitor.

If this doesn't help then try removing all PCI cards & the agp card (It appears your mobo has integrated graphics as well as an AGP slot, so remove the agp video card & connect the monitor to the integrated video instead).

If this still doesn't make any difference, then try disconnecting all the drive cabling (hard disk, optical & floppy) from the motherboard. Obviously you won't be able to boot past the bios screen as there will be no bootable media attached, but at least you can find out if it powers up normally like this or whether the problem still persists.

Let us know how you get on

[HaraldR]

Sorry didn't see the Fic (thought it was chat shorthand talk for something)

physical damage May Not be evident but if you check the via bridge chip, my bet is as it heats up under load
it shuts down the periferals as it is the main gateway for data traffic.

The VIA VT82335 controls all the ide and pci slots as well as usb and sound,it has only a heatsink and would be better with a fan.

You can change power supplys till the cows come home and it won't do a thing.maybe cook the board a bit more

Has similar setup to abit kt7 motherboard which gave me similar problems a couple of years back,PC ran fine for a few minutes
but then shut off for no reason the south bridge chip was getting overloaded,burnt my finger touching chip,
cooled chip down pc ran fine for longer,eventually failed proper,replaced board,The you could see burn on chip

You can add fan to heatsink on VIA VT82335 (The better boards have fan installed) and they even provided a plug for it!

Attached Thumbnails

• 

[BIL123]

THANKS AGAIN GUYS, did every thing you suggested before it was suggested, no burn marks on mb and chip was running cool to the touch.I know there's a chip that tell's bios what to do and I think that may be the problem as it would boot after pushing power button 4 or 5 times but after extended use I would have to push it more & more times.It was as if it was burning out more and more. I broke down and ordered a new mb and cpu (ecs mb and xp 2800+).I stayed with socket A so all my parts would fit but it will bug me to no end as to what the problem was.P S-The 1 thing I didn't mention was that I JUST MOVED across Canada (2500 miles ) with the computer sitting on the back floor of the car and with in 3 dayr after setting up the problem started.(and yes I checked all the connections}. Sorry for the long post but I had to tell everything about the problem.
Thanks again!

[Samm]

Might have helped if you mentioned the move! Oddly enough, the next thing I was going to suggest you tried was checking the front panel connections on the motherboard from the power switch. Whilst it was obviously connected, it did sound like the connection may be loose which tires in with the computer being bumped around etc.

If I were you, I would keep hold of the old motherboard until you are able to test it again. You may well find there's absolutely nothing wrong with it.

For future reference, if you need to transport your computer by car again, do not place it on the floor of the car or in the rear of the car unless very well cushioned.

[BIL123]

yes Samm,I am definetly going to keep it as all I need is an old case and I will be back at it.IF the new mb board works right off I will post.( AND IF IT DON'T I'LL POST ALSO ).THANKS 4 HELP