No burns or smoke, have reseated RAM, vid card, all other non-essential connections. Reset CMOS. Power supply tested as good. When I plug in and turn on the power supply switch, fans flicker and stop. The box refuses to boot. Does this sound like a dead mobo to you guys? Would installing a new video card actually cause this? The box has been pretty solid up until yesterday. Now, I get absolutely no response from trying to power on.

Thanks to anyone that might have some suggestions

[Edited on May 31, 2009 at 10:44 AM. Reason : ]

5/31/2009 10:40:09 AM

could be a number of things. But, this was happening to me not too long ago. Turned out to be one of the p4s.

I just stopped using that particular connector and haven't had a problem since.

5/31/2009 11:33:32 AM

try it with nothing but ram and a cpu


what does it beep ( if anything at all?)

5/31/2009 12:08:50 PM

Make sure you didn't screw the mobo in too tight, could be shorting out with the case chassis

5/31/2009 12:22:37 PM

^ not sure that that is it right off.. it's been running for months and i wasn't even the one that put it in. i haven't taken it out.

^^ i tried to strip it down as much as possible but i'll definitely give it another go. i didn't get any beeps at all last night.

^^^ you're talking about the 4-pin power connector to the cpu? anyone know if those can break down without anything really special happening?

thanks guys for the posts

5/31/2009 1:08:23 PM

disconnected everything, left ram and CPU... i get no responses at all. only thing i get is the fan flicker when i switch on the PSU

5/31/2009 1:35:56 PM

i had similar happen once when a piece of metal had gotten under the motherboard and was shorting something out. luckily it didnt break anything

but yea, maybe try pulling it out of the case and trying again? after that i dunno what else to do besides start swapping ram, processor, etc

5/31/2009 1:40:27 PM

^ last week i was grounding out on my new build. Realized there was an extra riser that was pre-installed that I didn't see and it was sitting directly under the cpu slot. I removed that and all is peachy.. same symptoms as you too.

Take mobo completely out and hook power up to it and boot it

5/31/2009 1:48:37 PM

i'll give it a shot, thanks

Edit: I've got the mobo out, but still no response... nothing in it but RAM and CPU and wires 2 the power button etc.

FWIW, I know it's not great but this is what i'm running : http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=ConRoe1333-D667%20R1.0&s


[Edited on May 31, 2009 at 2:05 PM. Reason : ]

5/31/2009 1:52:57 PM

clear cmos, make sure the clear cmos jumper is not set to clear currently, could also cause that on some mobos

5/31/2009 2:52:03 PM

I've tried it once before, but I removed the CMOS battery and attempted to clear the jumper, giving it a few minutes..

no go

anyone know if TigerDirect is open today on Capital? their hours online say until 7 tonight, but I tried to call and the mechanical man said they were closed

[Edited on May 31, 2009 at 3:23 PM. Reason : ]

5/31/2009 3:09:23 PM

try dumping some metal shavings into the power supply

if it makes a loud pop and emits smoke, the power supply was probably not the problem

5/31/2009 5:31:34 PM

did you test the power supply in another computer?

5/31/2009 5:47:50 PM

thanks Tiberius... moving along..

I had the guys at TigerDirect test it last night and they said it was good. They used the same testing unit that I saw on the racks earlier today.

5/31/2009 6:04:59 PM

interesting that you mentioned the p4 duro; i was disconnecting everything from my old mobo and with a little tug on my p4 the wires came out of the connector. whether or not this was the dealbreaker i have no idea.. naturally, i can't seem to find a p4 anywhere online that's separate, and tigerdirect's are all unavailable. so now it looks like i'll have to buy a new PSU just to see what's going on, even though i have one that works just freakin fine

5/31/2009 8:20:48 PM

Not sure why I said p4 there. It was actually a molex connector. But ultimately, it could cause the same thing.

You could always buy or maybe even borrow a used psu just to test it (you don't need anything special just to boot it). If it works and that's definitely the problem, shell out the cash for a replacement. Or if it works, you could also maybe just solder the p4 connector from the one that works onto the other... I'd probably just buy a new psu though.

5/31/2009 10:51:14 PM

When I built mine last year, I did it by just watching youtube videos and finding stuff on the internet. i didn't know too much so when i started putting them together i removed the motherboard's jumper switch (i thought it was just a plastic cover used during manufacturing) and for the longest time couldnt get my computer to boot. it did exactly like you described...it would turn on for a few seconds, the fans would get going and then it would just power down. eventually i figured it out and put the switch back on and it worked fine from there.

i don't know if your computer was working before and doesn't now or if it hasn't worked ever but give that a shot...good luck

6/1/2009 1:55:53 PM

Sounds like a bad mobo or PSU, maybe the CPU too. IF you are dead sure on the PSU (id still get a loaner and test it with that), the RMA the mobo and/or the CPU.

6/1/2009 5:54:58 PM

I bought a case one time that had a bad power switch. It would get stuck. Try disconnecting the power switch and jumping the power on the board itself if you think the PSU is good. You mentioned the PSU fan spooling up, but what about the rest of them (ie. CPU fan, case fans, etc.)?

6/1/2009 6:10:15 PM

just got her runnin again... kind of. ended up with a new mobo + PSU. my old PSU is still fine, but the p4 cable was borked and i couldn't find one anywhere to replace it. however, after hooking up my new PSU to the old mobo and still getting nothing, i'm all but certain something on the mobo was fried either way. my box was running just fine until this past saturday when i was installing my new video card. i have no way to be certain but i think some not so great soldering caused my p4's connector to come loose and burn up stuff. i'm looking at this one with the positive side of having a strong PSU and a better mobo... just didn't want to drop that extra cash right now.

thanks guys for all the suggestions

6/1/2009 11:06:56 PM

Did you actually find anything burned / damaged?

6/2/2009 9:44:04 PM