ok, back in 2004 or 2005 i put together a nice desktop. all worked well. lately, im thinking my power supply possibly crapped out? deal is, basically the computer wont turn on at all. when i hit the power button, the power lights on the case come on for a split second, then all power dies and wont light up again (even briefly) until i turn off the main power from the back...

i know this description is vague, but it doesnt sound like a mobo problem, does it?

11/23/2007 11:12:23 AM

it does in fact sound like a mobo problem

if the power supply were dead, it most likely wouldn't turn on at all

try the power supply on another mobo you don't really care much about

just the fact that the case lights come on means the mobo is at least getting power

11/23/2007 3:31:40 PM

This can be dangerous, but something you could do to test the powersupply is test the following: http://www.duxcw.com/faq/ps/ps4.htm

Although, like it was said, it sounds like a motherboard issue.

Oh and are there any beeps?

[Edited on November 23, 2007 at 7:04 PM. Reason : .]

11/23/2007 7:01:05 PM

I've had a computer do this and it was because the processor had a bent pin.

This could be anything though from bad ram, an improperly seated PCI/AGP/PCIe card, or even a bad HD.

11/23/2007 10:19:51 PM

Bad mobo

11/24/2007 10:57:25 AM

connect just mobo and power supply up, take out all ram and all other cards. the lights should come on and stay on even with nothing else connected... that will tell you if the problem can be narrowed down to the mobo/ps or if something else is the issue. if it does come on with nothing connected, add back components one at a time and see which one causes it to quit turning on

11/24/2007 11:59:19 AM

its possibly a weakened power supply. mine was putting out about 1.5 V on the 5V rail when it failed and the lights just blinked on and off threw in a new power supply problem solved. I'm glad it only killed the video card

11/26/2007 11:47:51 AM