No Boot, No POST. Please help.

[NELS]

Hi I know this is similar to GazMcfc post ("Just Built - No Boot"), but mine is a little different (I think).

I built my computer about two years ago, been running fine for the most part these last two years. But today when I got back from class, my computer was off, and would not boot, and it will not POST (EDIT: Fans and LEDs power on). I don't think anything overheated (its cold outside and inside).

So my question is what in my computer would make my computer power off, and also not POST?

I also have no extra computer parts laying around (or none that will fit my computer). Tommorow I am going to contact my school's Computer Maintence department to see if they could lend me some parts.

My Computer:
AMD 64 3200+
ATI X600 (PCI-e)
1 GIG Roswell DDR 400 Dual Channeled
VNF4 / VNF4 Ultra ZENITH VE mobo

Things I've tried:

Unplugged everything to see if it will POST, still nothing.
Unplugged CPU and powered on, but still nothing (nothing changed).

Things I've eliminated from being the cause:

Memory and my Harddrives.


Anyone have any advice/suggestions?

Thanks for taking the time, Levi.

 

[qwazzy]

Oh man, it's not a big problem, but it seems that every other post on Homebuilt is that problem.

 

[lukas333]

It might be power button problem. Do I understand right that fans and leds power on and then immediately off? Try to power on by jumpers on motherboard.

 

[evongugg]

Clear the Cmos and try to boot. Remove the battery for 30 secs and short the Bios reset jumpers.

 

[AKJ]

I agree, clear the cmos, then try again

 

[GSTe]

Sounds like motherboard death, but as others have said, remove battery for 30 secs, clear cmos and try again.

 

[foofighters]

Again, it sounds like a candidate for the capacitor issue.

Check the capacitors, especially the two banks of purple ones and the black ones just below the cpu.

You are looking for them being raised or leaking. If you need more info on what to look for, have a look at this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

If they are raised or leaking, you just need to replace them which involves basic soldering.

Hope this helps.

 

[mistigri]

Hi,
You said something you was surprised it was off...
Did you run it 24h/24 for 2 years?
If so, your power supply is the most probable cause..
Clearing the cmos is a good idea, but a bios issue
cannot come alone while you're at school..
One thing, try to post without the video card..
it can help to get a different behaviour.
Cheers.
m

 

[Sythro]

I had something very similar happen to me. One day I flipped the switch on the power supply and there was a "pop" that came from the PSU. I replaced it with another and turned my computer on - solid IDE light, no POST, all fans on, etc. The odd thing about it was that it would turn on as soon as I flipped the switch in the back of the PSU - i.e. I didn't have to hit the power button on the tower to turn the machine off. Similarly, even holding the power button for 5 seconds wouldn't produce a shutdown.

After clearing the CMOS and troubleshooting all components, I think the motherboard was the culprit. I'd look into that if I were you.

 

[NELS]

THANKS FOR ALL THE REPLIES!

mpilchfamily
Lights and fan operational. (PSU is just some cheap PSU that came with my cheap case)

lukas333
Tried it. Unfortunately it did not work. My fans do stay on though.

evongug, AKJ, and GSte
Cleared cmos, shorted the bios reset, still nothing.

mistigri
Yes I run my computer about 24/7. But the psu still has enough power to power on all my harddrives and allow me to open and close my cdrom tray. Taking everything out of my computer, but the motherboard, and it still won't work. I will still try to get a hold of a power supply to test. Also I've tried to post with (NO) video card, no difference.

Sythro
Not the exact same but definitely similar. I am also thinking its the motherboard now.

foofighters
I think you solved it! While I was reading the wikipedia article, it mentioned that one of the symptoms is that your computer will not start up all the time, sometimes having to attempt to power it on multiple times, which reminded me that my computer was doing this exact same thing about 2 months after I bought it. I would just power it off, and turn it on again, and it would always work. But it went away.

So to your advice, I looked over my board and found one capacitor bulging at the top, and its loose at the bottom. So it is my motherboard! Should I even attempt to fix it? I know how to solder, not professionally but, not horrible.


And again thanks, everyone for the help.

-Levi

(EDIT: The words in parenthesis.)

 

[evongugg]

If you are not extremely good at soldering, RMA the board if you can or purchase another one with the same socket and preferably with same chipset. It will save you from having to reinstall the operating system.

 

[THY]

Look like a motherboard problem to me. Recently, I got a new MB fitted with new processor, new RAM and new VGA card. I had no POST, no boot problem right from the start. Elimination tests finally pinned the problem down to faulty MB. Test out your processor on a confirm working and compatible MB will confirm this.

 

[foofighters]

And again thanks, everyone for the help.

No problem. I do this for a living and you would be surprised how many boards of your era have this problem. When I hear those symptoms it is the first thing I check for.

If you are replacing the capacitor, make sure you put it on the right direction. ie. take note of which way the white stripe faces.

All but one board has come good after I recapped them, and that one was due to a faulty track.

 

[NELS]

Just to let everyone know, I got a new motherboard and installed it.

Everything is working great!

THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR HELP!

I seriously thought that it was going to be really hard to find out the problem, but amazingly you guys came through!

Thanks again, Levi