PC wont turn on unless I've unplugged a white cord?

[DRingstad]

Hello! first ill post what kind of computer this is.. Its kind of old, then I'll explain the details.

This old PC is a Gateway GT5654.

Here is a link (http://www.cnet.com/products/gateway-gt5654-athlon-64-x2-5000-plus-2-6-ghz-3-gb-400-gb/specs/)

Anyway, I got a laptop about 2 years ago and haven't had the need to use this old desktop but recently I've been wanting to clean it up in hopes of upgrading the graphics card/processor/power supply for games like Total War: Shogun 2, TW: Rome 2, Team Fortress 2, and others like that.

So I let my little sister keep the Desktop in her room, and over the years of no maintenance and her not caring about how she treats it.. It doesn't surprise me that It wont even turn on. She eventually told me about it after a month of it not working.

So I opened up the tower and carefully blew out all the dust bunnies with some air duster from the Radio Shack. At first glance I didn't see anything wrong like burnt-out capacitors or cables or anything like that that's easily visible.

So I went ahead and decided to try to turn it on. When I hit the power button, The fan that sits over the processor spins around like 1 or 2 rotations and stops. I also notice that there is a 9-pin slot (Its Orange in color) that flanks to the right of what looks like a network card at the bottom of the tower (it has 2 phone jacks connected to the card). that flashes an orange light when I hit the power button. It only does this once. If I try to hit the button again it doesn't flash. But if I unplug and plug in the power supply back in, it'll flash just as I hit the power button.

There are also 4 white cords that have writing on them saying "AWM E101344 Style 20276 VW-1 80 degrees Celsius 30 Volts Space Shuttle-Z". One of them that is completely blank - no writing/text on it, connects to that 9-pinned orange slot I mentioned earlier. Following the wire, it looks like it leads to the power button. Or at least to the same area as it. (I'll have to take it further apart in order to be sure :l )

Now, when I unplug this white cord from that 9-pinned orange connector and hit the power: the tower actually starts up (seemingly louder than it should be!) Now, I thought this was weird! Sadly, nothing is showing up on the monitor so I have no idea where to from here 🙁 Maybe I'll just leave it running with it unplugged and see where it goes? I suppose it has something to do with the Power Supply, but I could use some input from somebody else

[EDIT] after like 5-7 minutes of trying to run it without it plugged in, my monitor went from a blank screen (like its trying to load up) to a no signal screen. And it continued to sound like it was trying harder and harder to start up so I shut it down for fear of doing more damage than good.

I really hope I gave enough information. I'm not all that computer savvy as some of you gents and lady-gents are our there.

I appreciate any help! Thank you for taking the time to help an ignorant redneck 😀

 

[clutchc]

Would it be possible to provide some pics of these cords, connectors, etc? Your description is kind of hard to grasp.

 

[DRingstad]

Would it be possible to provide some pics of these cords, connectors, etc? Your description is kind of hard to grasp.

I was afraid somebody would want me to post pictures. My camera is dead.. but I'll get it charged and pictures posted as soon as I'm able. Thanks for the reply Clutchc. Sorry for the wait, I have some seized rotors giving me trouble on a dodge i'm working on..

 

[clutchc]

Would it be possible to provide some pics of these cords, connectors, etc? Your description is kind of hard to grasp.

I was afraid somebody would want me to post pictures. My camera is dead.. but I'll get it charged and pictures posted as soon as I'm able. Thanks for the reply Clutchc. Sorry for the wait, I have some seized rotors giving me trouble on a dodge i'm working on..

No hurry. I'm here day in and day out.

 

[DRingstad]

well this is embarrassing - I cannot for the life of me figure out how to post a picture I have saved to my desktop to his thread. I went to full edit and clicked picture (ctrl+P I think is what it is) and it pulls up a box saying "URL". Do i have to save the pictures to one of those picture sharing sites? Also, My laptop has started to run its course, overnight I guess something happened and my charger. Now it only works if it is sitting at a certain angle, looks like i'll be taking apart this one as well.

Sorry for my ignorance but how would i post the pictures on here? =d

[edit] I started looking for whatever that orange flash that is happening when I try to start up the tower. A thread on another site mentioned that the orange flash was either something wrong with the power supply, which i guess would be an easy fix, just replace it. OR a bad motherboard, which I suppose i could replace too, I'll just have to read up on it. I found a site where another person is(was) having just about the same problem as I am. (http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php?topic=131911.0)

But then I got to thinking, would it be worth all the trouble to buy the replacement/upgrade the parts and have to install them over just biting the bullet and just getting a new computer? I mean it is pretty old and getting near outdated.

 

[clutchc]

Yes, you have to post your pics on a website before they can be shown here. This one is often used by folks here: http://postimage.org/

If the orange flash you are referring to is from that card you mentioned above, it sounds like you are describing the indicating lights on a network card. On the outside of the card there are 2 lites. Sometimes one is amber and one is green. They indicate the status of your internet connection. It is possible though, that some cards may also have their indicating lights on the card inside the case.

Replacing a PSU won't be too expensive for a low powered system like that. But if the expense continues to climb beyond that, it would be wiser to upgrade. That is a very old machine by PC standards. Most replacement components would have to be used found on sites like ebay. Of course, a lot depends on the use for the machine and how much hassle starting over would be.

If you want to play some games with it, you can probably just get a discrete card for it and it may keep you satisfied for awhile. But the old first generation dual core Athlon is pretty weak for gaming. But if you want to give it a shot and the PC has at least a 300W PSU, let me know and we can pick out a suitable card. 3GB of DDR2 memory will hold you back a little too. But depending on the game, it will be OK.

 

[DRingstad]

Here are a few pictures That I took of the white cords I was talking about ( which I think lead to the PSU and the power button, along with a few USB ports, and a card reader), that Orange flash, and the orange 9 pinned slot.

http://postimg.org/image/4dtsm1tfp/
http://postimg.org/image/kaiep98s9/
http://postimg.org/image/6gqukcog1/

Look near the bottom of the picture. Hopefully it'll be clear enough to get some idea of what it is. Thanks so much for your time.

To be honest, I'm thinking that I might as well get ready to bite the bullet and get a new desktop to replace that old Machine. Especially when I looked at saw what your rig was O.O I can see that I AM far behind, especially since folks are getting beyond quad processors. Hell I thought I was doing good with the 2.6Ghz! What a joke, haha. And on top of all of that, the port where i plug in my charger to my laptop has just worn out and my laptop is dying. It is just not my day.

 

[clutchc]

Yeah, when it rains, it pours sometimes. Depending on budget, a new desktop would be the way to go... especially if you have gaming in mind.

The white cables connected at the bottom edge of the board (and the single wires) go to the front panel of the case; USB ports, Power Button, Reset Button, LED Power indicator, LED HDD Activity Indicator (if present), Audio ports. The white cable at the far rear of the board is probably the audio.
The empty orange (9 pinned slot) header that you point out in your pic is another (unused) USB 2.0 header.

The item you point to as the "orange flash" I have no idea. It appears to be an indicating light of some kind. My guess at the moment, is that it is a Power ON indicator for the system. It probably flashes as the power is applied to the MB. And when you disconnect the PSU, it flashes as the circuit discharges. If the system was working as it should, I would expect that lite to be lit while the system was powered on. Purely a guess, though.

My hunch as to why you can't start the system is that the PSU has failed/is failing. Probably a capacitor that has discharged over time. But why it starts when you disconnect one of the FP cables is a mystery right now.

You say you can't get a display. Is your monitor switched to receive the signal of the port you are plugged into? VGA, DVI, HDMI? Some monitors that have multiple inputs need to be manually switched to select which input they should look for.

 

[DRingstad]

Sorry its been a while for me to reply. Remember when I mentioned that Ill have to be working on my laptop soon? well its on its last leg right now and I'm trying to save it before having to throw in the towel.. I've already posted my problem on another thread on this site.

Anyhow, Thanks for all the info you've given me. The monitor is pretty old, Its only got two ports.. the power and the video cable that goes to the tower. So I'm pretty sure I haven't or need to switch the signal, I've never had a problem getting signal to the monitor before.

I honestly have no idea what the orange flash could be when I'm trying to start it up. I'm about ready to just give up on it, especially since age is working against it and time just isn't on my side. so.. yeah. I hate to say it but I'm going to call it quits. I hope I'm not the only person who has reached this point in their life. :d

I must thank you for you're courteousness, and replies Clutchc. You're the best for all the help you've given me.