[SOLVED] Turns on, fans spin and then turns off

[Ayatollah]

I have an Advent DT1404 desktop. It is from around 2009, and ahen I turn it on, the fans spin and it turns off. I bought it a week ago, from a trusted person, and I was shown it working. The inside is immaculate, no dust or any kind of debris, I didn't even know that it was that old till I researched myself. Why does it turn on, the fans spin for a second, and then it turns off?

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

Why does it turn on, the fans spin for a second, and then it turns off?

bad power supply,
bad RAM,
bad CPU,
bad CPU installation,
loose connections, etc..?

are you getting any system error codes or beeps on the motherboard during the attempts at booting?

things can be damaged or knocked loose during transport.
there's no way to know without diagnosing and testing components.

make sure everything is properly connected/seated and cables are undamaged and properly plugged in.
if using a power strip, try a different one. also try a different home power outlet.

 

[Paperdoc]

There are two common possible causes for what you describe.

1. Easy one first. You MUST have a cooling device of some sort for the CPU (fan and heatsink, or AIO liquid-cooled system pump unit) plugged into the CPU_FAN header. When the system first starts up if that header fails to receive a speed signal from that cooling device it will refuse to start up because it believes there is NO cooling for the CPU and that could produce permanent damage. So check that there is a WORKING fan plugged in there. ALSO, with the system off, unplug that fan cable and re-connect it a couple of times, just in case the connection is poor or loose. See if that solves the problem.

2. This one is tougher. There MAY be a short circuit somewhere in the system that causes the mobo not to receive proper power from the PSU. That can be hard to spot.

Of course, there are many other possibilities, such as those listed above by JohnBonhamsGhost.

 

[Ayatollah]

bad power supply,
bad RAM,
bad CPU,
bad CPU installation,
loose connections, etc..?

are you getting any system error codes or beeps on the motherboard during the attempts at booting?

things can be damaged or knocked loose during transport.
there's no way to know without diagnosing and testing components.

make sure everything is properly connected/seated and cables are undamaged and properly plugged in.
if using a power strip, try a different one. also try a different home power outlet.

When I turn it on, (not connected to any other device) it has 1 soft beep sound. The power light on the front turns on too. When I connect it to my laptop (my laptop has a VGA port too) and turn it on, the same cycle happens but instead there's this scraping sound, and I know there's nothing blocking the fan or anything because i took it apart and put it back together a couple days ago. I have no idea how to check that the fan is working, but it is connected to the CPU FAN slot. The wiring isn't loose as i've checked it a couple times, and i've tried taking out the RAM, and putting it back in. Also, I tested it at another house a couple days ago (just after i took it apart and put it back together again) and the same issue happened. Do you think it's just my bad while putting it back together again, or is it a failure?

 

[Ayatollah]

Wait what do you mean by bad CPU installation? when I took the CPU out, I put it back into the rught place but I didn't drop it in, so will that be an issue?

 

[Unolocogringo]

First do not connect it to your laptop.
The laptop vga port is an output not an input for a monitor.
So you are connecting 2 outputs together. Which could damage either or both.

ONE beep means that it passed BIOS checks. Everything is ok with motherboard hardware.
You need to connect it to a monitor as the laptop screen will never show anything and may cause damage.
A dead bios battery can cause the symptoms you describe.
Did you replace the thermal paste on the cpu when you took it out?
Could be overheating and shutting down if not.

 

[Ralston18]

Same question: Thermal paste.

What brand and how applied.

 

[Paperdoc]

Even more questions about removing / replacing the CPU chip. Very commonly that chip is locked into its socket by some locking lever that you must release to remove, then re-lock after re-installing. Did you do that?

ALSO, it is common that the cooling device on top of the CPU chip (a fan and heatsink?) is stuck onto the chip by the thermal paste. So, did you remove that cooler FIRST before removing the chip? Or, did you pull out chip and cooler in one combined unit? AND, if you separated the cooler from the chip, did you then clean off the old thermal paste and re-install the cooler properly with new thermal paste applied correctly, then fasten that down according to the instructions for that cooler system?

IF that cooling system has been disturbed so that it does not remove lots of heat as soon as the CPU chip is powered on, the CPU will overheat quickly and trip a shut-down after less than a minute.

 

[Ayatollah]

I replaced the bios battery with a working one 3 days ago, and i didn't put more thermal paste on the CPU because there was already lots on it, shouod i have cleaned it and put new thermal paste on?

 

[Paperdoc]

Usually, yes. Even if the old paste is fluid and can spread, getting the old film re-spread evenly is really hard. You are better to get a new bit of good paste, clean off the old, and follow the instructions for that paste AND for your particular CPU chip on now much to put on, and how to apply the cooler on top of that to spread it as you fasten the cooler down. Apply just what is specified - too much is just as bad a too little.

 

[Ayatollah]

But does that affect anything though, if I do not do that will something not work properly?

 

[Unolocogringo]

If the cpu overheats it shuts down. So yes a properly applied heatsink is important.

We do not know for sure.
The scraping sound you describe when connected to laptop may have killed part of the video out ports on the motherboard.

 

[Ayatollah]

I know for sure the heatsink is securely screwed down, but I know for a fact sp,e of the thermal paste may well have come off. As for the video out ports, 😬

 

[Ayatollah]

I have re-pasted the cpu and there is still the same outcome. I have used sufficient thermal paste. However, I do not know where to find the beep codes for the motherboard. The model is Foxconn H61MXL-K. Can someone please help me find it?

 

[Unolocogringo]

BIOS Beep Codes for Troubleshooting

In this article, we collected the most widespread BIOS signals (beepcodes) used for troubleshooting in case of any PC issues. Yet if your computer gives a sound signal which is not listed below,...

habr.com

Your motherboard is AMI bios.

 

[Ayatollah]

Wait but 1 short beep is no errors detected? I'll try replacing the ram tho just as a countermeasure

 

[Paperdoc]

"Wait but 1 short beep is no errors detected?" YES! That single short beep at the END of the POST process indicates success, and everything is working. Now your only remaining issue is to determine whether the overheating you saw is gone, now that you have re-done the thermal paste.

 

[Ayatollah]

There was no overheating in the first place

 

[Unolocogringo]

Correct me if I'm wrong.
Everything is fine now?
When connected to a monitor or TV you get video?

I stated way above that 1 beep is a successful post. That is standard on all motherboards.
It will not produce a signal on 99.9% of laptops. It is a video out on the laptop ,not in as a monitor.
You may need to install a video card, to get signal if you damaged part of the video out part of the motherboard and the CPU video chip is still good .
This would achieve bios checks that all parts are present and communicating. But not provide video out if the MOTHERBOARD video out ports were damaged.
Does not take much to blow aged capacitors. and damage may not be visible.

 

[Ayatollah]

Yeah sorry for the late rely, but i didn't notice you replied, so I just wanted to say it was a PSU issue all along. It was not a beep, but a mechanical 'tsk' sound which my friend said was a PSU issue
I got a new one and it works

 

[Ralston18]

Marking thread as Solved.