Computer does not boot.

[Friend]

Hi All,

I have a computer which I am using since last 5 years. Today morning it will not boot. Power button won't do anything. There is a green light on the mother board stays on when it is connected to power supply. When I press power key, nothing happens, no fan, nothing. I have replaced the power supply and it did not make any difference. CMOS battery is dead on my computer since a while and I know it looses the time, when power goes off but I suspect it should not be issue with powering of mother board.

I removed the memory and did not here any beep sound. Also cpu does not get hot. I don't have any 4 pin 12V connector on the motherboard, is this normal in the old motherboard (A7N266-VM)?

Thanks in advance.

 

[harshness]

I removed the memory and did not here any beep sound. Also cpu does not get hot.

She's dead Jim.

I don't have any 4 pin 12V connector on the motherboard, is this normal in the old motherboard (A7N266-VM)?

The four pin connector wasn't required until 40+ watt processors became the norm. My A7N333 doesn't feature a processor power connector either.

Letting the CMOS battery go dead was not a good idea. I'd try replacing the battery, doing a hard reset on the CMOS (CLRTC jumper pins 2-3 for a few seconds) and see what happens.

 

[Friend]

Thank for reply harshness,

But what is dead? CPU or Motherboard.

If it is CPU is dead, should any of the fans comeup? or anyoutput from motherboard?

 

[nsaspook]

Thank for reply harshness,

But what is dead? CPU or Motherboard.

If it is CPU is dead, should any of the fans comeup? or anyoutput from motherboard?

Good chance the motherbord is fried. Check for popped caps or burned regulators on the board.

 

[Van]

Second to the mother board being dead, I just replaced a power supply and found a single capacitor that was slightly domed. Look over the capacitors on your mother board and you may see one that's domed but in the instance of my k8ns pro mb I couldn't find one but it did the same thing as yours while I was using it.

 

[Friend]

That's what I figured. Time to visit Fry's for new one.
It was AMD 2200+ Athlon with 512 ram. Served pretty well over the years.

Hopefully, I will be able to get my hand on E8400 combo , 4 gig crucial and terabyte HDD deals.

Thanks for help guys.

 

[harshness]

I don't recommend terabyte drives as your system drive. They tend to be kinda pokey and you'll almost certainly see your boot times go waaaay up. Certainly avoid anything with "green" in the model designation.

 

[JamesJ]

yep I would check for popped caps, usually if a power supply goes it takes the motherboard or other things with them.

 

[Friend]

Guys, thanks for your help, I got my new pc up and running. It is Intel E8400, 4 gig crucial ram (6400, 4,4,12). I did got TB HD as it was 90 bucks and Biostar MB (Onboard G31). Had bought power supply and case free after rebate few years back. All cost $300. Not bad for decent upgrade.

For the old computer I am keeping pretty much everthing, DVD burner, 1394 card... and case for future.

On side note, Fry's employee by mistake gave me Q9400 instead of E8400. I just could not take it. I had to tell her this is wrong processor (better one too). If she wants to knowingly give it to me I will take it

 

[Van]

If your going to keep the old stuff that's working then look through ebay and other online sites for used working replacements for the stuff that died and turn it into a home server.

 

[14karat]

Was going to add here, I've had this happen before when the reset button got stuck...
Years ago bought a brand new barebone kit and put it all together. No power up at all.
Banged my head for 2 weeks trying to get it working and finally had the MB & CPU RMA'd.
New one had the same problem - so after 3-4 weeks, I decided I had eliminated everything except the case... that's when I discovered the momentary reset switch was stuck closed...
DOH!
Looking back it sounds silly, but that's the first thing I check now.
And recently, I had this same thing happen when the onboard speaker (beep, beep speaker) on the motherboard went bad. Clipped it off the MB and all was fine again.

 

[hendrix04]

I had a computer randomly shutting down, not turning on at times... ended up being the power switch had crapped itself.

 

[fkamp]

Good chance the motherbord is fried. Check for popped caps or burned regulators on the board.

I've seen many motherboards with swollen/popped caps. Soyo boards, settop dvd player power supplies, etc. Bad Capacitors: Information and symptoms Some interesting?? reading

 

[Foxbat]

I've seen many motherboards with swollen/popped caps. Soyo boards, settop dvd player power supplies, etc. Bad Capacitors: Information and symptoms Some interesting?? reading

I just re-capped a PC at work this week. Every one of the thirteen 2,200µF capacitors on the motherboard had blown. I've repaired PCs, monitors, and even my Mitsubishi HDTV, all had bad caps in the power supply.