WTF! Just moved wife's computer for new desk, and now it won't boot!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

WTF WTF WTF :wtf:

No new software
No new hardware

Just shut down the OS, powered down, unplugged cables, moved furniture, plugged everything back together, now this.

Motherboard has a green LED that is lit showing power is getting there. When the boot button is pushed, the CPU fan will try to move for about half a second, then nothing. No signal to the monitor screen

Graphics and memory cards reseated, all seem fine.

I'm assuming either some cable or card came loose, or some loose piece of metal rolled somewhere behind the motherboard causing a short?

I am at wit's end. Any general ideas on the most likely source of problem?

The case is a ThermalTake Xaser III megatower and is a bit complicated. There is one cable for "case open" that doesn't seem to be connected to the motherboard, but I don't think it ever was (built this system a while ago). Motherboard is an ASUS board with a Pentium 4 chip, and 1G of RAM. No problems recently until the computer was moved.

I did have it sideways for a bit to remove the "feet" from the case, which I then had to replace (long story).

Should I try (gasp) releasing the CPU and re-locking it? I HATE doing that with P4, very hard to lock down the CPU, it always feels like the motherboard is about to fracture.

Could I have dislodged the CPU? Could it be the power supply quit at that moment?

:argh: :banghead:

[enigami]

1. plug it in

:shrug:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

2. Why you...

:spank:

[enigami]

3. sorry I had to do it

somebody would of

[sendero]

4. It could be almost anything...

.... so does the PS fan keep running but the CPU doesn't? Or does everything just die?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

5. The only "sign of life" is the green LED on the mobo and the slight twitch

of the CPU fan. If there were a signal to the monitor, I could conclude the CPU was not totally dead.

As it is, all I know is that power is getting to the machine.

I unplugged all other case fans to minimize the power load on bootup but it didn't help.

[sendero]

6. What I'm trying to understand..

.... does the light stay on but the CPU fan only twitches? How about the power supply fan?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

7. Power supply fan does not come on. Green light stays on as long

as computer is plugged in and switch is on.

[sendero]

9. And the green light is on..

... the motherboard itself???

I'm not trying to drive you crazy, I'm trying to make sense of it. If the PS fan is not coming on, your PS is not working most likely. Since it is "twitching" the CPU fan, it's trying to work but it's being shut down - probably a "short" but possibly other things also.

I don't get the "green light", that would be an LED and power for it would have to come from the PS.

I'd try unplugging the power cables from everything but the MB. Of course, you cannot boot with your CDs, hard drives, floppy drive disconnected, but at least you can eliminate something. And if it came up that way you should be able to get a Setup screen.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

10. The green light is an LED on the motherboard.

[sendero]

12. Wow..

... that is weird. All I can suggest is to disconnect everything you can, and also to get a flashlight and stare at everything a long time looking for something out of place. Unplug and reseat every card and every memory stick (if you haven't already :))

Nothing sucks quite like an uncooperative computer :)

[DS1]

8. check check check and check again

you sure you got the secondary power switch on the pack of the PSU in the right position

i sometimes flip that off after unplugging, move pc, and forget I turned it off there as well

oh and, plug a light into the wallsocket you're using, just to make sure there's enough juice

[Twillig]

11. A sneaky way to get a short is from

hard drives and/or CD/DVD drives sliding back and making contact with the motherboard. I know because it happened to me, of course.

[Taverner]

13. Reseat all cards, drives and cords.

SHort of that, how far will it boot?

[dogday]

19. You might have to reseat your Video Card

it happens a lot that the cord with pull the card up slightly but just enough where it does not register. Before you start with the power supply, check and make sure your video card is seated properly....

[LaurenG]

14. "Could it be the power supply quit at that moment?"

It happened like that to one of ours at work. I hope that's not it but it sure does sound like it.

[sendero]

15. That would have been my guess..

... except for that damn green light :)

But it still is a pretty likely possibility. It's either that or a short.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

17. Well I think it's a short. Neighbor brought over new power supply.

Plugged it into stuff. A little more sign of life- 1 second of CPU fan and power supply fan spin. Except after trying this a few times, something burned on the motherboard. I hope the CPU is not fried.

I wonder if there was some metal, a screw or something, rattling around in case that got shorted behind the motherboard. Sigh.

[sendero]

18. Pick it up..

... and shake the crap out of it! Yes, you definitely have a short. The new PS can just pump out more current before it shuts down. That can be a good thing, or bad - depending on how you look at it.

FWIW, I doubt if your CPU is injured, but it sure sounds like the MB might be.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

21. Here's what I think it was. The tabs that cover empty PCI slots in back

of the computer--they have a bad design in this case, where they are these flexible metal tabs that are easy to pop in and out even when they are "in" (hard to explain). In the process of moving around, they got shoved in at an angle where a few contacted the mobo. Where the "burn" smell/short was was right in this area.

I suspect the hard drives are probably okay, but the mobo is fried. CPU fan will not even spin now.

I'm hoping the CPU and graphics card are okay. The one other time something like this happened to me, they were. Replaced motherboard and I was okay.

[sendero]

23. Sounds very plausible...

... and if that is what happened, more than likely only the MB and possibly the PS was damaged.

It could have damaged other components, but odds are against it.

The market life of a MB seems to be down to the 6-10 month range. If you can't find a new one, maybe you can get one on Ebay....

on edit: (my point here being that your easist route to saving that computer is to replace the MB with the exact same model - I'm sure you know but in case you don't, your Windows installation is intimately tied in with your MB configuration, you can't just swap it out with a different model without reinstalling Windoze)

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

24. Just put an ebay bid on one.

[landdaddy]

16. I've had that happen a couple of times

and damn if can I remember the steps I took to rectify it! It has never been the CPU so I wouldn't go there. Remove the power connector from the MB and use a straightened paper clip to jump a black and green wire, fire up the PSU and see if your devices light up or test voltages with a multimeter.
Also had a mem stick go bad and cause the same thing. Had a vid card needed re seating. Had a hard drive go bad and cause that problem. Process of elimination. Had a PSU that needed a switch toggled in order to reboot.:shrug:
Good luck!

[BlueJazz]

20. You have the Keyboard and Mouse switched.

[Redstone]

22. Ask Bill Gates.

Redstone

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

25. Obviously, it liked it's old desk better.

nt