byUsers Forums

for Users - by Users

You are not logged in.

Announcement

If you see a post that is objectionable, or appears to be spam, please use the "Report" button at the bottom of the post to let us know.

Thank-you.

#1 30-10-2009 01:25:16

Silkie341
Moderator
From: England
Registered: 28-10-2001
Posts: 10477
Karma: Police

PC not powering on

My brains are a bit scrambled so I need to be reminded what commonly causes the following:

I hit the power switch and the power light flashes once then it stays off.  The PSU is getting power to the board so I'm thinking CPU but like I said I'm not thinking straight just now.

The machine was fine until I had to power off and there's been no storm in the area.  Little help[?


Give me coffee and no one needs to get hurt! Well not physically anyway! "Nothing in this world worth having comes easy" Bob Kelso

Offline

#2 30-10-2009 07:50:48

TazUk
Moderator
From: Here
Registered: 25-02-2002
Posts: 6290
Karma: 205
Website

Re: PC not powering on

With a dead CPU the machine normally powers up but you get no beeps and a blank display.


Proxy Info
UK Hardware News & Reviews

"When you own your own business you only have to work half a day. You can do anything you want with the other twelve hours."

Offline

#3 30-10-2009 09:58:43

tommy
Guest

Re: PC not powering on

remove then replace memory, had same symptom,

#4 30-10-2009 11:49:02

Silkie341
Moderator
From: England
Registered: 28-10-2001
Posts: 10477
Karma: Police

Re: PC not powering on

Ah yes there's a chance it may have come unseated when I moved it.  Worth a try.


Give me coffee and no one needs to get hurt! Well not physically anyway! "Nothing in this world worth having comes easy" Bob Kelso

Offline

#5 30-10-2009 13:07:25

Silkie341
Moderator
From: England
Registered: 28-10-2001
Posts: 10477
Karma: Police

Re: PC not powering on

No dice.  I should know this as it seems very familiar.  The single attempt to power on that fails and then it's stuck unless you remove the power lead from the mains first.

I'm fairly certain something odd happened on the last shutdown but of course I wasn't actually watching which is always the way.  Sometimes computers seem to take on a nasty wilful personality all of their own especially as it was due to be replaced by a newer PC but waiting until I was at least half done would be too much to ask. hmm


Give me coffee and no one needs to get hurt! Well not physically anyway! "Nothing in this world worth having comes easy" Bob Kelso

Offline

#6 30-10-2009 16:16:18

TazUk
Moderator
From: Here
Registered: 25-02-2002
Posts: 6290
Karma: 205
Website

Re: PC not powering on

Remove all non essentials and then see if it powers on smile


Proxy Info
UK Hardware News & Reviews

"When you own your own business you only have to work half a day. You can do anything you want with the other twelve hours."

Offline

#7 30-10-2009 19:07:31

Silkie341
Moderator
From: England
Registered: 28-10-2001
Posts: 10477
Karma: Police

Re: PC not powering on

I'm down to that but I feel terrible right now so I'd better leave it until the morning and a clear head.

Of course it's sods law that this is my current 'server' and I haven't got the replacement up and running yet.


Give me coffee and no one needs to get hurt! Well not physically anyway! "Nothing in this world worth having comes easy" Bob Kelso

Offline

#8 05-11-2009 08:57:14

Silkie341
Moderator
From: England
Registered: 28-10-2001
Posts: 10477
Karma: Police

Re: PC not powering on

It's looking very grim.  I eliminated everything but the Mainboard and the PSU and today I need to hook up a regular PSU outside the case to check that but either way shuttle spares of this age are down to hunting on Ebay.  Damned if the thing didn't pick the nastiest point to break as in a week it's replacement would have been done although at least I should be able to get the data off the RAID as I have other Silicon Image chipset controllers.

What I was wondering was if the fan in the PSU had failed would this cause the abortive startup?  The powers getting through as the CPU fan spins for a second but I'm not sure the PSU one does.


Give me coffee and no one needs to get hurt! Well not physically anyway! "Nothing in this world worth having comes easy" Bob Kelso

Offline

#9 05-11-2009 09:37:53

Jellyroll
Administrator
From: Magrathea
Registered: 28-03-2001
Posts: 12347
Karma: 3.142

Re: PC not powering on

Have you pulled the mobo from the case and tried it "naked"? It could be shorting against the case somehow. That would produce the symptoms you're seeing, where the PSU starts momentarily, the fans spins briefly, then it stops again.


Jellyroll Papadopoulos
A voice of madness in a sea of reason

Offline

#10 05-11-2009 10:27:49

Silkie341
Moderator
From: England
Registered: 28-10-2001
Posts: 10477
Karma: Police

Re: PC not powering on

Not fun on a Shuttle but after I try the PSU it's all I have left.


Give me coffee and no one needs to get hurt! Well not physically anyway! "Nothing in this world worth having comes easy" Bob Kelso

Offline

#11 14-11-2009 11:44:35

jerryh
Elite Member
From: Medway, Kent
Registered: 30-03-2001
Posts: 1188
Karma: 35

Re: PC not powering on

Have you sorted this yet?
I concur with JR  (would I dare disagree !! )The symptons are the power supply overloading

I had exactly the same problem a few weeks ago, in my case it was caused by the power supply caused by a hard drive failure which was overloading the 12v rail
The fan starting and stopping indicates the 12 rail


Recommend you test the power supply I'm sure you know how to do it but anyway:

connect a fan (or any 12 device)  to the normal 4 pin connector & disconnect everything else including the mobo.
Plug in to mains then:

On the 20 pin connector there is only one green wire (pin14) short this with a paperclip to zero volts - either one of the black wires next to it.
This will turn on the power supply if its ok.

A case fan should run with nothing else connected so is a good indicator of a 12v rail
So try the mobo bare, no graphics card, memory, and preferably no CPU

If fan runs add components one at a time to identify faulty one

If this is a case of suck eggs and granny then I apologise in advance
J


Oh No not again!!

Offline

#12 14-11-2009 15:28:50

Silkie341
Moderator
From: England
Registered: 28-10-2001
Posts: 10477
Karma: Police

Re: PC not powering on

I've been sort of buried in problems lately and so I haven't had a chance yet but I appreciate the suggestions as they help me focus.


Give me coffee and no one needs to get hurt! Well not physically anyway! "Nothing in this world worth having comes easy" Bob Kelso

Offline

Board footer

Powered by PunBB
© Copyright 2002–2005 Rickard Andersson