Computer no longer boots up

Post by **Captain** » Wed May 16, 2007 3:52 pm

My computer had been perfect until now. Here's what happened:

Yesterday I used it for about half an hour, just listening to music and working on some random things. I noticed a severe storm was about to roll in so I turned the computer off (it shut down normally, nothing strange happened) and then unplugged it. Two hours later, I came back and turned it on. However, nothing happened. The computer powered up but refused to boot. The monitor stayed on stand-by. I went into "wtf" mode and tried my best for the next 5 hours to revive the computer. No luck. The first thing I tried was to reset the CMOS, but no such luck. I tried it several more times without success. My video card powers up because the GPU fan works when I power up the computer. I even tried putting in my old 9550 AGP card to test my GeForce 6600GT but still no boot. I fiddled with the sound card, RAM, etc. Nothing. The busy light and the green power light stay on when I turn the computer on. Also, the green LED light on the motherboard is on.

One thing I did however notice was that even in this boot "limbo", the DVD-ROM functions. The CD-RW on the other hand doesn't. It's as if there's no power in it. So what I did was unplug the power and IDE cables from the CD-RW and DVD drives and when I tried to boot the computer, the red light disappeared. Still no boot though.

The main question is: what happened to the computer that was working perfectly when it was completely unplugged?

Specs:

RetailPlus 465W PSU
Asus P5P800 SE LGA775
Intel Pentium D 805 dual-core LGA 775 CPU
eVGA GeForce 6600GT 128MB AGP 8x
Creative Soundblaster Live! 24-bit EAX HD
1024MB Kingston ValuRAM (2x512) DDR400
Western Digital 80GB IDE HDD
Western Digital 250GB SATA-II HDD

Any help would be appreciated. I'm forced to post this from work now.

Post by **Tormentius** » Wed May 16, 2007 3:56 pm

Take it down to just the motherboard (using onboard vid if you have it), CPU, and RAM and see what happens. My guess is hte PSU. You should also consider picking up a UPS. They're about $60 for a decent desktop APC model which does line conditioning and surge protection.

Post by **Captain** » Wed May 16, 2007 4:09 pm

Thank you for the rapid response, Torm.

The thing is I use a power bar. They have built in surge protectors so even if lightning did strike the lines in the area, the power bar would automatically switch off before it affected any of the equipment connected to it...that is, if I remember correctly. Could a PSU really do this?

I'm going to try to strip it down to barebone. The problem was that my monitor cable wouldn't fit in the mobo back panel, the VGA output I think. I guess I'll have to leave the video card in when I test it again. But would the fact that everything powers up except for the CD-RW mean a PSU failure? Could it really just decide to die when I unplugged the computer power cord?

I appreciate your response. I'm bogged down with work and really need my computer back up and running

EDIT: Is it also safe to assume that all my life's work hasn't been lost because the HDD busy light stays on?

Post by **zolborg** » Wed May 16, 2007 4:18 pm

Does the computer boot [partially] and stay on with the monitor light staying yellow, or does the computer shut down and restart in a loop as it were.

Can't see checking your CMOS, but that's over and done.

Agree with Tormentius........plug in a new PSU and see what happens.

Have you checked the motherboard for blown capacitors?

Post by **Captain** » Wed May 16, 2007 4:22 pm

No I didn't check for blown caps, the poor mobo was just reaching it's first year anniversary next month

What happens is that the computer powers up, but nothing happens. It stays on, the green power and the red HDD busy lights stay on. Also, the monitor remains on stand-by. Basically, it refuses to boot up.

Post by **Foo** » Wed May 16, 2007 4:41 pm

The static field from an adjacent power surge can blow sensitive electronic equipment. Was the computer isolated entirely, including the network cable?

It could be an awful lot of things unfortunately, and there's always the possibility that its unrelated to the weather.

Can you try the monitor on another PC? Aside from that, the next step is to take it down to the basics as torm said... motherboard, PSU, 1 stick of RAM and a video connection... and see what happens.

Post by **Grudge** » Wed May 16, 2007 6:37 pm

This happened to my old computer. It was a blown PSU, it couldn't deliver enough juice or something like that. Worked great again when I got a new PSU.

A PSU can fry itself by itself, don't need a power surge for that.

Post by **Captain** » Wed May 16, 2007 7:10 pm

Can it really be a PSU if the computer still turns on? It just refuses to boot and the CD-RW won't function. DVD-ROM and everything else is powered up. I can see both fans on the PSU working, as well as the chassis fan and the GPU fan. The computer won't post and the monitor receives no signal. The monitor works fine.

Post by **Foo** » Wed May 16, 2007 7:59 pm

It could be the PSU.

You're going to have to eliminate things step by step because it could be a large number of things.

Post by **Captain** » Wed May 16, 2007 8:10 pm

It's the PSU. I'm posting from the computer right now.

Put in a weak 350W PSU from another computer and it's working fine. But since it doesn't have a SATA plug, my D drive is non-existent until I buy a new PSU. But I am certainly breathing a HUGE sigh of relief at the fact that it's only the PSU.
I'll update once I go buy one, but thanks a lot for the replies

EDIT: Had to re-activate Windows as well :icon33:

Small price to pay to be assured that everything's working

Post by **FragaGeddon** » Thu May 17, 2007 3:41 am

Try the old power supply again.
The odd time you just have to pull the power plug off the motherboard, then reattach it.

I've had that happen to me. I just pulled the power from the board and then everything was fine.

Post by **Captain** » Thu May 17, 2007 3:49 am

I unplugged/plugged the PSU power cord from the mobo countless times, especially when I was trying to clear the CMOS on several occasions. Nothing worked.
Even though I don't have access to any of my files or games, this PSU is holding up. I haven't decided what to buy yet :E

Post by **zolborg** » Thu May 17, 2007 5:34 am

Captain Mazda wrote:It's the PSU. I'm posting from the computer right now.

Put in a weak 350W PSU from another computer and it's working fine. But since it doesn't have a SATA plug, my D drive is non-existent until I buy a new PSU. But I am certainly breathing a HUGE sigh of relief at the fact that it's only the PSU.
I'll update once I go buy one, but thanks a lot for the replies

EDIT: Had to re-activate Windows as well :icon33:

Small price to pay to be assured that everything's working

Had to re-activate Windows because of a power supply change. I don't think so. There must be more involved.

Post by **AmIdYfReAk** » Thu May 17, 2007 5:42 am

he removed, the reinstalled the hardware..

i can see it.

Post by **Captain** » Thu May 17, 2007 6:34 am

Yep.

zolborg wrote:Had to re-activate Windows because of a power supply change. I don't think so. There must be more involved.

It was strange for me as well, since I had used different PSUs before without XP saying anything.

Post by **Tormentius** » Thu May 17, 2007 6:52 am

AmIdYfReAk wrote:he removed, the reinstalled the hardware..

i can see it.

Yes but the PSU isn't one of the system components which XP uses to generate its activation hash iirc. Thats why it seems a bit odd that a reactivation was required if the PSU is all that changed.

Post by **axbaby** » Thu May 17, 2007 7:11 am

maybe the Psu had some power saving feature that windows recognized or Shut Down/Standby feature.

it's barely possible

Post by **Captain** » Thu May 17, 2007 12:54 pm

Actually I believe it's because I had to boot up without plugging in the SATA HDD, since the test PSU doesn't have a connector.

Post by **zolborg** » Thu May 17, 2007 4:40 pm

That would do it.

Post by **Tormentius** » Thu May 17, 2007 8:24 pm

zolborg wrote:That would do it.

Yup, it would. Hard drives are some of the components used for the activation hash.

Post by **Foo** » Thu May 17, 2007 8:31 pm

I've had to re-activate before due to drivers not being installed.

Just thought I'd chuck that nugged in while we're on the subject. Otherwise unrelated

Post by **Tormentius** » Fri May 18, 2007 3:47 pm

Foo wrote:I've had to re-activate before due to drivers not being installed.

Just thought I'd chuck that nugged in while we're on the subject. Otherwise unrelated

That must have been irritating. Which type of drivers?