Author Topic: Old desktop gets power but won't start.  (Read 503 times)

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Offline lucid

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Old desktop gets power but won't start.
« on: August 04, 2014, 07:55:35 pm »
I'm building a firewall out of an old desktop that I have, and currently the thingie won't turn on. The motherboard seems to be an Intel D845GVSR motherboard. Currently, when I plug in the psu to the wall, I see on the motherboard that a green light turns on right next to the heatsink. This lets me know that the PSU is actually supplying power to the motherboard. It also lets me know that there most likely isn't an issue with the mobo. On top of that, I literally just installed a brand spanking new CPU, so I know that most likely isn't the issue either. I've tried unplugging the RAM, the harddrive, and both. The green light comes on, but the computer still doesn't actually turn on.

Occasionally, it'll turn on for less then a second. The fan spins for no even one rotation, but it just barely starts to turn on. This originally happened when I was messing with the power button cable. It's also happened a few times when I unplug it from the wall and wait. When I plug it back it after awhile the same thing will happen.

What does this issue sound like it could be?
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Offline Kulverstukas

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Re: Old desktop gets power but won't start.
« Reply #1 on: August 04, 2014, 10:45:09 pm »
I had to deal with this once at work. It was like you described - the fan turning a bit are a discharge from a capacitor, or something.
The fix was to replace the PSU and it started to work again.

Offline lucid

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Re: Old desktop gets power but won't start.
« Reply #2 on: August 04, 2014, 11:09:28 pm »
Yeah that's what I thought it was too. So I took a copper wire and tried jumping the PSU to see if it works, and indeed it did. The PSU is definitely supplying power since a green light on the motherboard is on. I ended up taking it to the computer store real quick to have him double check for me to see. First he plugged it in and verified that the PSU was indeed dead. Then he tried a different power chord, and this time it worked. THEN he went back to the original power chord and it also worked. Weird.

So I take it home and plug everything back in and this time everything comes on. I can hear the HDD running, the CPU fan is spinning, and lights are on. Makes me think it's not the PSU now. Now the issue is that there's no display. Which is actually the same problem that I had awhile ago with this same computer. Everything turned on but the monitor never recognized the signal. I found out that it was a bent CPU pin. That can't be the case this time because I just replaced the CPU today, so the CPU is fine. This theory leads me to believe that it must be something wrong with the motherboard socket, because I bent the pin on the CPU by seating it wrong on the mobo and pushing too hard. So NOW I'm starting to think that I must've fucked something up in the motherboard socket when I put the original CPU in wrong, considering that it's displaying the same exact issues, as before, but with a working CPU.

Makes sense right?

EDIT: Oh almost forgot. The motherboard has a green light telling me that it's getting power, but it also had a red light on the bottom, indicating who knows what. I remember seeing that light before when I had CPU issues. Now I have no idea.
« Last Edit: August 04, 2014, 11:12:20 pm by lucid »
"Hacking is at least as much about ideas as about computers and technology. We use our skills to open doors that should never have been shut. We open these doors not only for our own benefit but for the benefit of others, too." - Brian the Hacker

Quote
15:04  @Phage : I'm bored of Python