Mobo won't post, won't do anything.

[phoenixavatar2]

Hi. I just got back from a long vacation and I intended to come right home, plug in the computer and play a few rounds of America's Army. Unfortunatly, when by brother plugged in the computer and hit the power button, almost nothing happened. By that I mean that when he hit the button, the power light would flash once, there'd be a kind of whine noise and nothing else. No fans would run, no beeps, no nothing. I've unplugged everything from the mobo except for the cpu, atx-24 and 4-pin connecters, front panel connections and the cpu and chipset fans. I always get the green ready light below the PCI ports whenever the tower is plugged in, but nothing else. At some point while I was unplugging things and removing cards, I lost that power light flash. I've done a ten second power supply cycle, it's set to 115V, and I've reset CMOS twice. At this point, I'm at a loss. Any help? My applicable specs are: Asus A8N-SLI, Athlon 64 3500+ and a four hundred-something power supply. Thanks for any help.

 

[sailer]

Sounds like your psu is dead. Of course, you might ask your brother if he did anything while you were gone that could kill the computer. The "whine noise" could be the psu fan trying to start, but not quite making it, or some other fan. From what you describe, the psu is the first thing I'd look at. See if you can borrow a different psu and see what happens. If not just buy a new psu and try that. I'd recommend at least a 550 wt psu, by the way. Its not all that big, and if you do any upgrades later, you'll be glad you had the power.

 

[phoenixavatar2]

I know it might be a possibility, but if the psu were dead, would I still be getting the green ready light?

 

[Crashman]

You could get the power LED with a bad power supply.

 

[NeonDeon]

He spilled water on your keyboard!!! :twisted:
Oh well wait... that's the old systems, that wont short your computer out.
Uhh... it's your psu.... yeah it's like dead and stuff... yeah...

 

[sailer]

That green light takes what, an amp or less? Yes, the green light can come on but you still don't have enough power to start the computer. It just says that there is some power getting through, not how much.

 

[phoenixavatar2]

Thanks for all the help, I'm ordering a new psu now. My next question is, how did this happen? It was sitting in a computer that's had no power problems before, unplugged from the wall and alone in a hot room for three weeks. Could the heat have done it? It probably got close to 100 in there but I would think that it could take that.

 

[sailer]

You wrote a likely answer, heat. The heat in the room could well have exceeded 100 degrees if it wasn't air conditioned. Beyond that, the psu may have been barely hanging on, but when the heat struck, it failed. It might have just been its time, for that matter.

 

[halcyon]

Thanks for all the help, I'm ordering a new psu now. My next question is, how did this happen? It was sitting in a computer that's had no power problems before, unplugged from the wall and alone in a hot room for three weeks. Could the heat have done it? It probably got close to 100 in there but I would think that it could take that.

I've read in this forum that the A8N SLI series seems to be picky about PSU's and RAM...yet in my own experience I don't find this to be true. I'm using a cheesy Antec TruePower 480 and some cheesy 7-Eleven grade PC3200 yet I've never had any startup or performace issues (that I'm aware of). I know this may all seem irrelevant, but I remember when I was purchasing this board I was a bit leery because I'd read so many posts describing the issue you're having. If you find the new PSU doesn't resolve the issue check your RAM next...according to the posts I've read.