PC shuts down 3 seconds after boot

[Radiant79]

Hello all,

Here's the story. We had a big electrical storm so I unplugged everything. Next day I plugged it all back in and as soon as I turned the PC on it went BOOM! and I could smell that electrical burn smell. I took the power supply out, unplugged it from all my hardware except the Mobo and turned it on and BOOM! and the PSU sparked. So I trashed the PSU and bought a new Silver Stone SST-ST56F 560W RT. I got it yesterday, plugged it all in, cleaned out the PC (was dusty), reapplied the thermal goo on the CPU and started up the PC. It turns on. No sparks! YAY!! After 3 seconds, it turns off. I turn the PSU off, turn it back on, start the PC, it starts up and 3 seconds later shuts off. I unplug the PSU from the hard drives and reset the PSU. Turn the PC on, it starts and 3 seconds later shuts off again. Can anybody help me figure out where the problem may be?

I have an Asus A7n8x-deluxe MoBo with an Athlon proccessor. If you need any more info, just let me know. BTW, I reseated the RAM. That didnt help. I also looked at all the capacitors on the MoBo and they all look fine. No burns, no rust, no blown tops with that white stuff comin out, nothin. It all looks fine.

Thanks in advance,

radiant79

 

[Radiant79]

mpilch,

That was my concern. My problem is this; I'm not a wealthy man and I can't afford to just start buying all new hardware. So what would be the steps I should take to figure out where the problem is. I can buy another MoBo, but if that doesn't fix it I can't just start buying a new cpu, ram, video card, etc etc etc.

Again, thx in advance

Radiant79

 

[Reckless187]

You said you re-applied thermal paste to your cpu. I had a similar problem where I didnt refit the cpu cooler correctly and it would shut off because the temp would shoot up past the safe point and it would automatically switch off.

I know its wishfull thinking & probably not the problem but just in case you could check that the cooler is correctly seated. if you were able to get in to the Bios it would help but if it switches off after a few seconds, that would be a problem.

The most probably is the mobo thats shagged but still worth checking the litttle things first.