Can't Get System to Power Up - Help!

[cdibi]

I have a P4 2.2 with an ASUS P4PE-X motherboard, ATI Radeon 7000 video card and 512MB PC-2700 memory. The unit will not power up, but the green power light on the board comes on.

The machine is about 2 years old. We recently had a power outage that knocked it out. I tested the power switch, it's OK. I put a new power supply in and no luck. I then purchased the exact same motherboard put it in and it worked.

I proceeded to re-format the hard drive as I wanted to do a clean install on this machine. I left it overnight, it was about 1/2 way through when I left. When I came back in the morning the machine was off again and back to the state it was with the old motherboard. Only the green power light on the board will come on.

Any ideas? I am baffled. Could another component be damaged causing damage to the board? :?

 

[g-paw]

If this happened with 2 different mobo, it's probably CPU or memory, I'd guess the CPU. I had a bad CPU that kept the machine from posting

 

[cdibi]

Would it damage the motherboard if one of those thigs were bad? When I put the new board in it worked great for a few hours.

 

[g-paw]

I wouldn't think it would damage the board, it just wouldn't work. When I had the CPU problem, it wouldn't boot at all. Have you tried formatting the hdd using the mfg's diagnostic/repair software. I believe you said you ran the diagnostic. Have you tried different RAM? I just have to believe if you ran into the same problem with 2 different mobo, it would likely be the CPU, memory, or hdd.

 

[cdibi]

I can't even get the unit to power on. The fans won't kick on or anything. The green power light on the board seems dimmer than it originally was when it was working.

 

[g-paw]

I can't even get the unit to power on. The fans won't kick on or anything. The green power light on the board seems dimmer than it originally was when it was working.

By way of summary: You had a power outage and the computer would turn on, i.e., had a green light but not sure if you had fans, and would not boot up, i.e., you could not get to the BIOS. You put in an identical board and you were able to start to install Windows on the new board. Went to bed during the Windows install when it was half way through and when you went back to the computer it was off and would not boot up. Now the fans are not working, you get the green light, and will not boot. Not clear if this is happening with both boards or only the new one. I would do the following with the new board. Remove it from the case and make sure all the standoffs are secure, you have all the ones you need, and there are no extra ones. Then remove the CPU and clean both the CPU and HSF with alcohol, put on new thermal pasts, just a dab. Connect the power supply to the board making sure that both the 20 pin and 4 pin are connected properly without and connect the fan on the board making sure it's connected to the proper connection and connect the case fan to a molex connector from the PSU and power up without the CPU or memory. I believe the fans should work without the CPU and memory but not absolutely certain. If neither the PSU fan nor the mobo fan start up, it likely would be the PSU and I would try another one. If the PSU fan starts but not the board fan, it's likely the mobo but I would try the second board as well. If everything works or even if the mobo fan isn't working, I'd install the CPU and HSF making sure the HSF is plugged into the appropriate connector on the mobo. Even if the HSF and mobo fans don't start, I would put in the memory and try again. If the fan doesn't start right away, turn it off. If the HSF and mobo fans are not working after this and the case fan is, it's pretty certain that it is the mobo. If the case fan doesn't work, it's pretty certain it's the PSU. If all the fans are working, install the board into the case and see if they are still working. If they are, install the video card. If the machine starts up with the video card, install the hard drive. Given the fans aren't working it really sounds like the PSU or board, the board if the case fan works.