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Dead motherboard? No power whatsoever...

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Hi

So... machine with XP, 512MB RAM, P4 CPU. Kind of an older machine.

User says he would log on to XP and would only be on for a minute, and the computer would shut off.

I turned it on once, just when it started loading the desktop it froze. Restarted the computer, it loaded up...then shut off again.

I go to turn it on again, the machine powers on...but with no video signal. My screen is just displaying colored bars back and forth. I was using a KVM switch, so I tried hooking the system up directly to the monitor...same thing.

Made sure the connection was fine...made sure video card was securly into mobo slot. No change.

I shut the computer off by holding in on the power button for 5-10 seconds. It shut off. I took the second stick of RAM out to try to boot up with one stick...it wouldn't boot at all. No power at all. No light lit on mobo. Took the first stick of RAM out, put the second stick of RAM in the FIRST slot (switched RAM slots) to eliminate any of that...still same thing, nothing.

No power at all. Thought maybe the shut downs and all of a sudden complte deadness of the computer was the result of a gone PSU. Tried another PSU...still no power. Tried diffrent, working power cord...no change. Reset power bar. Nothing.

So could this mean a dead mobo? If a second PSU won't work either? Would replacing the battery on the mobo do any good?

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Power supply Master

Is there a standby power light on the motherboard? If there is and that did not come on when you tried with a known good PSU then the motherboard is likely the culprit. The second PSU you tried is known to work in another system correct?

actually, I'm not sure. It did work last time I tried it, the spare PSU...but I'm not 100% sure. So I'm going to swap it with one that I KNOW works.

To answer your other qustion...no light came on the motherboard with the PSU that wa sin the system, or the one I tried. And he was having shut down problems before. Said it would freeze sometimes when he was only into hte system for a miunte...sometimes as soon as he double clicked an icon on the desktop, it would shut down. It keeps shutting down, no reboot..according to him. But now there's no life in it whatsoever

Hi again...

So I tried another, WORKING PSU of the same wattage. This working PSU was pulled out of another computer that is on pretty much constantly and never has any issues...so it works fine.

I put that swapped , working PSU in the computer thats having the shutdown problems. The light on the mobo lit up and the machine started up fine. The desktop loaded up...and after a couple minutes, the system just shut down again. So, obviously, its not the PSU... cause this was the original problem.

Could the shutdown problems be caused by a faulty mobo or CPU?

Edit: The original PSU in the system would not power on at all after it shut down a couple times. When I put that spare PSU in there, it powered up but still had the shut down problem. So the spare PSU will run, but the original one that wa sin the system will not run at all. Either way, still shuts down. Is it possible the mobo is shorting out and fried the original PSU? Cause with the new PSU, still shuts down.
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Any ideas?? Original PSU is dead... swapped working PSU = system runs and powers up, gets tot he desktop and shuts down. Repeatedly shuts down. It was doing this before the old PSU completely died.

Not sure.. I'll have to check it out. I was thinking it was an overheating problem.. or a faulty mobo or cpu.

edit: I can't check the temps cause I got the original PSU back in the system. Its dead. Won't turn on, no light on mobo...nothing.

Is it possible a faulty mobo or overheated cpu fried the PSU?

edit again:

Ok, there are several problems with this. Its weird I dunno whats going on with this...

Its powered up now, light on the mobo. But no video. Says no single. So I can't get into BIOS to check temps. Before all this though, the system would shut down repeatedly. Thoughts?

well, im actually having a similar problem with one im working on, try unhooking all the drives completely (i know this sounds stupid cause you probably already tried it). Try removing the mobo battery and resetting the CMOS, the owner of the computer may have been trying to overclock it and now the setting is saved at a speed that is way too high. Only other thing i can think of is to try and find a spare P4 processor that will fit in the socket and see if the old one is fried.

hi

I already tried resetting the CMOS.

I don't know wtf is going on. Anyway...I got it on and running now. Its been running for a nice while..has not shut down. Been on for probably an hour or way more than that.

No shut downs yet...but I didn't load the desktop or anything just kept in BIOS to monitor CPU temps a bit. The CPU temps seem normal.. 37-39 it ranges from.

I do notice though that the system is running a bit hot. So i figured I'd put some thermal paste on the bottom of the heatsink. Maybe needs to be re-applied.

I was having video problems too though as I said in my earlier post. So I just happened to put the back of my hand to the vid card to see if it was hot. The video card is running that hot I can't keep my hand on it. So maybe thas the problem. There is a small fan one side of the video card thats running warm. However, the other components, like the RAM is very warm, too and the heatsink fan is blowing warm air. So maybe some thermal paste will help...burt what about the video card? Could i use the same type of thermal compound on that, and how would I apply it as I've never put it on a video card before...

Well I don't have one so...

When i turn the system on, i get the POST beep...and it loads up normally. CPU and system temps are normal... its been on now in safe mode for the last... 5 hrs or so.. never shut off yet. It will eventually though..thats what it does...

Hello again...

So, I've had the computer running in safe mode since last night. Its been on since about 7pm last night and its 10am now.

It hasn't shut down once. Ran a virus scan in safe mode. Didn't pick up anything. The system seems to stay on when just in BIOS settings and in safe mode. Is it possible there may be something running when in XP normal mode, in the background or whatnot that causes the system to repeatedly shut down? It doesn't do a reboot cycle..just shuts down once.

Other than that possibility, the only other thing I can see is that the system may be running too hot. I can't keep my hand on the video card its that hot...and the cooler fan is blowing really warm air. When I restared and when into BIOS the CPU temp was 47. Originally it was about 36, and its on that temp now so..

I was going to do a format... and apply some thermal compound on the top of the CPU chip as well as the video card. Can i use the same thermal geese on the CPU as on the video card though?

Please reply and thanks :) 

you most liley have to redo windows just xp on it by doing a CLEAN install

I was going to do a format... and apply some thermal compound on the top of the CPU chip as well as the video card. Can i use the same thermal geese on the CPU as on the video card though?

YES
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