Computer not turning on properly

alchanalchan
edited August 2004 in Hardware
Hey... I've got a problem.

I recently built this computer for my friend... everything's connected (should be correctly too) and there aren't any peripherals attached to the thing. I tried to start it up for the first time.

At first, it powered up with no problem, and then it turned off after a few seconds. And then it started up again, and turned off immediately after. The standby light on the mobo is on. There's also a 350w power supply in the case, so I don't think that's the problem.

I don't want to restart from scratch, but I have no idea what's going on. Anyone know what could be the problem?


I also have a problem with my own computer. I bought a 200gb WD ATA HD (stupid me), and it was working fine. but then after i reformatted my hd to reinstall windows xp pro, it started reading it only as a 130gb hd. What could be wrong?

Comments

  • gibbonslgibbonsl Grand Forks AFB
    edited August 2004
    sounds like the cop kiking in

    what is the temp for the CPU

    might want to look at the HSF installation
  • gibbonslgibbonsl Grand Forks AFB
    edited August 2004
    dose the second problem comp have at least SP1 installed

    xp needs sp1 (sometimes) to read HD larger then 137 gigs
  • TMOATMOA from guys like madmat
    edited August 2004
    Try swaping ram sticks on your buddies comp i had the same issue 2 days ago after a install of a new mobo on my pc (altho i was just installing the mobo onto a existing system) it turned out my ram had to be in specific slots ...just a thought
    Also take the mobo out of the case to make sure its not grounding out on the chassis

    by the by what mobo/ram/case is it?
  • JChretienJChretien Vancouver, BC, Canada
    edited August 2004
    Hahaha i have the same WD 2000JB =D just need SP1 to make it work...or the WD data lifeguard thingy.. that works too
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited August 2004
    alchan wrote:
    Hey... I've got a problem.

    I recently built this computer for my friend... everything's connected (should be correctly too) and there aren't any peripherals attached to the thing. I tried to start it up for the first time.

    At first, it powered up with no problem, and then it turned off after a few seconds. And then it started up again, and turned off immediately after. The standby light on the mobo is on. There's also a 350w power supply in the case, so I don't think that's the problem.

    I don't want to restart from scratch, but I have no idea what's going on. Anyone know what could be the problem?


    I also have a problem with my own computer. I bought a 200gb WD ATA HD (stupid me), and it was working fine. but then after i reformatted my hd to reinstall windows xp pro, it started reading it only as a 130gb hd. What could be wrong?


    I'm thinking it's the PSU. Disconnect all drives except a Floppy drive. Remove all cards except the Video card (What is the Video card BTW. DX9 Cards (ATI & Nvidia) pull a lot of power). Try to boot then. If you can boot the computer and enter/save BIOS, you need a better PSU.
  • alchanalchan
    edited August 2004
    gibbonsl wrote:
    sounds like the cop kiking in

    what is the temp for the CPU

    might want to look at the HSF installation

    Well, the CPU didn't even really start running yet. It won't even start up the first time for longer than a few seconds :(
  • alchanalchan
    edited August 2004
    gibbonsl wrote:
    dose the second problem comp have at least SP1 installed

    xp needs sp1 (sometimes) to read HD larger then 137 gigs
    Yeah, it's got SP1.

    Edit:
    Yeah... so I checked my computer manager and I realized that the hard drive is being read at the full capacity. It musta been before I installed SP1 and formatting it before then. Too bad I lost all the crap I had on there. :(

    Thanks for all your help. Hopefully I can get the first computer to work. Thanks everyone!
  • alchanalchan
    edited August 2004
    TMOA wrote:
    Try swaping ram sticks on your buddies comp i had the same issue 2 days ago after a install of a new mobo on my pc (altho i was just installing the mobo onto a existing system) it turned out my ram had to be in specific slots ...just a thought
    Also take the mobo out of the case to make sure its not grounding out on the chassis

    by the by what mobo/ram/case is it?
    The mobo is an Asus, not exactly sure of the model number since I don't have it with me. The RAM is corsair I believe, or crucial pc2700. And the Case is the AspireX Dreamer II... which did not come with a manual and that sucks. I don't think it's the RAM problem, but i'll test it out anyway. I believe I installed it into the right slot.
  • alchanalchan
    edited August 2004
    Omega65 wrote:
    I'm thinking it's the PSU. Disconnect all drives except a Floppy drive. Remove all cards except the Video card (What is the Video card BTW. DX9 Cards (ATI & Nvidia) pull a lot of power). Try to boot then. If you can boot the computer and enter/save BIOS, you need a better PSU.
    Well, reviews of the power supply said it suck. But it's got integrated graphics, 1 cd-rw drive, 1 floppy... and integrated sound. It's a 350w power supply, but i think i'm gonna just pick up an antec from work and if it doesn't work, then i'll just return it.
  • gibbonslgibbonsl Grand Forks AFB
    edited August 2004
    alchan wrote:
    Well, the CPU didn't even really start running yet. It won't even start up the first time for longer than a few seconds :(

    that will happen if they processior overheats

    does not take very long eather
  • alchanalchan
    edited August 2004
    gibbonsl wrote:
    that will happen if they processior overheats

    does not take very long eather

    I don't think you understand what I'm saying. It's like a flickering of a light switch. It turns on, then immediately turns off. And then it turns back on again. And then it stops running completely.
  • TiribulusTiribulus HOCKEYTOWN USA
    edited August 2004
    alchan wrote:
    I don't think you understand what I'm saying. It's like a flickering of a light switch. It turns on, then immediately turns off. And then it turns back on again. And then it stops running completely.
    I'm with Omega here. If you can try a different power supply, do that. It definitely sounds like power somewhere. You want to chase it down as soon as you can because you may be doing incremental damage to the other parts each time you try to turn it on.
    >>>--Tiribulus->:D
  • alchanalchan
    edited August 2004
    Tiribulus wrote:
    I'm with Omega here. If you can try a different power supply, do that. It definitely sounds like power somewhere. You want to chase it down as soon as you can because you may be doing incremental damage to the other parts each time you try to turn it on.
    >>>--Tiribulus->:D
    Yeah... I'm just gonna pick up an Antec 380w PS... if that doesn't work, I'm pretty much screwed. :(
  • TiribulusTiribulus HOCKEYTOWN USA
    edited August 2004
    It is always possible that it's just a bad board. Do you get any display/post at all or does it die before that?
    >>>--Tiribulus-> :D
  • alchanalchan
    edited August 2004
    It dies like 2 seconds after I plug it in. The SB light stays on as long as it's got power going in though, so I don't think it's the mobo's problem.

    I tried a new power supply, antec 430w... no change.
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited August 2004
    Clear CMOS (30sec) , Clean off the CPU, use a very thin coating of Heatsink paste & Reseat the heatsink.
  • TiribulusTiribulus HOCKEYTOWN USA
    edited August 2004
    Somebody said this already I think, but make sure everything's seated too. I had an issue once where the machine acted like it wasn't plugged in at all until I reseated the memory. Ususally you'll get beep codes for something like that. Never seen it before or since and I know your problem's different, but it's an easy troubleshooting step. You might want to try starting it out of the case altogether. Also, lights are no ironclad guarantee that the board's not still bad. One other thing. I didn't see anywhere where you said if this is an intel or AMD rig. If AMD, and the cooling was mounted wrong, it's worth a try but you probably fried it even if there are no visible signs. I have two sitting in front of me as I type this that someone would buy to look at them, but they are definitely non-compus-mendus. Failed mounting experiments :rant: However not knowing or seen everything I suppose it's possible to have mounted it wrongly enough not to boot, but not enough to kill it though I'd bet against it. Oh yeah, if the board has fan protection and there's no fan on the cpu fan header, this can also cause things like this.
    >>>--Tiribulus-> :D
  • alchanalchan
    edited August 2004
    This is an AMD... I have no idea what's wrong. I'm gonna see if I can get New Egg to accept the return. The HSF and Heatsink are seated properly. I have no idea. I'm having all sorts of problems lately. My own computer isn't freakin workin now and I'm gonna get some guy to take a look at it hopefully.
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited August 2004
    Newegg is great about warrenty returns.

    On the WD drive place the (Master, Slave CS) jumper on Cable Select (CS). Some mobos have problems with WD drives.
  • alchanalchan
    edited August 2004
    Omega65 wrote:
    Newegg is great about warrenty returns.

    On the WD drive place the (Master, Slave CS) jumper on Cable Select (CS). Some mobos have problems with WD drives.
    i wish it was with the WD drive :(
    unfortunately, it's my primary hd, the seagate. it just isn't reading the master.
  • TiribulusTiribulus HOCKEYTOWN USA
    edited August 2004
    Omega65 wrote:
    On the WD drive place the (Master, Slave CS) jumper on Cable Select (CS). Some mobos have problems with WD drives.

    Quite so! A couple at work we had to take the jumper all the way off to have them recognized as slaves when trying to to recover user's data off them.
    >>>--Tiribulus->:bigggrin:
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