I have no idea if any of you guys know anything about computers, but is worth a shot
I built a computer for a friend of mine a few years back. I cant remember all the specs, but nothing too crazy. Anyway last week she tells me that its messed up so I had her bring it by. It was turning itself off and on repeatedly, while never getting to the post screen or really doing anything. Press the power button, fans spin up, lights on, and then off, and repeat.
Eventually I got into windows, and was able to kind of look over a couple things in the bios and in windows. Then I turned it off and tried coming back on again with the same result. Let me just list what I did, and what happened.
Disconnected the panel power button: no change, left off
Disconnected the panel reset button: no change, reinstalled both
Disconnected the main 24pin and jumped it on: powered up and stayed on, but of course no post, reinstalled
Unplugged the video card power: no change, left off
Took out video card: no change, reinstalled
Took out one stick of memory: no change, left out
Took out other stick of memory: no change, reinstalled (also tried swapping them)
Disconnected 8 pin CPU power, powered up and stayed on, no post.
Once I put the 8 pin CPU power back on it started right up. I then checked some voltage in windows using a program and it all looked fine. The power supply is way overkill for the system since it was from a past build. Its a 1200 watt corsair unit.
Anyway I did a bunch of updates, and turned it off and on multiple times with no problems. Then once everything was updated I tried to turn it off and on again and the problem was back.
I am pretty sure at this point that its the MB or the CPU, but I would like to verify which before throwing parts at it. She does not have the money to really do anything, let alone essentially build a new system. So what can I do to narrow down the problem further? Lets assume I don't have interchangeable parts laying around (because IF my stuff is, I don't want to tear my machines down), what can I test out?
I will try and get you guys a parts list of whats in there ASAP. It may have to wait until I am back home in front of the machine though.
Thanks,
Sean
I built a computer for a friend of mine a few years back. I cant remember all the specs, but nothing too crazy. Anyway last week she tells me that its messed up so I had her bring it by. It was turning itself off and on repeatedly, while never getting to the post screen or really doing anything. Press the power button, fans spin up, lights on, and then off, and repeat.
Eventually I got into windows, and was able to kind of look over a couple things in the bios and in windows. Then I turned it off and tried coming back on again with the same result. Let me just list what I did, and what happened.
Disconnected the panel power button: no change, left off
Disconnected the panel reset button: no change, reinstalled both
Disconnected the main 24pin and jumped it on: powered up and stayed on, but of course no post, reinstalled
Unplugged the video card power: no change, left off
Took out video card: no change, reinstalled
Took out one stick of memory: no change, left out
Took out other stick of memory: no change, reinstalled (also tried swapping them)
Disconnected 8 pin CPU power, powered up and stayed on, no post.
Once I put the 8 pin CPU power back on it started right up. I then checked some voltage in windows using a program and it all looked fine. The power supply is way overkill for the system since it was from a past build. Its a 1200 watt corsair unit.
Anyway I did a bunch of updates, and turned it off and on multiple times with no problems. Then once everything was updated I tried to turn it off and on again and the problem was back.
I am pretty sure at this point that its the MB or the CPU, but I would like to verify which before throwing parts at it. She does not have the money to really do anything, let alone essentially build a new system. So what can I do to narrow down the problem further? Lets assume I don't have interchangeable parts laying around (because IF my stuff is, I don't want to tear my machines down), what can I test out?
I will try and get you guys a parts list of whats in there ASAP. It may have to wait until I am back home in front of the machine though.
Thanks,
Sean