Conputer problems

[Kilted KT]

it is eather power or motherboard...
then again, only 256mb of ram, I'm suprised it even works!

I suggest you use the Wookie defense.


KT

[Jerry]

it is eather power or motherboard...
then again, only 256mb of ram, I'm suprised it even works!

I suggest you use the Wookie defense.


KT

It was a bit slow with the ram, but my daughter is bringing my other stick of ram this weekend. I'm going to have her try and get the machine running again. She is just finishing a two year degree in IT and computer tech. I was just curious if anyone had any ideas.

[Southern Breeze]

This is hard to diagnose without getting hands-on. However, here's some things to try.

1.Check the power input.Make sure the cord is plugged in the wall correctly and in the power supply socket. Try a differant cord if possible.

2.Check the power connections inside the case. Make sure the motherboard and all other connections are tight.

3.Check the power supply output with a meter.

4.Check all the peripharels. Disconnect everything. If the power supply works by itself reconnect things one at a time until the problem occurs.

Hope this helps, if it doesn't, buy a universal problem solver-

[chasem]

It sounds like the power supply or motherboard, as the others have mentioned. Possibly (though much more slim) the board is grounding out.

[pbpersson]

Geeks? Do we have geeks here? :rolleyes:

Well.....here's to kilted geekdom....

Here is what I would do:

1. Strip your computer down to minimum - remove all boards and drives. What do you really NEED to get into the BIOS setup screen? Probably just a keyboard and some RAM...and a video connection. Unplug everything else from the motherboard and the power supply.

2. Now....does it boot up, can you get into the BIOS setup....and does it stay up? Well.....it won't boot up because you don't have a floppy but we are just trying to get some life out of it.

3. If you only have the motherboard and power supply and you STILL can't get it to fire up or stay up then you know it has to be one or the other that is bad. If you can get into the BIOS screen and keep things up and running, you can start adding pieces back one at a time.

Phil in Phoenix

[Jerry]

Latest update: As of now, the only thing connected to the supply is the MB.The IDE cables are, however, still connected to the drives and I still have the same problem. Since the same type of problem has happened with two different MBs and three different power supplies, is there anyway the case power switch could cause this kind of problem, if it were to be shorted,either to the case or shorted across the switch?

[Orionsfall]

Probably not,

but the back of most power supplies have a slider switch that swaps between 115v and 230v. Double check that it did not get swapped during the hardware upgrades.

Try reseating the main power connector to your motherboard. The connection may seem tight, but the smallest amount of dust or other debris can cause the connection to fail. Remove it and plug it back in.

Past that I would double check that the risers (Small plastic spacers) between the case and the motherboard are doing their job and not shorting out the board.

-Chris

[Southern Breeze]

Any progress to report?

[Jerry]

Last computer problem update for now. My daughter brought one of her machines this past weekend. We tried the power supply in that machine and it would not even turn on the power led on her mb, so the supply is definitely bad. She was going to try and contact the company I bought it from about a return, but she left to go back to Salem Va before my wife and I got back from the rainy Va Scottish games today, so I have to call her to see what is going on now. So, as of now, I'm running some kind of AMD 1 gig processor with "I donn't know how much ram" on an Linux Mandrake OS (I have strict instructions what not to attempt) and a 4 gig hard drive.