PCTech Forums

Hi guys, its been a while.

My dads PC has suddenly decided not to power up. First thing i thought was the PSU, so i replaced it but still the same.
I also bypasses the front switch but no joy. I also tried disconnecting the RAM.
It was an upgrade mobo i did last yr running windows xp, AMD x3 cpu and 2Gb RAM but has been running fine up to now.

Any ideas?

KenA,

It sounds like the system isn't even reaching the POST (power on self test) because if it was reaching POST you would have gotten an error message about the ram.

Tracing down this type of failed power-up can be difficult, are there any daughter boards like sound card, network card or other device that plugs into the mother board?
If so try removing them one at a time and see if that resolve the boot-up issue.

I've also seen a bad mouse, a bad keyboard and a DVD drive cause this type of problem so check them as well.
You can also try disconnecting the hard drive to see if that will get you an error.

Otherwise you are looking at the motherboard or CPU as the culprit.

Its not reaching POST at all....not a tickle out of it. like as if the psu was dead.
theres no daughter boards attached, all are on the mobo.

As i said earlier, the motherboard and cpu were only installed by me last yr as an upgrade kit and has hardly gotten much use as his main device is his laptop..

I havent disconnected any of the peripherals or the HDD yet so ill try that tomorrow and report back.

I would suggest memory could be the issue. Disconnect the power to the MB. Pop them all out and try one stick at a time. Sometimes just reseating the memory will get it to boot up