Computer powers on, then immediately powers off

JimRune · October 7th, 2007, 08:30 PM

I bought a Gigabyte board.. The model number is.. I dunno. I already looked at the troubleshooting part of Gigabyte's website for that board, didn't help much.

Yes, the processor is compatible with the board.

Turns out it wasn't the power switch, it's all connected fine. From what I can tell, there is indeed a bad connection somewhere. I don't know where, I don't know where to look, I don't know how to find this bad connection..

My father did something to the computer while I was at work and now it turns on, stays on, and I can open my disc drives fine. However, there is no video going to my monitor either from onboard or my video card, and I plugged speakers into it but did not get a POST beep.

I bought a POST diagnostic card, however I don't know if it will work. Does the POST diagnostic card need the BIOS to tell if there's an error somewhere? Because I don't want to plug this in and find that out, since the BIOS doesn't appear to be loading right now. I want to return the thing if it's not going to help me figure out where the problem lies.

Everything for the power supply is plugged in firmly and everything is now getting power where it should. I just wish I could pinpoint where this broken connection is.

JimRune · October 7th, 2007, 10:17 PM

Okay, apparently what my dad did was buy new thermal paste and apply it to the processor. This solved the computer not powering on/turning off problem. However, the computer still won't boot.

I've noticed that when I put the heatsink on top of the processor, it is loose and slides around easily, even when the little hooks are in place. Only when I push down the latch on the heatsink to lock it in place does it not move. Now, with my old heatsink, it took a lot of effort just to get it latched onto the motherboard and it stayed in place just from that. The way this HSF is loose until it's locked down worries me. This is in both Socket AM2 motherboards.

Is AMD known to ship faulty heatsinks?

KarmaKiller · October 7th, 2007, 10:35 PM

No, most heatsinks are that way. You should be able to move them until they are"locked down". And really the only way the heatsink could be faulty is by the fan not working, or a big gouge in the bottom of it.
Did you not have thermal paste on before?

JimRune · October 8th, 2007, 11:04 PM

No, I did have thermal paste on before. It was the stock thermal paste that came pre-applied with the heatsink. It got smudged off from removing it several times and that is why the system would immediately power down.. Or so I thought.

I removed the CPU to inspect it to make absolutely sure no pins were damaged and then reseated the processor. Upon doing so, the computer would immediately shut down again. After reseating it several times afterwards in the hopes it would power on and stay on like before, nothing like that happened. Since these same symptoms were appearing with two different power supplies and two different motherboards, I decided that the CPU is faulty and RMA'd it back to Newegg. I never thought it would be the CPU that would be DOA, but I'm pretty sure it is. There's a much larger chance of that being the case then the power supply and two motherboards I bought being the faulty ones.

JimRune · October 13th, 2007, 05:03 PM

So, does anyone think this is a sign of a bad CPU or bad motherboard?

I still haven't gotten my new processor back yet, I'm hoping it will arrive by next Friday, but if that doesn't fix the problem, then what?

electric · October 14th, 2007, 01:11 AM

if the new CPU doesn't get a response i would clear the CMOS and
see if you get any reaction

plus i would try if possible install an update to the BIOS
not sure but you may be on boot use the end key to start the process
[ check manual for info ]

ps...i'm going to buy this processor but a different board in the next
two week or so ,so interest how you make out

JimRune · October 14th, 2007, 08:49 PM

I'll check the manual when I get back home about that.

Anyway, I threw in a POST diagnostic card into my computer and checked out what it had to say on both my new motherboards. On the first one I got, it gives me two different error codes; one that involves something about autosize cache I think, and the other one dealing with the floppy controller. Doesn't make sense, because there's no processor installed, so it shouldn't even be getting past the processor checks.

With the second motherboard, the POST card doesn't even turn on. I put my video card on that board to see if there was any power going through it and sure enough the fan and lights turn on.. So why wouldn't the POST card turn on with that board? Bad board?

I'm going to be quite disappointed if I now have two DOA motherboards...

JimRune · October 20th, 2007, 03:34 PM

So, I have my new 6000+ in.

However, I'm afraid to try it in the motherboard I have. One of the motherboard's I have, I'm fairly certain is defective. I have another one I bought locally that I'm not sure about.

I now know that a bad motherboard will ruin a good processor, here's the deal:

Do I try the processor in the motherboard I think is good or do I RMA the bad motherboard, wait the two weeks for it to come in, and try it out in there? Problem is that I'm in class, and I urgently need a home computer to do everything I need to do on it. Another problem is that the brand of motherboard I bought from Newegg, some people have had to RMA it 3 or 4 times because it kept arriving DOA. It's a GIGABYTE, the one I bought locally is an MSI.

So, do I go back to my place right now and take my chances, or should I play it safe, bite the bullet, and do what I need to do at the library computers for two weeks?

**You've got a few threads going already on this subject no need for another one!! Threads merged**
-Rich

RamonGTP · October 21st, 2007, 02:08 AM

You've already RMA'd the board once have you not?

More often then not, a bad motherbaord will generally just be unstable or not boot. Unless there is a serious problem with the voltage regulators, which is rarely the case on new boards, but can be common with old boards, especailly one with failing capacitors, I doubt you'll do any harm to the CPU.

Plus, you said you have two boards anyway, so just try it in whichever one you feel more comfortable with. No sense it waiting two weeks (atleast) when you have two options you can try right now.

JimRune · October 21st, 2007, 03:00 AM

I did not RMA the board, I RMA'd the processor because I was getting the same "no boot, no post" symptoms with both boards.

However, I put a POST card inside the motherboards and powered them up without the processor, to see if they would halt on a processor error. One did not, and the other one did not even power up the card. However, my video card fans came on. Now, I don't know if a motherboard is naturally supposed to give POST beeps, because these aren't, and my old motherboard did not despite me being able to boot up and use the computer fine for two years.

Anyway, I'll give the new CPU a try in the MSI motherboard. If it still doesn't boot, I'm going to go mad.