Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler IT guy needs computer help, go figure :)

Ok so I came home from work tonight planning on jumping on the net and talking to you guys. I usually leave my computer in standby mode, since we got broadband internet I like being able to jump on and not have to use dialup.

Anyway, last night I actually turned it off to give it a break So I walk in the door and push the power button, what happens, the greeen led light flashes for a second and nothing. So I flip off/on the surge and try it again, same thing, quick flash of the green led and nothing. Then I tried flipping off/on the main switch on the back to the power supply, same thing.

This pc is one I built myself about 2 years ago, it is a 1.2ghz Athlon and I have had great luck until now.

So what is it, the power supply shot, the switch screwed up?

Any ideas. this really sucks as I was going to burn, oops I mean make an archive copy of a DVD that I own

Randy

Since the green light turned on for a bit then turned off, it'd be a reasonable assumption to say that the PSU was the culprit. You are lucky that it didn't die when the computer was on. Many people lose a lot of hardware from dying PSUs. That is why I never skimp on a PSU.

It's really hard to trouble shoot over the phone much less in a forum... but make sure the orange switch (usually) below the power supply switch is set to 115, if it is, try switching it to 220 or whatever the other setting is and then back to 115. Then try turning the pc on again.

Follow these steps.

Hey John......OT.

Hope you got PM.....didn't seem to get usual confirmation upon "Send" activation

Well there is an Orange switch, it was on 115, so just for kicks I switched it to 230, when I turn the main power switch on I have power, the green light stays on and I can hear the fan spinning, however, the pc never boots up and the hard drive light is not active. When I go back to 115, same thing. I don't remember the brand of motherboard I installed but there are 4-5 led lights near the back that are supposed to be helpful for showing the status, I noticed they are all red during the brief second it starts to power up...

Randy

I've got a few Power Supplies from older pc's, I wonder if I could swap one of them into this machine?

NOT, just spent the last 20 minutes trying to find my old pc boxed up in the basement, pulled out the power supply, and the motherboard connectors are different

I wrote down the PSU in my current system:

I'll have to do some searching on the net to see if I can find a replacement, or call the place locally I bought the parts from to see if they can get me one

It should be an ATX power supply if the mobo is anything relatively recent. Did you make sure that the power connection to the mobo is secure? Try pulling it out and plugging it back in. It also sounds like a grounding issue with the mobo and the case, which would explain the powering on for a second then quiting. Since it is a computer that you built I would strongly consider making sure that the mobo is not touching the metal of the case at all.... generally this is caused by one of the stands that the mobo sits on falling out. Kinda hard to explain... but unscrew the side of the case that the mobo is on and make sure all the brackets are properly seated.

If you have the model number and manufacture for the mobo and/or the power supply I'll try to help you look up a manual for both and let you know what type of power supply you need, if that is in fact what is wrong.

If you want to just go ahead an get a power supply then I would suggest www.newegg.com. I've ordered from then on many occasions and they are the best, hands down.

You can try testing the ATX power supply by removing it and taking the main connector of wires, and instering a paperclip or something to short the green wire to ground (black) If its an ATX its the only green wire there is on that connector. It should turn on the power supply. You really dont need a model number. Just know what size you need and how much wattage you think you'll need they all pretty much do the same thing. 3.3v(orange) ,5v,(red) and 12v (yellow).


also comes in handy if you ever need a power supply for.... whatever. Since they are so versatile. Im currently finisng up a project using a Cdrom for a cdp, powered by a computer PS. More on that next week when its all done though.

Thanks guys, it is a Deer brand DR-A300ATX 300watt power supply which came with this Athlon 1.2 machine. The motherboard is a MSI Microstar if memory serves me correctly. Yes, I can check the grounding issue of the motherboard to the case. When temporarily switching to 230 mode, I do get power, however the hard drive does not kick on, not sure if that has to do with the incorrect voltage.

I have found articles on the net where the Deer PSU's have had stability problems. Mine has lasted 4-5 years so I guess that is not so bad I'll keep ya all posted...Randy