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A few things. I’m a newb to working on computers but I’m a DIYer at heart so I always try to get my hands dirty. I’ve done as much research as possible and tried to learn piece meal, but so far I’m still at a loss as to what’s wrong with it.
From what I’ve been told, before I got home the comp lights would come on and when you hit the power switch the fans would briefly kick on, the power light would remain orange, and then it would shut down again. By the time I got home it wouldn’t do anything. when you plug it in the green light on the back of the power supply comes on - but only sometimes. I tried to disconnect and re-seat everything; I see nothing that could be causing a short.
My first thought: must be the power supply. Dug out the two old comps from the closet and one of them had a power supply that would fit this computer. I replaced it, but had the same problem. The orange light under the power button stayed on the front of the comp, the fans would kick on briefly, and then nothing. The orange light would occasionally go off.
My second thought: A short in the power button. It seems to be connected properly, it is seated well, but I have no idea ho to check it for a short or replace it.
I figured I would go ahead and ask you guys if that is a likely problem or if the issue probably lies in another piece of hardware.
Long shot - also replaced battery on motherboard. No difference. Is it possible the problem is the power supply and I haven’t hooked it up properly? Everything looks correct- I have triple checked it and I see no obvious errors…
I would first disconnect all peripherals on the computer, cd drives, hard drives, etc and try to boot with just the cpu(and its fan), 1 stick of ram, and the video connected and leave everything else disconnected. See if it will come up at all. Ideally it would boot to an error about no system disk or maybe no keyboard. If it does not make it to that point, the problem is either ram, power supply, system board, or cpu(because is nothing else connected). You mentioned that the light on the back of the power supply does not light up all the time when you plug it in. Have you tried using a different electrical outlet or power strip in case there is a problem with the outlet you are currently connected to? Also try a different power cord if you have not swapped that out. Also, try one of the other power supplies again with just the minimal hardware installed to see if it will come up. Are you sure that the other powersupplies are still working with those old computers, if they are old they could have gone bad, especially if they have not been used in a while. Another thing to try is taking the system board out of the computer case and placing it on a non conductive surface like cardboard, and try booting it on that. If you are missing some of the riser screws in the computer case, the system board may be touching some metal inside of it causing a short. Something else to try to is unplugging the power supply, removing the battery, and then hold down the power button to let the board discharge any built up charge it may have had. Then try booting again. You can also try reseating the cables and connectors on the board, and maybe reseat the cpu as well, just make sure if you take off the heat sink you reapply thermal paste to it and then try it again. Also, if you think it may be the power switch, you can unplug the switch from the system board and then use a flat heat screwdriver and touch the pints that the power switch was on. This should jumpstart the pc as all the power switch does is make a connection between those 2 pins to signal the computer to turn on.
I have tried different outlets and power cords- I forgot to mention that was one of the first things I did (it can never be a simple fix, huh? Lol.) There are no loose screws in the case and it functioned just fine for two years before I even opened the case; so while not impossible I doubt it would be missing any riser screws. The other old comps will start and function, they are just a little dated for what we need.
With the new power supply I tried to boot with just cpu, 1 ram stick, and video. No luck. I haven’t tried your other suggestions but I will update as I do.
I really appreciate the help- but I think I’m SOL at this point.
If they are compatible with your older computers, will the RAM and Video work in those? If they do, and a new power supply will not work, the next thing I would look at is the system board, and lastly would be the cpu.
