PSU, Mobo or other?

Computer Forum General Hardware
1

Hi. I cannot get anywhere with my computer. It went down sunday morning and I have yet to figure out the problem. I’ve decided that it’s either the psu or the mobo and I’m reasonably sure it’s not the psu.

Sunday when I would turn on the computer, there was about a 2-3 second delay between when I pressed the button and when everything got power but I got nothing. No video signal to the monitor or anything. I even removed the video card entirely and tried with no video and didn’t get the beeps. I tried turning it on with only 1 HDD, the RAM and the video card and keyboard and still nothing.

Monday when I turned on the computer I got nothing at all.

Yesterday is a different story, however. When I got home from work I turned it on and this time only the fans got power, not the HDD. I saw this happen before so I used the paper clip between the green and black wires trick to short the psu. The psu fan did come on. I then plugged it back into the mobo, it sparked a little bit when I plugged it back in at the connection point, and turned it back on and this time the drive got power and the fans as well. I turned it off and back on again and the HDD got power still so I turned it off and plugged in my cd-rom but now the fans got power but no drives. I unplugged the cd-rom and the HDD still got no power but still the fans did. I unplugged the psu from the mobo and plugged it back in but it didn’t help. So then I shorted the psu again, I was showing someone what I did to test the psu, and plugged it back in, again I got a little blue spark when I plugged it in, and again the HDD got power as well as the fans. I then tried plugging in these 2 case fans I have and again all the fans got power but the HDD got none. I tried unplugging the case fans but still the HDD got now power.

I want to say that it’s a mobo problem because the psu fan did come on when I shorted it but that test isn’t 100% and I really have no idea.

I’ve had the mobo for 2 years and the psu for a little over a year now. I added the video card around July of this year, the 2 case fans around the same time and a new memory chip around June. I didn’t have a problem with any of it until now. I’d try another psu in my box but I’d have to buy one first…just wanted to know if anyone had any ideas before I started shelling out cash.

Abit KG7-R
AMD Athlon XP 1500+
Antec 350W PSU

Thanks in advance.

2

Reading over your post, I’m at the same conclusion you are: the mobo or the PSU. The PSU is what I’d look into replacing first. You should be able to RMA that PSU to antec, but I doubt you’ll want to wait several weeks for a new PSU. If you’re wary about Antec, I suggest Sparkle, but otherwise stick with a new Antec and just RMA the 350W so you have a spare around. As long as you test with a decent 300W PSU, you can probably determine what’s up with a stripped down config at least.

3

I just had similar problems…

I just had a KG7-RAID fry out on me this week! I replaced the PSU, tested the RAM, etc, but I still had problems. As it turned out, the old AMD 761 northbridge had partially failed, causing major instability. I replaced the mainboard with a new KV7-SATA and haven’t had a single problem since; all other components survived. Got my MoBo at http://www.newegg.com for around $80, if it helps.

4

Oh, and mad props for Newegg. Generally the best prices overall AND kick-ass service to boot.