Posted January 7, 2009 My new PC is, once again, giving my trouble. When the power button is pressed, all the fans start, and the motherboard's logo screen comes up. If I press nothing, it tries to find a disk to boot from, and requests on be put on. If I do nothing, after a varying length of time, the PC shuts down. If I insert a disk, it runs and, after a varying length of time, shuts down. If I try to get the machine to POST, it shuts down. If I try to enter BIOS setup, it shuts down. I I try to load the BIOS flashing functionality, after a varying length of time, it shuts down. I've tried removing the reset switch (in case of a short circuit) and one of the RAM sticks, to no avail. Once again I am forced to call on the few frequenters of the Tech Board to help me and my venture into PC building! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 7, 2009 umm lets see. I'm assuming this is a new pc? Have you checked that the wires for the power button are wired correctly? Have you formatted the disk - like put vista/xp on it? Is everything connected properly, CPU... RAM (you checked this so its okay i suppose) hard disk... graphics card? (this happened to me before and the fan cooler on the CPU wasn't connected properly an it auto senses the heat and turns off - nice safety feature!) Swap your ram around as well, just to be sure. Power supply ample? You havent recently upgraded or anything? Has it been like this since you bought it or a recent problem (if its been working previously it could be an overheat) Checked the capacitors? linkeh Maybe you've done some of this but i'm trying to cover all bases! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 7, 2009 Try clearning the CMOS. hands too tired to give explanation link instead. Too tired to even do a link properly but no big deal new idea. Is your processor heatsink correctly installed. Your pc might be shutting down because of overheating, the temp get too high so a forced shut down? Anyway said link Done properly this time Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 7, 2009 Sounds like a RAM problem. Got the same symptoms when upgrading my brother's PC. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 7, 2009 Looks like my CPU fan wasn't installed correctly - anyone who's seen the other thread I've made will know I hadn't used stand offs. It seems in not doing so, I hadn't pushed the CPU fan's pins in far enough, and as such its contact with the CPU itself was only partial. I realised this must be the issue when my CPU temp was 90+... Thanks for all the advice given, by the way! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 7, 2009 Regret building your own yet? EDIT: By stand-offs you aren't on about the things that keep the mobo away from the case, are you Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 7, 2009 Looks like my CPU fan wasn't installed correctly - anyone who's seen the other thread I've made will know I hadn't used stand offs. It seems in not doing so, I hadn't pushed the CPU fan's pins in far enough, and as such its contact with the CPU itself was only partial. I realised this must be the issue when my CPU temp was 90+... Thanks for all the advice given, by the way! Hehe its really easy to do, some of the fancy fans can be difficult enough to get on! Its a fine line between getting the bloody thing on and the fear of trashing your motherboard! Kudos on getting it figured out! *high fives* Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 7, 2009 Looks like my CPU fan wasn't installed correctly -Thanks for all the advice given, by the way! All hail the great Ten10 & to a lesser/ maybe equal extent Raining again Regret building your own yet? EDIT: By stand-offs you aren't on about the things that keep the mobo away from the case, are you Yes he is, and he's a very lucky man for it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 7, 2009 Is everything connected properly, CPU... RAM (you checked this so its okay i suppose) hard disk... graphics card? (this happened to me before and the fan cooler on the CPU wasn't connected properly an it auto senses the heat and turns off - nice safety feature!) *ahem* P.S - Those "stand off things" stop your motherboard getting borked. For the love of god, use them, don't screw your motherboard directly onto the case Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 7, 2009 *ahem* P.S - Those "stand off things" stop your motherboard getting borked. For the love of god, use them, don't screw your motherboard directly onto the case The manual made no mention of them! If it makes you feel any better, pretty much everyone in this corner of the forum is eligibale for a drink for their respective parts in this campaign of mine. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 8, 2009 For some reason reading the first post /immediately/ made me assume you'd screwed the board onto the case, and I don't know why Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 8, 2009 If it makes you feel any better, pretty much everyone in this corner of the forum is eligibale for a drink for their respective parts in this campaign of mine. Will you ship a pint to the US? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 8, 2009 Ok, my list of problems continues - after updating my audio drivers, I've lost audio, and, more bizarrely, my entire display is tinted pink. EDIT: the pink has gone (just needed to restart my TV). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 8, 2009 Ok, my list of problems continues - after updating my audio drivers, I've lost audio, and, more bizarrely, my entire display is tinted pink. Hmm, I'm not really good with audio, but as for pink screen. check your monitor settings and make sure the Tint isn't way off (shouldn't be if you didn't change it) after checking that, go into your Video Driver (should be ATI Catalyst, down in the taskbar near the time.) and make sure the color on that isn't going wack. If it's neither of those, double check your cables, if it isn't cables it's probably going to be Video card or Monitor, could be physical components or could be drivers. Although.....if it only happened after updating audio....well that's just odd. Basically I'd say just rollback your audio drivers (either by the tool, or with system restore(it should have made a restore point automatically) and just use what works. Edit, blast your ninja edit! Anywho, my suggestion still is rollback and use what did work. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 8, 2009 I've swapped out the AC97 cable for the HD Audio, and now have sound back. However, ever since I've got this thing up and running, I've had an irritating crackling noise at all times. EDIT: I've just noticed something - doing certain things with the mouse (eg spinning the wheel, clicking) it makes the noise. I thought it could be EM radiation effecting the cable, but it still crackles when the mouse is unplugged. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 8, 2009 TV speakers or sound system? If your speakers are seperate check that no wires are loose. Other than that.....well I'm crappy with audio as I already mentioned. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 8, 2009 TV speakers or sound system? If your speakers are seperate check that no wires are loose. Other than that.....well I'm crappy with audio as I already mentioned. Neither- headphones! I may try speakers tomorrow morning - it's 2:40 am here, so my folks wont be best pleased if I try 'em now... EDIT: just tried my PC speakers, they're fine. Looks like it's something to do with my headphones... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 8, 2009 Neither- headphones! I may try speakers tomorrow morning - it's 2:40 am here, so my folks wont be best pleased if I try 'em now... EDIT: just tried my PC speakers, they're fine. Looks like it's something to do with my headphones... That was a quick change of heart. Glad to hear it's not something directly about the PC, sad to hear your headphones are breaking. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 8, 2009 That was a quick change of heart. Glad to hear it's not something directly about the PC, sad to hear your headphones are breaking. The only person it might wake would be my sister, and if you have siblings you'll be aware that not annoying them is low in your list of priorities. I'm annoyed it's my headphones, they're less than 2/3 months old! Random last test I did before I go to bed: the rear socket has no problems. How strange... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 8, 2009 The only person it might wake would be my sister, and if you have siblings you'll be aware that not annoying them is low in your list of priorities. I'm annoyed it's my headphones, they're less than 2/3 months old! Random last test I did before I go to bed: the rear socket has no problems. How strange... Hmm interesting, and I know all about annoying siblings. I can basically do anything atm, and my sister won't care since I babysit for her for free, and trim the lawn and help out. So I gots a free pass of sorts. Edit: Why are you still up?! It's nearly 5, go to bed. Sleep is good for you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 8, 2009 The manual made no mention of them! Fair enough. I'd recommend watching some assembly videos before you start though (bit pointless now, you've learnt what you did wrong). It's quite the stroke of luck that you didn't fry your motherboard and maybe even electricute yourself doing that! EDIT: I'm actually really suprised it gets that far in to the boot process before realising that it's shorting itself Oh, and double check the case manual, IIRC that's where the thing about stand-offs was with my PC. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 8, 2009 Oh jesus, get your mobo off the case and onto the struts stat. You could potentially ruin your mobo doing that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 8, 2009 Yeah, get it onto those struts asap! When I built my first PC, I was lazy and skipped on using some of the struts. My mobo died shortly after and it was expensive to replace. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
