Help??. Building own PC and won't boot!!

[ukjane]

Hi,

I've just my own PC, well husband did and it won't boot. There is power to the motherboard, the fan on the processor spins and then cuts out, pc doesn't even get as far as the BIOS. There are no motherboard jumper settings for clock speed, it's all in the BIOS and I don't get that far. I've also swapped the RAM around and we have double checked all the cables are in correct place. Motherboard troubleshooting guide is non existant.

I've trawled the net for advice, but found nothing. My next step is to take it into a PC repair centre tommorow, as I have no other components available to start swapping things out.

Any ideas.

 

[ANFPS26]

This FAQ might help:
faq602-2731 Jim

Please come back and let us know if your
problem is fixed and what fixed it!!

 

[Bossbambos]

Could you please give as any more info about the hardware, like motherboard make model, cpu, graphic card ......
If we have more info will try and help you.

 

[ukjane]

Hi we have.

Abit At7-MAX2 Motherboard
350Watt ATX Case (Could this be the problem?)
AMD Athlon 2400+ Processor
2 x 512MB DDR 2100 RAM
8 x AGP 64MB Geforce 4 Graphics Card
120GB HDD
Floppy Drive
MultiCard Reader

Obviously we have tried booting up without any of the extra bits, with just the mobo, cpu and ram.

Could I have a faulty cmos battery on the mobo could that cause this prob?

 

[Bossbambos]

As you already suspected the first think I will check is the PSU as it sounds very under power for a 2400+ and 1Gig of DDR plus a geforce4, hdd....
One more item to check, try and see if the graphic card is sitting probably.

 

[ukjane]

OK. Don't laugh please.

When you put a fan on the CPU remember to remove the piece of plastic from the bottom of the heatsink when you connect it onto the CPU. It won't boot up otherwise, as it obviously needs a connection between the CPU and heatsink.

Silly husband, I now have to go and make fun of him.

Cheerio,

Maybe it's one you could add to your FAQ's, or would anyone really be that stupid??

Jane

 

[wlpsyp]

Video card issue. Had the same problem, it is a issue with the AGP slot. If you put in a old PCI Video Card it should boot. Then load the OS etc. AFTER the OS is loaded and the 4x1 VIA Drivers are installed then install the AGP Video card.

 

[paparazi]

ukjane!
Hope you havn't damaged the processor as it was obviously overheating without proper heat transfer to the heatsink/fan, fingers crossed. Martin Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[flipineck]

Hi ukjane,

You obviously solved the problem yourself through logical progression, so don't feel bad at all. I'm no expert but I do build and repair computers for our company, many a time I've blundered and spent hours troubleshooting a mistake that I had made. This just builds up your own experience base and I'll add yours to my own. Thanks for the experience, you never know I may come across it myself.