My desktop PC doesn't seem to want to start up any more, it won't even start the POST, it just starts the fans and then after 5 or so seconds stops itself.

I replaced the Power Supply not that long ago so I'm thinking it's something a bit more serious. I've removed all the cards and drives and tried to run it also tried it with no memory and still the same so I think it's got to be Mainboard, Chip or Power Supply.

If I upgrade the board etc I think will be going for an Athlon 64 939 pin. I have shortlisted the Asus A8N-E Nforce4 Ultra PCI-E DDR400 GB LAN SATA from Novatech. Does anyone have any experiance of this board is it ok?

Any better recomendations for a budget setup not required for gaming.

Sounds like a problem with the CPU fan, most motherboards have a failsafe when it doesnt get a signal from the speed monitoring part of the cpu fan and cut the power. Three possible causes to this, 1) the fan is broken and not going round (obvious). 2) the fan is plugged into the wrong mobo header. 3) The sensor in the fan has bust.

Hmm.

The fan spins up on the chip and i've not removed the connector at all so it shouldn't be that. There is a speed sensing wire in the fan but the mobo should run without that shouldn't it.

Think I have another fan around here, I'll try it later.

There is a speed sensing wire in the fan but the mobo should run without that shouldn't it.

My one doesnt, I know as I spent ages doing a fault diag only to realise the mistake I made with the CPU fan.

Ditto for mine (i.e. it won't run) - one of the mobos I had refused to run even with a working fan & speed sensor due to it having a min speed required (which the large fan didn't actually hit, ever). Ended up dropping a temporary fan on the master connector with the CPU fan on a secondary one, so I could get into the bios and change the settings.

The fact it first starts at all does point towards a sensor deciding it's not safe to start the board. Could be shorted out too but as you've had the machine for a while, I doubt it.

Still sounds PSU could be a problem though :confused:

Swapped the fans over and still no joy i'm afraid. Any more ides?

Hi Stu,

Try taking out the memory, and reseating it and doing the same with the graphics card.

Do you get any of the beep codes from the motherboard ?

If it shuts down after a few seconds have a check of all of the electrolytic capacitors on the motherboard as a large batch of faulty caps made it onto the market a while ago. These cause the voltage regulation to go off, and caused me problems like you describe with a large number of PC's i was trying to image.

The bad caps will have a bulge at the top, or some white/brown crud over them. IF you find any let me know and I can probably source some new ones and change them for you.

Already took the memory out but no dice. My board is an MSI one with the diag LED's but it doesn't even register anything on that.

I'm gonna strip it tonight and rebuild it, i'll have a look at the components.

The ones i had problems with were MSI boards too, again with the diag LEDs again showing nothing.

Let me know if you need any new caps sourcing

ok mate, ta.

Mine does this occasionally and I've found ripping it apart and cleaning it out works. I take all the cards out and hoover the dust out (:eek: I know what some of you are thinking but it works)

Caps all look ok, so It looks like it's toast.

Hmm on the premise you can't trace it down to one componenet, i'd say not to waste your money trying to repair a mobo as you may then have to get a new gfx card etc.

SOunds like it might well be time to start looking towards a new system :(

I saw a blinder on Dell Outlet earlier but resisted the urge.

I'm going to try and manage with my laptop until something comes up. Bloke at work has offered me a S/H Socket A board to try.