Re: computer troubleshooting help needed.

["Erik A. Lilleskov" <elillesk@xxxxxxx>]

Jeffrey, Thanks for the detailed advice. See below.

On Sep 23, 2008, at 1:09 PM, Jeffrey W. Petcoff wrote:

> FYI: I will not pay for any damages or injuries resulting from you  
> following
> the advice bellow, if you do not accept these terms delete this e- 
> mail or
> don't read it, your choice.
Of course!

> Hopefully I'm not repeating what others have told you already but  
> here is my
> two cents.
>
> 1. Disconnect anything that you don't need for the computer to  
> boot, we just
> want to get the BIOS to run at this point. Basically the only thing  
> you want
> connected to the motherboard are: the Power supply, Processor, RAM,  
> and
> Video card plus the cooling fans for the video card, and processor.
Done this before, no luck.

> * Try to turn the computer on if you see information on the monitor  
> and no
> errors other than; cannot find Operating System or some message  
> along the
> same lines it means your motherboard, RAM and Proc are not the  
> problem.
> ** If the above does not work, try the electrical tape Idea of  
> keeping the
> motherboard from touching the case basically what I would do is put  
> the
> motherboard on a phone book or on the box the motherboard came in  
> (brown
> card board area, nothing glossy), attach everything as I stated  
> earlier and
> retry. (if this works your motherboard is shorting out on the case
> somewhere, DO NOT KEEP IT SET UP IN THIS MANNER FOR EXTENDED PERIOD  
> OF TIME,
> THE CASE also SERVES the PERPOSE OF GROUNDING ALL things attached  
> to the
> motherboard)

Thanks, I'll try this with Eli when he has some down time.

> ***If you do not see any information appear on the screen I would  
> start to
> suspect the power supply reason being I'm not sure what video card  
> your
> using with out much more detail like model number (unfortunately a  
> lot of
> video cards mach the info you provided)If you can find one that  
> does not
> need to be plugged into the power supply to work an old PCI video  
> card would
> work.  Here is the reason I would be looking into the power supply  
> as the
> problem the one I found online that matched the information you  
> provided has
> dual rails meaning that 400W power supply is actually a 200W power  
> supply
> for one set of leads and 200W on another set of leads If your  
> motherboard
> requires more power than this or the video card needs more power  
> than this
> it would cause problems. Specs on power supply I believe is yours:  
> Rail 1 =
> Current +12.0V1 (A) 14A, Rail 2 = Current +12.0V2 (A) 15A, Current  
> +3.3V (A)
> 30A, Current +5.0V (A) 28A, Current +5.0Vsb (A) 2.5A

Here are the specs on the power supply:
>

Applications
•
Ideal for adding PCI Express and SATA power support to existing  
computers
•
The perfect choice for new system builds and upgrades, including dual  
core CPU (Pentium D, Core 2 Duo, Athlon 64 X2) system designs

> Link to your power supply specs (I think)
> http://www.startech.com/item-specs/ATX2POW400HS-400-Watt-Silent- 
> ATX12V-201-P
> 4-Power-Supply-with-12cm-Fan.aspx
>
> *** big thing here though is to at least limit the problem to the bare
> minimum if the above doesn't work try a less powerful video card  
> (if this
> works, It could mean the original video card is bad, it could also  
> mean the
> power supply can't power the video card and or motherboard).

Will try next if checking for shorts on MB doesn't work.
> FYI: Wal-Mart has an awesome return policy and cheap video cards to  
> boot.
> FYI^2: if you are going to tell them the truth on why you are  
> returning the
> less power full video card, maybe not a good Idea, your call I'd  
> try a to
> barrow a friends if you can (old cheap PCI video card that doesn't  
> need
> additional power from the power supply to run).
>
> If any step above works start adding additional Items one at a time  
> to the
> motherboard remembering to disconnect the power from the wall and  
> letting
> the capacitors discharge before adding components to the  
> motherboard.  This
> will take sometime since you want to connect one thing, boot  
> computer see if
> it still works, shut the computer down add another item, and boot  
> computer,
> turn off, and so forth. When the computer won't turn on or boot  
> anymore you
> have possibly found your problem.

Thanks for the detailed message
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-lug-l@xxxxxxx [mailto:owner-lug-l@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of  
> Erik A.
> Lilleskov
> Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2008 11:45 PM
> To: lug-l@xxxxxxx
> Subject: computer troubleshooting help needed.
>
> Hello LUG,
>
> We have just joined the LUG.
>
> We are having some first-time home-assembled computer problems. If
> you are willing to try to help us troubleshoot, please read details
> below.
>
> My son Eli (age 13, Houghton Middle School) decided to build his
> first computer. I'm little (no) help, never having done it myself.
> He did the research, got the compatible parts, and then started
> assembling. I started helping after the motherboard was mounted in
> the case, and CPU in the motherboard. We continued, followed all
> instructions and started it up. All we got was 2 seconds of fans (CPU
> fan, case and power supply fans; video card fan did not start,
> although it does move slightly-- don't know if this is normal), then
> an automatic power-down.  If we do this three times in a row it
> doesn't start up right away, but will after a minute or less.
>
> Here are the Specs on the parts we used:
>
> Motherboard-Model: nForce 650i Ultra (supports Intel Socket 775
> processors)
> 			 Manufacturer: BFG Tech/ NVIDEA
>
> CPU-Model: E6600 Core 2 Duo
> 	  Manufacturer: Intel Corp.
>
> CPU fan (bought separately)-Model: D60188-001 0.60 amps Core 2 Duo
> (and yes I checked that it supports my processor, right model, etc.)
> 						     Manufacturer: IntelRAM:
> Kingston ValueRAM memory - 1 GB -
> DIMM 240-pin - DDR2
>
> PSU-Model: AP-450xf12v
> 	 Part #: ATXPow400hs
> 	 400w----------------12v
> 	 Manufacturer: StarTech.com
>
> Case-Model: ATX8400PRO2
> 	   Manufacturer: StarTech.com
> 						
>
> Video Card-Model: HD 2600 PRO
> 		      Manufacturer: ATI Radeon
>
> Troubleshooting we have tried so far:
>
> I disconnected all the peripherals (DVD drive, hard drive, front
> panel non-essentials) and tried again, same thing.
>
> I tried re-seating everything a couple of times, same result.
>
> I checked the thermal grease on CPU, distribution was good.
>
> I tried starting by bypassing the front panel switch-- same start
> pattern.
>
> We have an antistatic wristband. My son says that he didn't use it
> correctly at the beginning, so it is possible there was some static
> discharge. I used it when I worked on the machine.
>
> We were very careful to only handle parts by the edges.
>
> We checked the motherboard for shorting-- motherboard is mounted on
> raised dimples integral to the case, screws seem to be mounted OK.
> The case instructions mention spacers but there were none supplied--
> I think they are outdated instructions.
>
> Given the above, it seems like it's narrowed down to bad RAM, CPU or
> motherboard, unless we missed something. But we are stuck because we
> don't have a way to diagnose these-- we don't have any parts to swap
> or machines to swap our parts into. Can you suggest another way we
> can diagnose these ourselves, or are there any resources on campus or
> in your group we could use to do this?
>
>
> Thanks in advance on any help you can give us.
>
> Erik Lilleskov.