BleepingComputer.com: Pc Power On Issue

The compy gods are not being nice to me right now. My one PC has a nasty virus (see other forum) and now I am having a power up issue with my second. The computer has worked fine for over a year (Asus A8N SLI w/ Antec 450w PS), but a few weeks back I had trouble powering up. Hit the switch, and nothing. No lights, fans, or anything. When I went back the next day to look at it, it started up fine. Now, the same thing is happening again but its permanent. I went through all the troubleshooting steps I could think of, and the only way I could get the PC to power up was by cutting the green PS wire and shorting it to ground. Something in the mobo is not relaying the start connection back to the PS. Any ideas? I am thinking about just getting an on off switch and hardwiring it into the green wire, but this just seems odd.

This post has been edited by goon29: 13 January 2008 - 11:57 PM

Sounds like you may have a bad switch. If you could open up the case, you should see on the motherboard (usually in ther lower right of the board) a set of pins. The ones for the Power On, Reset, HD LED and Power LED. Often, they are marked right on the board but sometimes you need to look at the manual.

Find the ones that are attached to the front panel power switch. Remove them from the 2 pins and then short the 2 pins with a small screwdriver blade. Hold it just until the fans start spinng, then you can remove it. Your computer should power up.

If it starts, you probably have a bad front panel switch.

If it doesn't, you need to get your power supply tested. If you have a spare power supply that you can use and substitute, that is good.

You should be able to find the problem through a process of elimination.

I am not sure what "Green Wire" you are speaking of. From the power supply? Or the motherboard? Like a Ground wire?

Good luck.

DR

The green wire he is referring to is the /PS_ON wire when you push the power button the motherboard shorts this wire to ground.

Sneakycyber, on Jan 14 2008, 04:46 PM, said:

Exactly. I'm thinking of just getting an on/off switch and hardwiring it in here. Any idea why the mobo would have stopped doing this?

Did you try shorting the contacts on the MB?

Yep, that didn't work. Strangely enough though, if I hotwire the green wire to the chassis to get the machine running, and press the power button, it attempts to shut down. Weird.

I did notice that the fan in the PS is not running. Might this be a PS issue? I am getting 12v and 5v readings from the leads.

goon29, on Jan 14 2008, 10:15 PM, said:

It certainly isn't a good sign, If the fan isn't working, it needs replaced
Mark