[SOLVED] Computer starts, tries to flash bios, then shuts down

Cassius1 · 06-18-2008, 03:08 PM

Hey, I've been trying to trouble shoot this myself but I think it's time I called the big boys in.

So the other night i was gaming on my computer when I smelled hot-glue burning. Freaking out I immediately turned off the computer, removed the side-panel and put a fan on it.

About half an hour later I came back and restarted the computer, seemed to be working fine, the smell had cleared out (it was obviously coming from the power supply) and it booted windows fine and acted normally.

Then it shut down again. So I left it alone. Thinking it was just a faulty power supply I started the computer again. This time it got all the way to flashing the BIOS and it shut down. I was afraid that the Power supply had somehow fried my motherboard/CPU but after removing the heat-sink/fan I saw no evidence of burnt chips or smell coming from the CPU. The thermal grease was a little old, but aside from that after cleaning the heatsink/fan everything looked wonderful.

So I removed the power-supply in connection, opened it up, and lo' and behold there was burnt hot-glue covering a bunch of the components. I hooked it back up and tried again, same problem. Bought a brand-new power-supply, same problem.

If I try to hit Delete, F6 while it's loading to get into a menu it immediately shuts off.

I know my fans are clean, all my ribbon cables and power supplies are hooked up correctly (been building computers since my dad made me build my first one at 11) but the computer still shuts it self off after being on for less than 15 seconds.

Does this sound like a fried motherboard/cpu? I'm terrified that it is, but I'm not willing to replace it until I know for sure. I've fried CPUs/motherboards before and you could see where the heat had burned the cpu but this doesn't seem to be the case.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Cassius1 · 06-18-2008, 04:11 PM

hey guys, I think I fixed my problem. I removed all of the ribbon cables, power supply cables, etc. I had seen a suggestion to remove the battery on the motherboard and replace it. For some weird reason this fixed the issue. The computer boots fine and the new power supply seems to be working.

06-18-2008, 03:08 PM	#1 (permalink)
Cassius1 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 2 OS: XP	[SOLVED] Computer starts, tries to flash bios, then shuts down Hey, I've been trying to trouble shoot this myself but I think it's time I called the big boys in. So the other night i was gaming on my computer when I smelled hot-glue burning. Freaking out I immediately turned off the computer, removed the side-panel and put a fan on it. About half an hour later I came back and restarted the computer, seemed to be working fine, the smell had cleared out (it was obviously coming from the power supply) and it booted windows fine and acted normally. Then it shut down again. So I left it alone. Thinking it was just a faulty power supply I started the computer again. This time it got all the way to flashing the BIOS and it shut down. I was afraid that the Power supply had somehow fried my motherboard/CPU but after removing the heat-sink/fan I saw no evidence of burnt chips or smell coming from the CPU. The thermal grease was a little old, but aside from that after cleaning the heatsink/fan everything looked wonderful. So I removed the power-supply in connection, opened it up, and lo' and behold there was burnt hot-glue covering a bunch of the components. I hooked it back up and tried again, same problem. Bought a brand-new power-supply, same problem. If I try to hit Delete, F6 while it's loading to get into a menu it immediately shuts off. I know my fans are clean, all my ribbon cables and power supplies are hooked up correctly (been building computers since my dad made me build my first one at 11) but the computer still shuts it self off after being on for less than 15 seconds. Does this sound like a fried motherboard/cpu? I'm terrified that it is, but I'm not willing to replace it until I know for sure. I've fried CPUs/motherboards before and you could see where the heat had burned the cpu but this doesn't seem to be the case. Any help would be greatly appreciated

06-18-2008, 04:11 PM	#2 (permalink)
Cassius1 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 2 OS: XP	Re: Computer starts, tries to flash bios, then shuts down hey guys, I think I fixed my problem. I removed all of the ribbon cables, power supply cables, etc. I had seen a suggestion to remove the battery on the motherboard and replace it. For some weird reason this fixed the issue. The computer boots fine and the new power supply seems to be working.