No Power To P-III

corndale · 03-21-2006, 01:54 PM

I have a P-III 1200, WinXP Home with all updates, 80G & 20G HDDs, 512mb, Norton AntiVirus 2005 updated, and Zone Alarm Pro, all working fine until yesterday. Due to an error on my part, when inserting a new PCI sound card, I mistakenly unseated the PCI video card. When I booted up, I had no video. I plugged in another monitor with the same result. At that time, I did not realize the video card was unseated. Thinking the problem was due to a conflict with the sound card, and having no other way to shut the computer down, I unplugged the power cord to shut the computer down. Unfortunately, when I plugged the power cord in and attempted to turn the computer on, absolutely nothing happened when I pressed the on button. Just a note: the light on the on-board ethernet chip still flashes green when the power cord is plugged in. Does this sound like a power supply problem, or, worse, a motherboard disaster?

Geekgirl · 03-21-2006, 01:59 PM

Ouch, sorry this happened. It happens to the best of us.
Was the video card half in half out type of deal? Did you try another power supply unit yet?
Did you take the cmos battery out for a few or use the jumper on the board to clear the BIOS?

corndale · 03-21-2006, 03:17 PM

q. Was the video card half in half out type of deal? a. Slightly tilted out

q. Did you try another power supply unit yet? a. No yet. I am trying to see if anyone can determine from what I wrote if, in fact, it is the power supply

q. Did you take the cmos battery out for a few or use the jumper on the board to clear the BIOS? a.Did not try this yet

**Doby** · 03-21-2006, 07:46 PM

Hi,

This does sound like a motherboard disaster, sorry but that can happen.

Try removing the video card and power on just to see if you get any lights or fans maybe the card is shorting things out.

There is a way to test if the power supply is dead but you will need to completely remove it from the system, Let me know if you would like to try but I will need to know what the name brand of the computer is or if it is a custom build.

Rick

corndale · 03-22-2006, 08:11 AM

I currently have a 400 watt ATX power supply which I installed myself. I do not know the manufacturer name because I am at work. However, my computer is pretty much put together by me. I have no problems removing the power supply for testing. I would appreciate the instructions for testing, which I would like to so that I can determine if that is the problem (which, in fact, I hope is the case, since a power supply is much cheaper than a motherboard).

Geekgirl · 03-22-2006, 08:18 AM

The only way I know how to test the power supply is to take it out and replace with a known working one. Also I have a power supply tester, but most people dont have one of those.
I am intrested to see how Rick has you do this

ebackhus · 03-22-2006, 08:44 AM

You can test a PSU by jumping the green line with any black line. Just do this temporarily though.

**Doby** · 03-22-2006, 02:17 PM

As ebackhus said you can check if the psu is dead by touching the green and any black wirer on the 20/24 pin connector.

This should be done out of the case so there is no possibility of shorting another component. So remove it plug into the wall outlet and short the green and any black with a paper clip, this should turn the psu on.

If not it is dead.

This test only tells us if the psu is dead, if it turns on it does not necessarily mean its good

If it does turn on (witch in this case I suspect it will because I doubt a unseated video card would blow the power supply but it is possible) we could also check the rails to see if they are supplying the required volts to start a computer but you will need a digital volt meter.

Let us know what happens and we can proceed from there

Geekgirl · 03-22-2006, 02:40 PM

Thanks ebackhus & Doby for sharing that information. I never knew that you could do that. I always used a power supply tester so I had no need to try any other way

If a different power supply does not give the system any power I would say the board was cooked. Not much more you can do with no power to anything.

And your correct Doby, even though the test may come back as "passed" it still doesnt mean the psu isnt bad. You could run into Power Distribution problems.

**jnob** · 03-22-2006, 04:09 PM

Just curious as I don't have much power supply experience, should you wear some sort of protection if using a paperclip to bridge the connection? Or does this just start the power supply and the actual voltage comes on another line?

**Doby** · 03-22-2006, 06:06 PM

jnob, this is a very safe test, the voltages put out by a psu are low voltage that won't hurt you.

However and I can't stress this enough, never ever open a psu up or take it apart in anyway. There are voltages inside that can kill even if it is unpluged.

corndale · 03-25-2006, 10:18 AM

Found out that the problem was a bad power supply. Thanks everyone.

Geekgirl · 03-25-2006, 10:22 AM

The 'ol power supply eh? Doesnt surprise me

Thanks for replying with the new information. Glad you got it resolved

ebackhus · 03-25-2006, 10:46 AM

I bought myself a tester as well so I can check individual voltages, connectors, and the like.

I've also cannibalized a few PSUs in my day...

If you want to be extra safe you can aways wrap the jumper wire with black electric tape.

**Doby** · 03-25-2006, 07:10 PM

Your welcome and glad you got it fixed, good job

03-21-2006, 01:54 PM	#1 (permalink)
corndale Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Newark NJ Posts: 74 OS: Windows XP Home	No Power To P-III I have a P-III 1200, WinXP Home with all updates, 80G & 20G HDDs, 512mb, Norton AntiVirus 2005 updated, and Zone Alarm Pro, all working fine until yesterday. Due to an error on my part, when inserting a new PCI sound card, I mistakenly unseated the PCI video card. When I booted up, I had no video. I plugged in another monitor with the same result. At that time, I did not realize the video card was unseated. Thinking the problem was due to a conflict with the sound card, and having no other way to shut the computer down, I unplugged the power cord to shut the computer down. Unfortunately, when I plugged the power cord in and attempted to turn the computer on, absolutely nothing happened when I pressed the on button. Just a note: the light on the on-board ethernet chip still flashes green when the power cord is plugged in. Does this sound like a power supply problem, or, worse, a motherboard disaster?

03-21-2006, 01:59 PM	#2 (permalink)
Geekgirl Assistant Manager, Microsoft Support Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Six-burgh, Pennsylvania Posts: 14,192 OS: XP Home SP3/XP Pro SP3/Vista Ultimate SP2/Windows 7 Professional	Ouch, sorry this happened. It happens to the best of us. Was the video card half in half out type of deal? Did you try another power supply unit yet? Did you take the cmos battery out for a few or use the jumper on the board to clear the BIOS? __________________ Compare NOD32 to your current antivirus and anti-spyware solution, HERE How to back up and restore the registry in Windows XP and Windows Vista Or Windows 7 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows 98/ ME / NT 4.0 / 2000 I DO NOT ACCEPT EMAILS AND WILL NOT REPLY TO THEM !!!!! TSF DOES NOT SUPPORT ASSISTANCE THROUGH EMAIL OR PRIVATE MESSAGES, PLEASE KEEP ALL QUESTIONS IN THE OPEN FORUM *The Pittsburgh Steelers - 6 X Superbowl Champions !!!!!!!* *The Pittsburgh Penguins - 2009 Stanley Cup Champions !!!!!!!*

03-21-2006, 07:46 PM	#4 (permalink)
Doby Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Central PA (USA) Posts: 8,100 OS: XP sp2/ Vista My System	Hi, This does sound like a motherboard disaster, sorry but that can happen. Try removing the video card and power on just to see if you get any lights or fans maybe the card is shorting things out. There is a way to test if the power supply is dead but you will need to completely remove it from the system, Let me know if you would like to try but I will need to know what the name brand of the computer is or if it is a custom build. Rick __________________ Would you like to help TSF fight cancer and other diseases??? JOIN TEAM TSF

03-22-2006, 08:18 AM	#6 (permalink)
Geekgirl Assistant Manager, Microsoft Support Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Six-burgh, Pennsylvania Posts: 14,192 OS: XP Home SP3/XP Pro SP3/Vista Ultimate SP2/Windows 7 Professional	The only way I know how to test the power supply is to take it out and replace with a known working one. Also I have a power supply tester, but most people dont have one of those. I am intrested to see how Rick has you do this __________________ Compare NOD32 to your current antivirus and anti-spyware solution, HERE How to back up and restore the registry in Windows XP and Windows Vista Or Windows 7 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows 98/ ME / NT 4.0 / 2000 I DO NOT ACCEPT EMAILS AND WILL NOT REPLY TO THEM !!!!! TSF DOES NOT SUPPORT ASSISTANCE THROUGH EMAIL OR PRIVATE MESSAGES, PLEASE KEEP ALL QUESTIONS IN THE OPEN FORUM *The Pittsburgh Steelers - 6 X Superbowl Champions !!!!!!!* *The Pittsburgh Penguins - 2009 Stanley Cup Champions !!!!!!!*

03-22-2006, 08:44 AM	#7 (permalink)
ebackhus Manager, Design Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: SATX Posts: 14,313 OS: WinXP Pro SP3/Windows 7 RTM My System Blog Entries: 28	You can test a PSU by jumping the green line with any black line. Just do this temporarily though. __________________ ----------------------------- There are no dumb questions, unless a customer is asking them. Help in the fight against cancer and other serious illnesses.

03-21-2006, 03:17 PM	#3 (permalink)
corndale Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Newark NJ Posts: 74 OS: Windows XP Home	q. Was the video card half in half out type of deal? a. Slightly tilted out q. Did you try another power supply unit yet? a. No yet. I am trying to see if anyone can determine from what I wrote if, in fact, it is the power supply q. Did you take the cmos battery out for a few or use the jumper on the board to clear the BIOS? a.Did not try this yet

03-22-2006, 08:11 AM	#5 (permalink)
corndale Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Newark NJ Posts: 74 OS: Windows XP Home	I currently have a 400 watt ATX power supply which I installed myself. I do not know the manufacturer name because I am at work. However, my computer is pretty much put together by me. I have no problems removing the power supply for testing. I would appreciate the instructions for testing, which I would like to so that I can determine if that is the problem (which, in fact, I hope is the case, since a power supply is much cheaper than a motherboard).

03-22-2006, 02:17 PM	#8 (permalink)
Doby Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Central PA (USA) Posts: 8,100 OS: XP sp2/ Vista My System	As ebackhus said you can check if the psu is dead by touching the green and any black wirer on the 20/24 pin connector. This should be done out of the case so there is no possibility of shorting another component. So remove it plug into the wall outlet and short the green and any black with a paper clip, this should turn the psu on. If not it is dead. This test only tells us if the psu is dead, if it turns on it does not necessarily mean its good If it does turn on (witch in this case I suspect it will because I doubt a unseated video card would blow the power supply but it is possible) we could also check the rails to see if they are supplying the required volts to start a computer but you will need a digital volt meter. Let us know what happens and we can proceed from there __________________ Would you like to help TSF fight cancer and other diseases??? JOIN TEAM TSF

03-22-2006, 02:40 PM	#9 (permalink)
Geekgirl Assistant Manager, Microsoft Support Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Six-burgh, Pennsylvania Posts: 14,192 OS: XP Home SP3/XP Pro SP3/Vista Ultimate SP2/Windows 7 Professional	Thanks ebackhus & Doby for sharing that information. I never knew that you could do that. I always used a power supply tester so I had no need to try any other way If a different power supply does not give the system any power I would say the board was cooked. Not much more you can do with no power to anything. And your correct Doby, even though the test may come back as "passed" it still doesnt mean the psu isnt bad. You could run into Power Distribution problems. __________________ Compare NOD32 to your current antivirus and anti-spyware solution, HERE How to back up and restore the registry in Windows XP and Windows Vista Or Windows 7 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows 98/ ME / NT 4.0 / 2000 I DO NOT ACCEPT EMAILS AND WILL NOT REPLY TO THEM !!!!! TSF DOES NOT SUPPORT ASSISTANCE THROUGH EMAIL OR PRIVATE MESSAGES, PLEASE KEEP ALL QUESTIONS IN THE OPEN FORUM *The Pittsburgh Steelers - 6 X Superbowl Champions !!!!!!!* *The Pittsburgh Penguins - 2009 Stanley Cup Champions !!!!!!!*

03-22-2006, 04:09 PM	#10 (permalink)
jnob TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: CA Valley Posts: 692 OS: XP Pro, SP2 My System	Just curious as I don't have much power supply experience, should you wear some sort of protection if using a paperclip to bridge the connection? Or does this just start the power supply and the actual voltage comes on another line?

03-22-2006, 06:06 PM	#11 (permalink)
Doby Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Central PA (USA) Posts: 8,100 OS: XP sp2/ Vista My System	jnob, this is a very safe test, the voltages put out by a psu are low voltage that won't hurt you. However and I can't stress this enough, never ever open a psu up or take it apart in anyway. There are voltages inside that can kill even if it is unpluged. __________________ Would you like to help TSF fight cancer and other diseases??? JOIN TEAM TSF

03-25-2006, 10:18 AM	#12 (permalink)
corndale Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Newark NJ Posts: 74 OS: Windows XP Home	Found out that the problem was a bad power supply. Thanks everyone.

03-25-2006, 10:22 AM	#13 (permalink)
Geekgirl Assistant Manager, Microsoft Support Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Six-burgh, Pennsylvania Posts: 14,192 OS: XP Home SP3/XP Pro SP3/Vista Ultimate SP2/Windows 7 Professional	The 'ol power supply eh? Doesnt surprise me Thanks for replying with the new information. Glad you got it resolved __________________ Compare NOD32 to your current antivirus and anti-spyware solution, HERE How to back up and restore the registry in Windows XP and Windows Vista Or Windows 7 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows 98/ ME / NT 4.0 / 2000 I DO NOT ACCEPT EMAILS AND WILL NOT REPLY TO THEM !!!!! TSF DOES NOT SUPPORT ASSISTANCE THROUGH EMAIL OR PRIVATE MESSAGES, PLEASE KEEP ALL QUESTIONS IN THE OPEN FORUM *The Pittsburgh Steelers - 6 X Superbowl Champions !!!!!!!* *The Pittsburgh Penguins - 2009 Stanley Cup Champions !!!!!!!*

03-25-2006, 10:46 AM	#14 (permalink)
ebackhus Manager, Design Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: SATX Posts: 14,313 OS: WinXP Pro SP3/Windows 7 RTM My System Blog Entries: 28	I bought myself a tester as well so I can check individual voltages, connectors, and the like. I've also cannibalized a few PSUs in my day... If you want to be extra safe you can aways wrap the jumper wire with black electric tape. __________________ ----------------------------- There are no dumb questions, unless a customer is asking them. Help in the fight against cancer and other serious illnesses.

03-25-2006, 07:10 PM	#15 (permalink)
Doby Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Central PA (USA) Posts: 8,100 OS: XP sp2/ Vista My System	Your welcome and glad you got it fixed, good job __________________ Would you like to help TSF fight cancer and other diseases??? JOIN TEAM TSF