Muddy Posted June 5, 2008 Posted June 5, 2008 Ok I am troubleshooting one of my friends computers. Here are the symptoms. It will turn on and post. It will show the bios start up screen, and then it will shut off. (Shows the screen for about 1s). It can then be turned back on and it will do the same thing. I have ruled out the power supply and RAM, and any peripherals. Any help is gladly appreciated. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wevsspot Posted June 5, 2008 Posted June 5, 2008 Can you boot to a memtest bootable CD to check for memory errors? If not, then I recommend a barebones build outside the case with minimal hardware installed. CPU One stick of RAM Video Card One hard drive PS2 mouse and keyboard (absolutely no USB devices attached at this time) While you're pulling the system from the case, remove m/b battery and move cmos jumper to the clear position When you're ready to fire it up on the test bench (non-static surface) go ahead and reinstall m/b battery and move cmos jumper back to save position Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Posted June 5, 2008 Posted June 5, 2008 Yeah I might just remove it from the case, I cant even get into the BIOS before it shuts down so thats a negative on the memtest. I did no hd, cd roms, 1 stick of ram in different spots, and disconnected, I will take it out of the case and try, right now. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wevsspot Posted June 5, 2008 Posted June 5, 2008 Is the cpu heatsink still firmly installed and making good contact with the processor? Is the cpu heatsink fan spinning? I'm trying not to be a smarty pants here, but sometimes all of us overlook the simple things sometimes. How did you test the power supply? By trying another one and seeing the same symptoms? Looking at it logically, it might be a thermal protection kicking in, could be a voltage problem, or worse a bad component (motherboard, cpu etc). Guess the only thing you can do is eliminate all of the simple stuff first, find out what it isn't and then maybe that will help you figure out what it is. Any chance you could give us some more detail on the hardware specifications of your friend's computer? Motherboard = CPU = RAM = Hard Drives = Video Card = Power Supply = Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Posted June 5, 2008 Posted June 5, 2008 Yes I tried another power supply, and the things still happened. I reset the heatsink and still it happened. I never got around to testing it outside the box. I will get the specs after work. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wevsspot Posted June 5, 2008 Posted June 5, 2008 Sounds good. Keep us posted. I'm not sure that out of the box is going to tell us much more, but it will eliminate the possibility of a grounding issue, pinched or bare wire shorting out etc. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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