Computer powers up, and then dies

I have a computer that worked fine until Thanksgiving, then I would turn it on, and you could hear the fans turn on, but nothing else would power up. For a while it would just be the fans running, and it wouldn't boot up. Then it started powering up, but all that would turn on was the fans still, and then it would cut off. The power light would start blinking consistantly, but in no pattern, or set. I just gave up on it and built another computer with some of the parts from that one.

I recently decided I needed another computer, so thought I could see about getting the old one fixed, so I put a spare hard drive, cd-rom, cheap video card, and a network card. When I first turned it on it worked like a charm, it would boot up, and everything. I was even able to install windows 98 without it shutting off.

I thought everything would be ok, so I had a better video card that I put in there, and then it started acting up again. It would start to boot, and got to the point where the cd-rom started, and then it would power off. I tried putting the cheap video card back in there, and that still didn't fix the problem. I noticed someone else having a similar problem where they could power up but nothing worked, so I tried doing what it said in that thread, add some heatsink compound. That still did not help. I am going to let it sit over night, and then try it again. If anyone has any suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

First thing I would try is unplug any CD-ROM/Floppy Drives, Take out all PCI Cards and reseat the memory. If this works replace each piece of hardware one by one and see if you can find out which one is causing the problem.

 

I tried reseating the memory, and I powered up the first time with just the video card, and the hard drive connected. It worked fine until Windows 98 started to load, then it needed to install the monitor, and that is when it died. Then I tried to reboot after that, and it died while it was loading the BIOS. It is running Windows 98 SE, has a 40 GB Western Digital HD, 512 RAM, very basic SVGA video card AMD Athlon XP 1800+, Gigabit Network card, 54x CD-ROM, and the mother board is an ASUS A7M266.

 

First thing I want to ask, if your running Athlon XP 1800+, 512 RAM & 40 GB Western Digital HDD why are you still running Windows 98 SE? I would highly recommend your upgrading to Windows XP.

For now, I would try a reinstall of Win98, if that doesnt do it I would upgrade to WinXP.

Also, what do you mean by DIED? Power off, reboots??

 

As far as not running Windows XP, this is just a secondary computer I am trying to get up and running, and I don't have the money to buy Windows XP right now. If I can get it up and running I will upgrade someday, but not right now.

When I say it dies, it just powers off, and the power light starts blinking. I either have to hold down the power button for 4-5 seconds until the light stops blinking and then turn it back on, or just unplug it before turning it back on. I tried to reinstall Windows a couple of times, and sometimes it would start, but then power off part way through the installation, and sometimes it wouldn't even get through loading the BIOS before powering off.

 

Is the board fairly new? Sounds like a MB problem to me if all hardware is removed except the basics.

 

If it "died" while running the monitor drivers then died while in the bios one of the only conclusion that can be made is a faulty power supply,heat to a lesser extent.

 

As a precaution I would check all your connections are tight

 

Yeah faulty wiring could be a possibility too but I give you the benefit of the doubt that u did that part correctly.
That said, I am leaning towards a faulty mobo but a faulty PSU is still a valid possibility as well.
As Garrick suggested, make sure you have THE MOST BASIC PC setup and try to see if you can get to BIOS, all you need is these items:

PC Case, Mobo (make sure it is properly grounded since this could be the cause for boot related problems), one stick of RAM, CPU and adequate heatsink/fan unit, Video card, keyboard (don't even need mouse at this point).

Connect all this components and unplug, take out any other components you might have to see if you can boot your system if yes see if you can get to BIOS.
Also to resolve incorrect BIOS settings from cuasing the problem, I would suggest after unplugging the power cord to do all this work, remove the BIOS battery for 15-20 seconds and put it back in (or if your mobo has a BIOS reset jumper better use that).

 

@bjgarrick the MB isn't new, I bought the computer used about 2 years ago, so the MB is at least 2+ years old.

@Rikky I checked all the power cords, and made sure they were all connected tightly, and it still turns itself off.

@Turcoloco I connected just the video card, and the keyboard, and the first time I booted up, I was able to get into the BIOS for about 30 seconds, then it powered off on me. I the restarted it, and you could hear the fans on for about 5 seconds before it turned off again.

I think I will try getting a power supply in the morning, so long as I can return it if after hooking it up to my computer the computer doesn't work. Thanks for all your help, I will let you know if the new power supply worked.

 

Turcoloco and garret is right use just a basic setup to determin the prob.Good luck

 

Thanks guys, I bought a new power supply, and my computer works perfectly again. Now all I need to do is upgrade to Windows XP. Thanks again.