power problem with my computer

I am building my own computer and I have the power connected to it but when I press the power button it turns on and just shuts off. What could be wrong? what can I do to fix it?

Thanks,
John

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Lee H

Hi

First thing that comes into my head is the CPU fan, is it spinning, if not it will cut power to protect itself from overheating

Let me know

Lee H

skives

cpu fan is moving.

royal

It sounds like your electrical power is shorting out. Make sure the motherboard's circuitry is not touching the case. This would cause it to short out. It's gotta be a problem with the power supply or the motherboard. If it weren't, then your motherboard would at least POST or you'd hear a single beep (if everything was working fine), or you'd hear a series of beeps (something is wrong). The series of beeps are different for various motherboards. To know what beep sequence means what, consult your motherboard's manual.

Plantwiz

skives wrote:

I am building my own computer and I have the power connected to it but when I press the power button it turns on and just shuts off. What could be wrong? what can I do to fix it?

Thanks,
John

Well, what have you tried so far?

1. Disconnect everything and start over.
2. Check make there aren't any solders touching the chassis
3. Look for loose screws maybe underneath the Mobo etc..
4. What type of PC are you building? Intel-based? AMD-based?
5. What type of GC are you using? On-board? AGP? PCI-Express? What are the minimums per the MFG for the card?
6. Do you have the correct sized PS for the CPU and GC?
7. Do you have all the Power Cords plugged into the Mobo? The 4pin connector on an Intel board? The additional plug for the 24pin Mobo's (if your PS has it)
8. Does your GC require aux power? Haven't seen any lately, but some GCs did require have a molex plug as additional power source.
9. Does your Mobo accept the CPU you are trying to install? I've run into ASUS boards that were a version older and needed a BIOS flash prior to accepting the CPU (but I knew this before installing and I'm not 100% positive the board would power and shut off immediately...I'd expect it wouldn't power at all).
10. Do you have your Chassis wires plugged in correctly to the Mobo?
11. Do you have multiple HDDs? What type? If EIDE, I've had young techs make all the jumpers MASTER and have a similar power result. 4 EIDE/Atapi type drives must be jumpered correctly.

SOOOOO,

Start simple:
If you have the proper sized PS, an the board isn't shorting from a solder or screw being out of place.....Plug in the PS - MOBO - RAM and GC....what happens?

kujayhawk93

Something else not mentioned, and one of the first things I would check: Make sure the Clear CMOS jumper is sent on Normal (pins 1 and 2 shorted). If it is set to Clear, everything may come on and immediately shut off, just as you've described.

skives

ok I tried unplugging the power to my graphics card and the computer does the same thing but with a high pitched beep. Any idea's?

laneh

I know this sounds dumb, but I've had it happen about a dozen times, with PS's directly from HP. Is it set to 110V or 220V? Most PS's are mfg'd overseas, and are shipped set up for 220 (unless you get autoranging).

royal

skives wrote:

with a high pitched beep. Any idea's?

As I stated in my post, if you hear a specific beep, consult your motherboard manual as the beeps vary from motherboard to motherboard. What motherboard do you have? Perhaps I can help look it up.

skives

it is the nforce 680i sli motherboard

royal

Nforce 680i is a motherboard standard. What manufacturer and model is it so I can look up the manual?

skives

it is a evga 122-ck-nf68

royal

The manual doesn't have any information about beep codes. I'm pretty sure 1 long beep code means memory. Try making sure your memory is seated correctly. If you're running dual ddr, look in your manual to make sure the memory modules are seated in the correct slots.

blargoe

Disconnect all non-essential devices and cards from your motherboard... only make sure you have video, power, the CPU, and 1 stick of memory... no drives or mice or keyboards ... and power it on. If it doesn't work try it with the other stick of memory. If it does start adding devices until you figure out where the problem lies.

Do you have a different power supply you can test with this system?

laneh

Skives,
I was reading your earlier post about the 2/3 pin power connection fix. Maybe something wrong there?

Plantwiz

blargoe wrote:

Disconnect all non-essential devices and cards from your motherboard... only make sure you have video, power, the CPU, and 1 stick of memory... no drives or mice or keyboards ... and power it on. If it doesn't work try it with the other stick of memory. If it does start adding devices until you figure out where the problem lies.

Do you have a different power supply you can test with this system?

I requested he try this earlier. Haven't heard back on any of my questions. And while there may be a lot of questions up there.....he hasn't exactly provided a lot of details to what has been checked and what he has yet to try.

skives

Ok I disconnected everything and put the motherboard back in with 1 stick of memory and plugged the power back in. There is no sound card or video card plugged in and I get the same thing. Starts then stops imeddiatley.

EdTheLad

I have nothing to add troubleshooting wise,only if you require help you should answer the questions people are asking otherwise they will get bored and leave you on your own.Did you try the two different memory sticks as suggested already? As you only mention trying one!

skives

Plantwiz wrote:

skives wrote:

I am building my own computer and I have the power connected to it but when I press the power button it turns on and just shuts off. What could be wrong? what can I do to fix it?

Thanks,
John

Well, what have you tried so far?

1. Disconnect everything and start over.
2. Check make there aren't any solders touching the chassis
3. Look for loose screws maybe underneath the Mobo etc..
4. What type of PC are you building? Intel-based? AMD-based?
5. What type of GC are you using? On-board? AGP? PCI-Express? What are the minimums per the MFG for the card?
6. Do you have the correct sized PS for the CPU and GC?
7. Do you have all the Power Cords plugged into the Mobo? The 4pin connector on an Intel board? The additional plug for the 24pin Mobo's (if your PS has it)
8. Does your GC require aux power? Haven't seen any lately, but some GCs did require have a molex plug as additional power source.
9. Does your Mobo accept the CPU you are trying to install? I've run into ASUS boards that were a version older and needed a BIOS flash prior to accepting the CPU (but I knew this before installing and I'm not 100% positive the board would power and shut off immediately...I'd expect it wouldn't power at all).
10. Do you have your Chassis wires plugged in correctly to the Mobo?
11. Do you have multiple HDDs? What type? If EIDE, I've had young techs make all the jumpers MASTER and have a similar power result. 4 EIDE/Atapi type drives must be jumpered correctly.

1. I disconnected everything and started over no change.
2. no solders touching chassis
3. no loose screws
4. intel based cpu
5. evga e-GeForce 8800 GTS GC
6. I have a 700 watt power supply
7. all power cords are plugged in
8. no aux power required for GC
9. how can I tell if my mobo accepts my cpu if it doesn't stay on? How do I do a bios flash?
10. chassi wires are plugged in right.
11. one hard drive right now. adding more once it will run. One in there now is IDE.

SOOOOO,

Start simple:
If you have the proper sized PS, an the board isn't shorting from a solder or screw being out of place.....Plug in the PS - MOBO - RAM and GC....what happens?

Plugged in PS, MOBO, RAM, and GC and same thing happens on then off instally

Any idea's. This my first build so it is all new to me. Could my mobo be bad?

Thanks for the help guys

royal

You could try a voltimeter and see if your power supply is putting out insufficient power. This would prevent you from having to take out the motherboard, sending it back, getting it back and installing it, only to find that the motherboard wasn't the problem.

skives

got it to stay running. I had some spacers that weren't needed that were causing the mobo to short out.

Plantwiz

skives wrote:

got it to stay running. I had some spacers that weren't needed that were causing the mobo to short out.

Good to hear you figured it out.

Also, thanks for replying with your resolution. Can't say how much people dislike when someone starts a thread....gets some suggestions and never reports back. People who do offer help like to know if they were pointing you in the right direction or if they may have missed asking for more detail.

Anyway, just an additional comment for future builds.....

1. The chassis' of today (at least the better chassis) tend to mark/engrave where the standoff need to be screwed in. Look for 'M" for a mini-ATX; B for BTX; A for ATX or something similar to these markings. So if you have a MiniATX board, you'd locate all the "M"s and place a standoff leaving all the rest of the spaces open.

2. Another thing to try just 'dry' size the Mobo into the chassis and eyeball where you need to place your standoffs.

Anyway, enjoy your new box