I'm Stumped (PC HW Issue)

dynamik

We had a machine die, clearly because it was filthy (it was back in the production area). After simply blowing it out, it would turn on when I plugged it in and flipped the switch on the back of the PSU. No beeps, no video, and I couldn't turn it off. It just came on and stayed on.

I figured the components were fried, so I started swapping them out. I have since replaced the motherboard, video card, CPU, power cord, and PSU. None of the other components (drives, etc.) are connected. The only thing I haven't changed is the case and memory. It's basically an entirely new machine at this point.

However, all it'll do is power on and sit there. It turns on as soon as it gets electricity. The power button has no effect (I'm sure it is connected correctly). While I don't have any other memory to test, I have tried without any memory, just to see if I could get some beeps or even just turn it off once it's running. I've never seen anything like this, and I'm pretty much out of ideas at this point. Any suggestions?

benbuiltpc

Try disconnecting the power switch from the motherboard and starting the computer with a small flat blade screwdriver. You may have a stuck switch.

Mishra

You can use all your old parts and make a computer sitting on some anti-static material?

old motherboard/cpu/ram/video card

Try and start it up and see if it is good to go. Sounds like a short may be happening in the case or case peripherals (internal speaker/power switch).

dynamik

Yea, I thought about that too. It does it with all case connections (speaker, power switch, reset switch, etc.) disconnected.

I popped out the battery for a bit too, just in case it had some weird settings stuck in there. I'm trying to track down the manual to find the jumper to reset the bios since there is a setting to automatically power on if power is lost, but I don't see why that would prevent me from shutting it off manually.

Edit: That was in response to benbuiltpc. I'll give that a shot Mishra. They cut a lot of aluminum and stuff like that back there, so maybe a little sliver of that found it's way in there.

dynamik

No luck. Same thing. I only had the CPU and power connected.

Could the PSU damage the hardware? I haven't heard of that happening, but I suppose it's possible. I'm just trying to come up with a scenario for what happened.

This is an old AMD64 system, so I'm not going to put a lot more time into this. It's just frustrating when a problem goes unresolved.

undomiel

It's rare but I have seen two cases of where a psu would fry new components put in. Though more often it was a motherboard that was causing it.