CPU/Mobo PC Doesnt Boot up at Home, Boots up at Dealer's Place !

Crazy_Eddy

Crazy_Eddy

Super Mod
Putting up this weird problem a friend is facing with his PC.

His PC refuses to boot up at home - Turning it on, the cabby shows the Power/HDD LEDs, but there is no display/the system doesnt show the POST screen and it doesnt proceed at all. (I'd like to mention, he's had this system for about 3-4 months now, and prior to this it would work fine). He has tried it in different rooms , even taken it to his neighbour's place .. all show the same result.

However, taking the same to the Dealer's store - it boots up flawlessly, shows the POST screen, beeps and proceeds onto loading windows. :S
At the dealer's place, the guys do nothing apart from plug the cabby into their AC power source. (One interesting thing i'd like to point out is, I took it to an official Zebby dealer - since the cabby is a Zebronics model - and they had the exact same problem, it just wouldnt boot up. Swapped PSU, RAM etc and no go. The official Zeb dealer happens to be on Ritchie street as well, just as the Dealer)

The only difference I can see between his home / the dealer's place is the AC power source / mouse / keyboard (I'm assuming a mouse/keyboard couldnt cause a system to not boot up). Everything else is identical.
- The Dealer placed the blame on low voltage at my friend's home. However, took a multimeter and measured to find the voltage was fine @ 220v. Moreover the system is running through a UPS as well , so low voltage shouldnt be an issue (have tried both with and without UPS, to eliminate the UPS as cause for trouble as well).
- After verifying that it wasnt low voltage, the dealer now placed the blame on the frequency not being at 50Hz :p. The SMPS , though a standard Zebronics one has been changed multiple times with the same result. I've checked the output voltages from the SMPS on the 12v/5v/3.3v , 12v AUX connector and found all the voltages to be fine.
The dealer's now askin him to shift his house :rofl:

The config just for reference:
A64 2800+
Gigabyte K8V800M
512MB DDR400 RAM
APC 500va UPS
Zebby 400W SMPS (15A on 12v line)

Now i'm absolutely stumped. What could be wrong??
Or is his PC "possessed" ?? :eek:hyeah:
 
no clue as well .. any idea if theres anything else like aircon or microwave sharing the powerline ?

have you tried changing the kb and mouse anyway ? :p
 
The system doesn't like your freind. Did it do something to offend it?
In my experience, computers are very tempermental and moody beasts.
 
bottle said:
no clue as well .. any idea if theres anything else like aircon or microwave sharing the powerline ?

have you tried changing the kb and mouse anyway ? :p
Click to expand...

Keyboards can do strange things - my rock of Gibralter IBM keyboard suddenly decided it was the top dog in my system and it keeps constantly scrolling to the top of every page it refuses to let me scroll down a page....... and yesterday my second computers Logitech keyboard suddenly decided to type a few alphabets and then start typing in reverse - it would do a back space and type the key. Both times it was the keyboard and not the Mother Board.

IMHO Most probably the problem in the above computer is a bad cable connection somewhere or a bad or cold solder at some joint. Just do the old hi tech trick in such situations - pick up the darn computer and shake the heebie jeebies out of it - and give it one solid KICK for good measure - let it know who is the BOSS only then it will work !!!

EDIT: There may be a metal washer or a screw floating around inside the case. Shake the case upside down and see if anything falls out.
 
Yeah, I too once faced similar problems where PC wouldn't boot. Changed the keyboard and it was perfect.

Though I didn't take it to the dealer's place :eek:hyeah:
 
Eazy said:
Just do the old hi tech trick in such situations - pick up the darn computer and shake the heebie jeebies out of it - and give it one solid KICK for good measure - let it know who is the BOSS only then it will work !!!
Click to expand...

OT :

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
 
My friend had this problem once.... as it turned out to be that there was some problem with the way the mobo has contact with the cabinet... The system had the same probs that u mentioned... when the lan n other ports in the mobo is pressed in a little so that it doesnt touch the cabi it wud work otherwise it wudnt... so try taking the mobo out and then connecting all the wires and boot the sys... if it works then there is something wrong with the way that the cabi and mobo touches...

In my friends case he dint want to buy a new cabi so what we did was we placed a news paper inside the cabi and then placed the mobo(so that news paper will be present at the back of the mobo so that its in between mobo and cabi) on the news paper and then fixed the screw... now the sys has been working without any probs for 6 months....
 
itsmevivek said:
My friend had this problem once.... as it turned out to be that there was some problem with the way the mobo has contact with the cabinet... The system had the same probs that u mentioned... when the lan n other ports in the mobo is pressed in a little so that it doesnt touch the cabi it wud work otherwise it wudnt... so try taking the mobo out and then connecting all the wires and boot the sys... if it works then there is something wrong with the way that the cabi and mobo touches...

In my friends case he dint want to buy a new cabi so what we did was we placed a news paper inside the cabi and then placed the mobo(so that news paper will be present at the back of the mobo so that its in between mobo and cabi) on the news paper and then fixed the screw... now the sys has been working without any probs for 6 months....
Click to expand...

I would think placing a newspaper like you mention would keep the MoBo and CPU HOT. Have you checked the temps after the newspaper was inserted ? I think it would be better to try find the areas at which bad contacts are made and insert some insulating material (like small pieces of thermacole or cardboard) only at these places.

I am sure it is necessary to allow the MoBo to have some air space below it so it can radiate heat onto the base plate.

Just my 2 paise of info.....
 
I have seen so many systems, in Asus motherboards perticullarly which wont POST with a Bad mouse. Im sure ur mouse is "short" on Circuit & BIOS wont post cos mouse /kbd are the First to be probed, even before the BIOS loads.

Check with a different mouse & kbd. they are important.
 
Well, there must a an AC or a Microware or something else sucking up a lot of power, in the same circuit. That could be the only explanation.
 
Oh yea, one more thing.
A Cyber Cafe near my place had MSI Mobos, but the Keyboard and Mouse wudnt work in the PS2 Ports after like 6 months of use. So we put a USB to PS2 converter and it worked fine. Try a new keyboard or a USB to PS2 Converter
 
Sorry for not keeping track of this thread !

My friend had left his cabby at the Dealer's place for them to look into it. He got it back yesterday and it booted up fine plenty of times. Today morning however after Lunch it again stopped responding and went back to its old ways!

There is nothing else sharing the line as such, and even then none of the AC's/Microwaves were turned on at his place while testing it out.

I'm wondering if the keyboard / mouse could be at fault. Will try asking him to swap that and try. However have tried with the keyboard/mouse disconnected - the system doesnt boot even then. Normally the system should boot and show an error like - "Keyboard not detected". Nothing of that sort. Will ask him to check into that however.

Also asked him to get the system stripped down and re-assembled just in case.

Will post back if there are any differences.
 
Eazy said:
I would think placing a newspaper like you mention would keep the MoBo and CPU HOT. Have you checked the temps after the newspaper was inserted ? I think it would be better to try find the areas at which bad contacts are made and insert some insulating material (like small pieces of thermacole or cardboard) only at these places.

I am sure it is necessary to allow the MoBo to have some air space below it so it can radiate heat onto the base plate.

Just my 2 paise of info.....
Click to expand...
ya its true that the cpu and mobo temps would have increased... but my friend has his cabi always open... so problems with the temp when i checked it....
 
its possessed by a Devil , I am afraid lol .. ask him to get the motherboard serviced and checked completely . I would suggest shooting the case with a few bullets it might work it might work !
 
i am having the same problem,my pc wont boot up.When i turn on the main power,and even if i dont press the power button on my case,it turns on my cpu and hdd and power led are constant lit and the screen is completely blank.This happens many times and many times my pc boots flawlessly,i dunno which part to blame???!!!
 
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