Major PC Problem

G

GreatBigMouth

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Hi guys,

I built a PC from scratch for someone today and after the initial building process, naturally I tried to boot it. The PC boots for about 2-3 seconds, then instantly shuts down. I've checked that the CPU Heatsink Fan is spinning, that the PSU fan is spinning, and that the Case fan is spinning. All of those seem to be in working order.

I've changed the RAM chip with a chip from my own computer but it didn't help. The only things that are not new in the case are the HDD, PSU and DVD-ROM. The CPU is a brand new AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+, the Mobo is a new Asus M2N-VM DVI, with a 400W PSU which I have used in my own PC as well.

Tried powering the PC without a HDD or DVD-ROM plugged into the PSU, but that didn't help either. Am I missing some important cable or setting here? Could the CPU be overheating? It's a brand new out-of-the-box AMD.

I urgently need to get this PC to boot, as I sort-of have a deadline to finish it. :(

Here are the current specs:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
Asus M2N-VM DVI Motherboard
1GB DDR2 667 RAM
40GB IDE HDD

Thanks in advance!
 
Last edited:
would say that the heatsink assembly is not fitting 100% you can check this by quickly going into the BIOS and checking the CPU temp in PC health - anything over 55c is wrong - if you have an AMD assembly the normally fit best with the release leaver away from the PSU - the Gigabyte assembly seems to work better the other way - it is best to fit it out the box when doing a new PC - also better to test the board before fitting it into the case
 
1) CPU fan plugged into the MB's CPU FAN socket but not other system fan socket?
2) Clear CMOS
3) Boot without a CPU or RAM and see if your MB will give you audio warnings, suspect could be a faulty CPU or MB.......
 
DragonLogos said:
would say that the heatsink assembly is not fitting 100% you can check this by quickly going into the BIOS and checking the CPU temp in PC health - anything over 55c is wrong - if you have an AMD assembly the normally fit best with the release leaver away from the PSU - the Gigabyte assembly seems to work better the other way - it is best to fit it out the box when doing a new PC - also better to test the board before fitting it into the case
Click to expand...

I don't think he will be able to go into BIOS if his PC shuts down in 2-3 seconds after boot.:o
 
cyberarmy said:
I don't think he will be able to go into BIOS if his PC shuts down in 2-3 seconds after boot.:o
Click to expand...

Correct. I can't get the PC to even post. It literally shuts down after 2 seconds, not even a Mobo beep. The CPU Fan is plugged into the CPU FAN socket.

Clear CMOS? It's brand new equipment. :eek:
 
Clear CMOS is just a standard practice here I would recommend because from the symptoms you descripted, your MB is shutting down to prevent further damage, with CMOS return to default we could almost sure it's not incorrect settings (corrupted settings) which may caused your problem here. I had it once, brand new MB with default BIOS but had some problem.
 
cyberarmy said:
with CMOS return to default we could almost sure it's not incorrect settings (corrupted settings) which may caused your problem here
Click to expand...

Incorrect settings on the HDD or what? Will clearing the CMOS reset the mobo and all it's BIOS settings then?
 
booting or POST... sounds like it is supposed to be POST - but well spotted Cyber - still sounds like a mess on the assembly fitting
 
After numerous attempts to try out new hardware, etc, I finally figured out the problem and got it to boot. The HDD jumpers were set to slave, so effectively there was no primary booting device. Moved the jumpers and it starts up now. :)

Thanks to everyone for assisting me.
 
GreatBigMouth said:
After numerous attempts to try out new hardware, etc, I finally figured out the problem and got it to boot. The HDD jumpers were set to slave, so effectively there was no primary booting device. Moved the jumpers and it starts up now. :)

Thanks to everyone for assisting me.
Click to expand...

That's bizarre. If you have only a slave on the IDE channel, you should be able to boot off it. And it certainly wouldn't shut the machine down before bring up the BIOS info, etc etc.
 
Claymore said:
That's bizarre. If you have only a slave on the IDE channel, you should be able to boot off it. And it certainly wouldn't shut the machine down before bring up the BIOS info, etc etc.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. Really something quite strange.
 
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