Greebe!! Athlon Power Supply Problems?

[DJ]

A friend of mine bought a Gateway 700mhz Athlon system which worked for about one week. Since then when it is powered up, it does not boot and there is no beep. Also as soon as you plug in the power cord, the system starts (not boot).

Gateway sent a new motherboard and memory which I installed, however the result was exactly the same. There is power on the system but it will not boot. The only thing I have not tried is a different CPU or power supply. Is there a problem if I try a regular ATX power supply or should I stick with an AMD approved power supply? Any ideas welcome. Thanks.

DJ

[Greebe]

Sorry to hear of the problems he's incurring.
Not using an AMD approved supply may work and it may not, can't say for sure. I would stick with an approved one (mine as a seperate purchase is only ~$40 and it's a 300w model).

Disconnect all external/unneccessary devices and try again. A power supply that goes bad and or is overloaded can destroy a cpu (as well as other componets).

[DJ]

Tried it with only CPU and video card already and it still didn't boot. Before buying a new power supply I would just like to verify that it is the culprit, thats why I was asking about using a regular PSU. BTW it should not be an overloading problem as nothing was added to it. One thing I noticed when I took out the original board was that the PSU fan cable was not connected. I am not sure if it came like that but would you think that it could have caused the problem?

DJ

[Joel]

You say that when you plug in the power cord that it powers on, right? Can you power it off through the power switch or do you have to unplug it? Had a simular thing happen at work where when we pluged in the machine it would power on, in that the power supply fan and CPU fan came on, but did not boot. We could not turn it off via the main power switch but had to unplug it. Turned out that it was a bad CPU. It was a socket celeron 566. Replaced it and all worked fine after that.

Joel

[paulcs]

I think Joel is correct. I've had both bad and improperly installed CPU's do the exact same thing: fans and hard drives spin up, but no post or boot.

If it's a Slot A Athlon, make sure it's all the way in the Slot. If it's all the way in, then the CPU may be damaged.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[DJ]

Joel & Paul

CPU fully inserted. Still nothing. Thanks.

DJ

[Hamlet]

Just some thoughts... If it's a genuine Gateway system, why the hell does GW send you a new mobo? Now, that is something I've NEVER heard of before with a mounted system. That'd make you void you warranty, right? Why didn't you just send back the whole thing, or better yet, why didn't they ask you to?

And some other things... a mounted system can't be undermined by PSU problems. I find it hard to belive they sent an untested system to you, regarding the ammounts actually manufactured when IBM, GW, etc. put this things together.

What did you mean when you said the system powers on when attaching the cord? You mean the fans and drives actually spins up and statys running, or a 2 second fan spinup?

All the ATX systems i've had spins the fans up for a sec. or two when attaching a cord.
Then again, that might not be what's happening...


This whole deal confuses me, but maybe i've missed something as usual =).

/Hamlet



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Athlon 800@1GHz/MSI 6167/128mb/7200rpm UD66/SB128/G400Max/Win98/Win2k/RH6.2/Be5

[Joel]

Having dealt with Gateway for years I can tell you that that is the way they will do things. Send you the parts that might be causing the problem, have you swap it out and send the bad parts back to they. If you don't then they will charge you for them.

I still think based on what is being said that the problem is a bad CPU. I have seen this happen several times. If the CPU was part of the orginal system have Gateway send a new one.

Joel

[DJ]

Hamlet

It is a genuine Gateway which was bought less than a month ago. Absolutely no hardware changes were made prior to the mobo swap. Prior to this the tech guy had me pull out every cable, every card, clear the CMOS etc. before deciding it was a mobo problem. As regards to why not send it back as I said I am in the Caribbean and to send back the system would be quite expensive. When the power cord is plugged in, the system comes on and stay on until it is turned off.

Joel

After spending hundreds of dollars in telephone calls to Gateway, he is fed up with them and doesn't relish the idea of calling them again. I will see what he has to say about your suggesion. Thanks again for the help.

DJ

[DentyCracker]

Gateway tech support sucks beyond belief. Anyway I should be thankful for that. Because of that I have a couple clients, hehe. The company that I work for sells and services mostly *shudder* CompaQ *brrrr*. Not that much better than Gateway in terms of tech support. It is sad when you know more than the Tech Support guy about his machine.

[DJ]

I can turn it off by pressing the power switch and with regard to the processor (slot A) not being properly installed well I will reseat it again. However I don't think that is the case. If its a damaged CPU then it would be difficult for me to find one to try. Not much Athlon systems in Antigua (caribbean).

BTW Gateways Tech Support is scandalous. I don't know if it is because He is an International customer why they believe they can do as they please but He has had to pay over $400.00 in calls and shipping costs for the replacement mobo, and still no working computer. Thanks for the help.

DJ

[SteveC]

make sure you keep the parts then!

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Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"