Put in NIC card, PC won't power on. Took it out, PC won't power on...

[DavidBeoulve]

I put in a 2nd NIC card into a Windows XP computer that had had this same NIC card before (used for my DSL Modem), touched the case first, affixed the NIC card, powered the system, and nothing happened.

Not so much as a single fan twitched. Just click.

I took out the NIC card, I tried again, nothing.

I took the monitor's power cable (that had power) and tried that. Nothing.

I switched the powerswitch on the back of the power supply each way, nothing.

I put the NIC card back in (I was down to "Thumb in the Pie" testing), nothing.

I unplugged the DSL Modem from the power strip. Nothing.

I tried a different power strip. Nothing.

What have I done to my PC?

http://www.afn.org/~afn26470/

 

[SQLScholar]

I am too polite to put it in writing

Erm - sounds like ya killed it. To me it sounds as like you have tried everything conceavable. Just prey that you managed to kill something not too expensive.

Well unless anyone else has a clue.

----------------------------------------
There are 2 types of computer, the prototype and the obsolete!!

 

[apex1x]

Make sure you didn't disconnect your CPU fan while inserting the card. This will prevent the mobo from booting in most cases. Check all power connections on the board and if that still does nothing, take out everything off the motherboard(mobo), except the RAM, video card, and CPU/FAN, and try powering on the system. If this works then put one card/periperal device in at a time and test it out, hopefully finding a faulty device. If this doesn't work, you may have to swap in and out the mobo, CPU, and RAM. Good luck. ~Apex1x
Sattinger's Law:
It works better if you plug it in.

 

[DavidBeoulve]

Our network admin at work says "If it isn't a worst case scenario, you might have confused the BIOS. Take out the BIOS battery, leave it out for a few minutes, put it back in and see if it comes up."

Could I have given the system electro-static damage?

What would be the most likely damaged part? I'll take all cards out and see if that changes something if the battery trick doesn't work.

Please give me any more advice (including saying Geoff is wrong), this is greatly appreciated.

http://www.afn.org/~afn26470/

 

[crisc]

Even a completely shot BIOS battery won't cause your PC to do NOTHING when you turn it on. Post back the results after you boot with everything, even the HD and floppy unplugged, and we'll have a better idea of the magnitude of the prob.

 

[apex1x]

I've rarely seen the BIOS reset do much. It's something to try though. After you take the battery out, make sure to short the two BIOS pins to reset the BIOS. These pins are usually close by the battery and should be labelled in your motherboard's user manual. After this, replace the battery and boot her up.
For the worst case scenerio portion, you may have given something a jolt, but if it is physical damage, its more that likely because of a slight crack when you were seating the NIC.
The most likely suspect would be the motherboard, as they can be quite delicate.
However, the power supply might not be giving enough power for the board to initialize, so I would first remove the peripherals (as stated above), and then start swapping components in.
Let us know how it goes. ~Apex1x
Sattinger's Law:
It works better if you plug it in.

 

[DavidBeoulve]

Roger that. I've printed this out and I'm on my way home for lunch now, I'll post back what happens.

http://www.afn.org/~afn26470/

 

[ceh4702]

Lots of times when you open a case install a card and the computer will not start it is due to grounding and/or power supply failure. There is always the chance the power supply will short out if 2 I/O cards happen to touch or it just has an addittional load to deal with. I had the same thing happen to me one time when I put in an internal modem. Stupid power supply just gave up. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[deejay33]

Something else to check is the on/off switch. I don't think anyone mentioned that yet. The connections may be lose or with some computers(like Dells) they have the ON\OFF and Reset buttons connected to their own little board in the front pannel. I had a customer who had that happen. On\Off didn't didn't do anything. Got a replacement part which included the ON\Off, Reset and board together from Dell and all was good. Just thought I would mention that piece.

DeeJay33

 

[DavidBeoulve]

ceh4702 was dead on the money. I disconnected the BIOS battery like Geoff at work said and like you guys suggested, that didn't do anything. I disconnected everything but the mainboard, the videocard & power supply and zilch.

I took out the power supply of one of my other PCs, unhooked the power coupling from the afflicted PC, plugged in the spare power supply and viola! It worked.

The CRAZY thing is I just bought this power supply a month or two ago. My lovely latin lady is hunting for the receipt, she keeps them all and could probably find my Playstation receipt, which I got shortly before I married her.

Really crazy though, 400watt power supply that I just replaced because the 300 watt before that DIED just like this one. Something MORE freaky is that a 250 watter that was in this same case (different motherboard and CPU) died before the 300 watt replaced it (but that was because I cleaned the 250 watt with a can of compressed air, then it died).

So anyway, why would a new 400 watter die like that?

Thanks guys.

http://www.afn.org/~afn26470/

 

[ANFPS26]

Make sure your wall outlet that the PC gets it's AC from is wired correctly. If it's USA 120V, the small slot is AC and the larger slot is neutral and then the third, earth ground. If you use a power strip, try a new one. The one you use could be wired incorrectly. Sounds like something is blowing these power supplies. "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing....."

 

[apex1x]

What PSU did you put in the new case? ~Apex1x
Sattinger's Law:
It works better if you plug it in.

 

[crisc]

You could list for us the hardware on your deck, but 400W is usually pretty good...
Nobrain gave good suggestions, usually PS's (that are new) blow out because of the power going into them.

 

[apex1x]

I dont think his PSU's were blown because of inproper wiring. This is due to the fact that the latest PSU blew right after he installed a new NIC. It's something to think about though.
~Apex1x
Sattinger's Law:
It works better if you plug it in.

 

[DavidBeoulve]

Hmmm, I should invest in a UPS, this is true. They're all running off the same wall sockets, technically. I mean one switch shuts off the whole room.

Athlon 700 overclocked to 950, Voodoo 3 3000, SCSI CDRW (Yamaha), CD-ROM, 2 hard drives, 2 extra fans, SB16 plug and play (oldie but a goodie) on this system. Everything but the motherboard and CPU have remained consistant through all the iterations.

Even the RAM, I think. It's always had 256.

http://www.afn.org/~afn26470/

 

[DavidBeoulve]

The new powersupply (replaced free of charge than God) works perfectly, but resetting the BIOS screwed me. The PC won't boot and won't go into setup, even though all the devices test correctly.

Head to this thread:
thread602-374141

http://www.afn.org/~afn26470/