Computer won't turn on, help

[boomeh]

It all started with my motherboard not picking up any IDE drives, so i turned the pc off, took all ide cables out and stuck them back in, and the pc began to boot and i had windows loaded. After restarting it, the motherboard told me no IDE drives were being detected again. So i shut the pc down... done the same thing, this time around though, nothing will boot/power up.

If i take the bios battery out for 5 minutes or so, the entire computer will have power running to it as soon as i put the plug into the back of the powersupply, this is without pressing the power button on the front, all fans and mobo lights are up, but the PC will not turn off unless i flick the PSU switch or simply unplug it, after doing this though it wont power up normally.

I guess this is a problem with the motherboard and will probably need replacing, i just want to really be sure this is the case before ordering new parts.

 

[Kcircyrd]

You do not need to replace the motherboard, but you have work to do.
First, we need the brand and model of computer, brand and age of hard drive, and other details about your system... OS, power supply, memory, age of components.
Did the failure to detect the hard drive happen suddenly? What antivirus and antispyware programs are you using. It appears you have some infestations or corruption that needs attention.
Have you tried replacing your cables?
As I understand your message, you have two issues: Your hard drive is not detected, and your computer will not turn off when asked to do so by Shut down in Windows.

 

[boomeh]

Basically.. i left home a few months ago and only just got my computer from the old home, i booted it up and no ide drives were detected, just said system boot failure since there was nothing to boot from. i powered it off and took out ide cables, put them back in, and it worked fine, i went to sleep, powered it on this morning and again nothing detected in the ide, so this is where i began testing different hard drives/different cables, after a few times of failure, i powered it off and ever since it hasnt turned back on, except from the time i mentioned before with the bios battery, i forgot to mention also that when the computer does powerup after taking the bios battery out.. i had a screen of white lines and some beeps, then i just turned it off. i also tried a spare powersupply i have, exact same problem. Also, everytime i plug the psu in, the light on the ethernet port will flash... but if i take the bios battery out for 5 minutes, the pc just powers up as soon as the plug is inserted to the psu.

pc specs are

msi k8n sli platinum mobo
amd 3800+ dualcore cpu
ati x1950 gfx card
1.5gb of gell ram
various hard drives, maxtor, some unbranded ones, pioneer dvd drives
the pc is fairly old, atleast 3 years or so

 

[Kcircyrd]

"Various hard drives, Maxtor, some unbranded ones?
Sounds like you are a prime candidate for a good hard drive (Seagate, Western Digital, Samsung, Fujitsu) and a reinstall.
Do not take your BIOS battery out. That is not helping anything. You are merely removing the BIOS information it needs.
What is gell ram?

 

[boomeh]

geil* is the brand of the ram
also, if i just unplug all hard drives and the computer still doesnt boot on
then surely, this problem has nothing to do with the hard drives?

 

[Kcircyrd]

No, you are making unreasonable assumptions.
How could the computer boot with a drive of some sort to which it can boot. It can merely turn on, but many computers will do nothing except runt the fan on the power supply for 3/4 of a turn, then quit.
Are you booting to a CD or a Floppy or a Flash Drive.
It would be helpful to have an accurate description of the computer: Motherboard optional, but Operating System, memory type and total MB installed, hard drive installed and whether SATA or EIDE.
Once connected, you should not be pulling the wires.

 

[boomeh]

sorry that was my mistake, when i said boot on

what i meant to say was power on.

 

[Kcircyrd]

Any update on this repair? Di you get it running properly?

 

[boomeh]

haha turned out it was just an ***** mistake with the power button not being connected to the motherboard

 

[Kcircyrd]

Thank you for the update. Amazing how often those sorts of issued are simple... but so difficult to find.