PC isn't booting

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Trancer

Hello to all fellow techers. A friend referred me to this website to get help on a current situation I have with my PC, and I am hoping you guys can help me with the problem.

Recently I took apart my HP Media Center m7658n Desktop so I can put it in a new ATX case. Meaning I took out the motherboard, CD Drive, HDD, etc. and placed them in the new Case. Everything except the power supply. I am certain that everything is installed correctly like it was in it's old HP case.

So everything is plugged in and I turn on the switch to the power supply:

When the switch on the back of the power supply is 115V, my pc boots up, everything is running, but I get the following error on my monitor:

ERROR: system fan failed!
Service PC to prevent damage
Press F2 to continue

When I press F2, nothing happens.

So when the switch on the power supply is 230V, something different happens. My custom lighting and fans all run when I turn on the switch to the power supply. However, the monitor doesn't read the PC at all and the heatsink fan doesn't run, nor does the CD Drive work when I press the open button.

Any ideas what's going on?
 
most of everybody uses 115v, make sure your ram is in the slot good, what whats was the w's of the old PSU and the new one
 
Ok, I think I have found the problem. When I removed the heat sink from the cpu, I forgot to apply new thermal grease onto the CPU. Anyone want to guide me step by step how to clean off the old grease, install new, etc.?
 
Trancer said:
Ok, I think I have found the problem. When I removed the heat sink from the cpu, I forgot to apply new thermal grease onto the CPU. Anyone want to guide me step by step how to clean off the old grease, install new, etc.?
Click to expand...

That wouldn't stop the fan spinning, it would just overheat the cpu, but not so immediately that you'd get the probs you're having i don't think.
I'm surpised your psu hasn't blown the pc. If your psu has a manual has a voltage switch then its unlikely to autosense your rating like top quality ones do.
Is the system fan (not the cpu fan) plugged in on the mobo?
I'm wondering if its possible that some of your components have been blown due to the voltage change (?)

Anyway, thermal paste application. Make sure the cpu is clean, wipe it with a 90% alcohol swab.
Apply the past in a thin even layer. I smooth mine over with a credit card or something similar that won't scratch the cpu.
 
I sure hope I haven't damaged anything also. However I will still buy the paste and apply like you told me to in the next couple of days. I will keep you guys posted on what's going on.
 
Ok I am going to come to you guys for help before I do anything bad. So I went to a local store and bought some arctic silver 5 thermal compound. I followed all the instructions in the arctic .pdf file. I applied a layer of the grease onto the top of the cpu, screwed in the heatsink, and powered on the pc. I get the same message as I did before.

"ERROR: system fan has failed!"
service pc to prevent damage
press F2 to continue

I don't know what's going on. Should I keep applying some more of the compound? I think I put enough. I don't want to waste anymore of the 3.5 gram injector, so I might as well ask before I waste it all. If I let my pc run while it's on that screen, will the cpu overheat?
 
i know some people that don't use any compound at all, im not sure why they do. when the computer boots is the cpu fan runing
 
hi people
i think this is the right forum 2 post this on so here it goes, i need your expertise on how to get my pc up and running again belive it or not. i did the most retarded thing i know but i need help. i oc'ed my cpu from 100 mhz to 200mhz, it says it can withstand a max of 280mhz . ofcourse as i rebooted, my pc would start yet my monitor would not switch on!! everything worked except the monitor. i oc'ed using the bios setup utility (when u press del loads of times while the pc is starting :-/ sorry about the lack of info!). thanks for you help soooooo much :)

specs:-
time pc (2001)
windows xp sp2
amd athlon xp 1600+ (i think, 90% sure)
nvidia geforce 5200 fx 128 mb
1 gb ram, ddr160
180gb hard drive
1 floppy, 2 cd drives (one writer and one normal)
5 in 1 media card reader

thanks for your help and sorry for my lack of knowledge :-? :)
 
omar, have u read the guide on overclocking (evidently not the first thing it tells u is too only overclock a very little at a time and once it stops go back and do a little less) Good luck and I hope u have a computer left.
 
i did, yet i remembered that when i first got the pc, on the boot up screen it would say "amd athlon xp 2400+ . once i reinstalled windows i went down to 1250+. my pc was real slow and half my games wouldn't work as they needed atleast 1.5 ghz, therefore they were really choppy, even at lowest graphics settings. they never did this before!!. oh yeah im sorry i forgot i oc'ed from 133mhz to 200. but as i mentioned, everything in my pc works, yet my screeen doesn't, it may be that the cpu is "hogging" the voltage of the pc and GPU hasn't got any!!!. but to my knowledge nothing in the pc is fried, and still when i plug the monitor into the graphics card t picks it up and says "power saving mode" which i believe shows that my GPU isn't fried??
anywayz have you possibly got any suggestions on what i should do....apart from buy a new pc..PLEASE!! oh yeah and i think "time" computers have shutdown so i cant give them a ring!

p.s i have oc'ed my gpu before and it worked fine, but i uc'ed to save the pc. god knows what was going throuigh my brain at the time :-(
 
success!

hi people :monkey:
i found out how to reset everything, all i had to do was change the jumpers in the mobo by the battery from 2-3 to 1-2 then back to 2-3. i reset the cmos. my mhz went back to normal and my screen worked. so if you've overclocked it too much, and everything works but you monitor wont turn on, then reset the jumpers, here a site onn how to do that!

http://www.sysopt.com/tutorials/article.php/3552476

it says hoe to reset the password, but it reset the whole cmos as well.

another resource to help:

http://www.tweak3d.net/joomla/features/hardware/overclocking-tips

thanks for your patience people!!
 
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