I have a pc that will never start?

Question

I know I have asked this question on here before but it was never answered so I am going to repost it.

My new pc will not boot. No matter what I do it just will not start (fully). Nomatter what hdd I have in there after about 20 sec my pc just turns off. Even when there is no hdd and I just start up into the bios it still just turns off after about 20sec. Each time I try to turn it on it stays on for less and less untill it turns off about about 5 sec. When that happens if I leave if off for a few min then it will stay on for about 20 sec and then turn it's self off. It is a new pc that I have just built and here are the specs:

Intel pentium D 940 3.2 ghz
ASUS P5VDC-MX mobo
256mb pc2700 sdr (temp)
Nvidia geforce mx 440 (temp)

Please help me get this to work. I have spent alot of money on it and it would be a huge shame if it turned out to be a waste of money and time.

Thanks

Edit:

I can't afford any more parts because I have almost no money left and telling me to get a new pc is not funny or helpful

Edit #2

I can't see the processor overheating in just 20 sec of use and my psu is a brand new 500 watt one. Also I am using the fan supplied with the processor

Edit #3

All of my case fans are 4 pin connectors that hook stright up to the psu. So i dont think it is any of my case fans.

Edit #4

I think it could be a problem with my hdd because now when i start it i get this screen:

[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y146/zacjones123/IMG_1003.jpg[/IMG]

It is a 4 year old hdd but I reformatted it the other day whilst it was in a different pc and it worked ok then. It currently has windows xp home with sp2

Edit #5

Link to image
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y146/zacjones123/IMG_1003.jpg

Answer 1

sound's like you may have a faulty motherboard. i'm not sure how to fix this problem, but i will endeavour to find out

Answer 2

Do you get through the POST? Does it get to the one beep to let you know that the keyboard is attached, or does it have a beep error of some sort? If so, have you tried looking up the BIOS beep code?

It sounds like it could be a couple of things. You may have a bad power supply. Do you have a spare you can hook up? And is the PS big enough? You might also check and make sure everything is properly seated since something is telling it to power down. After checking all that, try swapping RAM and video cards. RAM sounds like a more likely candidate for being bad here. Are you overclocking the CPU? If so, set it back to its normal speed. Also double check that you've connected everything properly. Verify that the spacers are all working and you don't have anyplace where the mobo touches the case, which could cause a short.

Barring that, maybe the motherboard is bad and you should try and exchange it under warranty. It does happen upon occasion.

Good luck.

Answer 3

Try reseating EVERYTIHNG! Make sure your heatsink is on right, though 20 seconds for over heating is a little fast (it takes an AMD 5 min to over heat if the heatsink is not mounted properly). If there are any beep codes find out what they mean(your motherboard book should have a beep code sequence list to tell you). Worst case cenario, you may have shocked something, or your power supply isn't strong enough to handle the power requirements. Also try booting it up with just the processor, memory and video in. Disconnect ALL drives. If it works, thenpower it off and hook up a drive (only one). Try connecting one drive at a time each time you boot untill it happens.

Answer 4

The decreasing run time is the key to this problem. One of your fans is stuck or burnt out. This is about a $5.00 part that is easily installed. Be sure to get a fan with the same style of plug as your current one (2-pin, 3-pin) Now here is the tricky part: if a new fan doesn't do the trick then the plug socket on the board may be bad. In this case you will have to buy a fan with a piggy-back socket that will plug in in-line to the power supply.

Good luck!

Answer 5

I also build my own computers at home and enjoy every minute of it. I had a problem like yours one time, check see if there is any airline damaged to the mother board might be the cause of it. Has you said everything works and then cuts out, it board or power only be one or the other.
I still have the board because it did cost me money hoping to try to get it to work one day. It was working before and rebuilding it again it never worked after that but cutting out and I seem to have find a airline in the board itself not notice before although I never searched until this happened. let me know how you got on and what the out come of your computer was in the end. Good luck

Answer 6

I think that your heat sink fan is not working properly, as the processor heats up the time until it cuts out at a certain temperature will decrease. If you leave it will cool and take a longer time again. You should hear the whirring sound of the fan. You can also check by going into the BIOS settings where you should see a reading for CPU temperature.

Answer 7

When you run it up do so with the case off. Is everything doing its normal job - ie fans spinning ? I get a lot of PCs brought in to me in my job and they have quite obvious faults when opened up and run up. This would sound like a hardware heat problem caused by fans not operating or possibly power supply.

Answer 8

It could just be incorrect CMOS settings. Go into your CMOS by either pressing F1, F2 or DEL (different on all machines) when you first turn the pc on. Then reset all to default settings or safe settings. The Save and Exit, then try to boot up.

Could be that your RAM or Processor is running to fast in the CMOS (know as overclocking) this usually causes these errors as well. But if you reset all to safe settings, it should be fine.

Answer 9

If you have a friend who has some basic equipment, (such as a known-good system and a power supply tester,) you should test each component individually. First compontent I'd test is the power supply. Even try just swapping it out with a known-good one.

Answer 10

go into your bios an theres a section that tells you all your temperature stats for PSU fan, CPU fan and system fan etc...
check that theres none missing or none red.if not it sounds like a faulty CPU or/and mother board.seen as its new you should b able to send it back to the supplier if its still under warrenty...

all computer parts brought new come with atleast a one year warrenty...

(my b/f works in I.T fixing desktop/laptops, he knows what he's talkin bout) so hopefully that should help.

Answer 11

Sounds like the processor might be overheating. maybe your fan/heatsink is not setup properly or is inadequate for your system. It could also be a cheap power supply that is not providing proper juice.