Computer no longer starts

"Andrew Smallshaw" <andrews@sdf.lonestar.org> wrote in
message news:slrng9ls7b.sp4.andrews@sdf.lonestar.org
> On 2008-08-06, Jonathan <Jonathan@NoSpam.not> wrote:
>> For some time by system would have a hard time starting
>> and would click on and off many times while holding the
>> button in. It would finally start after some time but
>> now it seems to be dead. I tried shorting out the wires
>> on the main board where the button was plugged in and
>> finally replaced the PS with an Antec 500 W but no power
>> seems to be getting any where. I am thinking of
>> replacing the CPU next as I have no idea what would
>> cause this problem. Can anyone off any help on where I
>> might look for a fix? I use D915PBL Desktop board LGA
>> 775 with 3 G dual processor CPU.
>
> As others have noted, the mobo is a likely culprit. The
> CPU is
> not something I would consider likely at all. Have you
> tried reducing the machine to its bare essentials - mobo,
> CPU, one stick of memory and video card? Disconnect both
> the signal and power from any drives and remove any
> additonal expansion cards. Obviously in that state it
> won't be able to boot but it should come up and start
> driving the display.
>
> A few months back I had similar symptoms from a machine
> that had been stuffed full of USB and Firewire cards
> simply because they were lying around. Reduce the
> complement to a sane amount and suddenly the machine
> sprang back into life which shows reducing things to the
> essentials often helps.
>
> Another thing I'd check for before replacing components
> is for any shorts between the mobo and the case. If
> assembled correctly in the first instance this shouldn't
> really be an issue but it's possible a lost screw or
> whatever inside the machine is causing
> the problems. If the machine wasn't compentently
> assembled in the first instance another thing to watch is
> the PCB mounting holes - you don't need to support
> _every_ hole, and some boards you _shouldn't_ support the
> board at some locations unless using insulated moutings.
>
> --
> Andrew Smallshaw
> andrews@sdf.lonestar.org

I have decided to replace the board with an upgrade and a new CPU while I
am at it. I will most likely go with a new case keeping only the RAM, HDDs
and graphics card(ATI 850XT PCI-E). Now I just have to decide what board and
processor to select.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Jon.