A friends computer is having some trouble.

Its a home built computer.

The computer boots just long enough to see some info on the MB and its bios version, etc. then shuts off. As in shuts the power off.

Have unplugged all hardware and plugged it back in. Changed out the power SUPPLY with a known good one, also the hard drive. Pulled the memory sticks out and put a known good stick in too.

Same problem.


Could it be something with the MB itself or the processor?

Or what?

Can anyone give me an idea of what to look at next?


Thanks,What motherboard? WHat processor? WHat about the heat sink/fan?MB-Gigabyte MB GA-7VKMLS.

Processor- AMD Duron 1.1G

256MB of PC133 memory.


The cooling fan on the processor is spinning fine. The computer does not stay on long enough to warm up.


It just powers up for a few seconds to where you see some info being DISPLAYED then it shuts off.

I had a similar problem with an Asus P5b mobo at the weekend.  It would power up, then shut down and then power up again with no video.  I suspected the GPU or power supply for a while but it turns out that it only happened when the front panel USB ports were connected up.

The front panel USB ports consisted of two four-pin connectors plus two separate wires marked as 'shield'  The mobo USB connecter has room for five pins on one side and four on the other.  So naturally I connected up everything but the single 'shield' wire for one of the USB ports.  I carefully followed the guide for pin alignment.

However, if I simply unplugged both 'shield' wires, all problems were resolved and the USB ports still worked.

Odd, but that's all it was.

So my tip to you is to unplug everything except the graphics and memory.  make sure it boots fine with just that, then put things back one at a time until you isolate the problem.I got it fixed.

After doing everything esle, I finally pulled the processor off the MB, re-installed it ALONG with NEW thermal paste and its all good now.