new pc only lasts 15 seconds

[m0n-ty]

This is the second PC I've built and the last one was fine.

 

My new one lasts 15 seconds, sometimes 5 and I really have no idea what the problem is.

 

Below is a list of every single part that I bought:

-Intel E6600 Core2Duo 2.40GHz

-ASUS P5N32-E SLI PLUS

-Wavemaster case

-700W EZCOOL PSU DUAL 12V

-768Mb XFX 8800GTX, Extreme, PCI-E (x16), Mem 1900 MHz

-Corsair DDR2 TWINX 2GB

 

Could it be a BIOS setting like something to do failsafing the motherboad?

 

anyway thanks for your help

 

Jamie

[danzil]

check and double check your heatsink and fan,,,if the cpu gets hot then it will power off....... check with another stick of ram....are you getting anything on screen...any bios beeps......when it powers off is there any beeps just before.

please give give as much info as possible.

danzil

[m0n-ty]

thanks.

 

-it doesn't have time to heat up, and the heatsink fan spins correctly

-it beeps constantly when there is no RAM

-conserning what happens on screen, the PC boots up absolutly fine...for a maximum of 20 seconds.

-i've stripped it and only have RAM, CPU fan, motherboard and GFX card running off the PSU and it still does the same thing (apart from obviously booting into windows)

-it makes no difference what RAM is in there as long as there is at least one stick

 

thanks for your help danzil

[Jamey]

It sounds like it could be your graphics card, if this problem is definitely hardware-related. Otherwise, does it only reboot once it has got to the Windows loading screen. Windows could be causing the reboot rather than the hardware being faulty.

[danzil]

you could trun off auto reboot on error,in the bios..

it will then sho the error without rebooting......have you tried a repair install of xp...

what beeps to you hear with the ram installed,,,,is there anything on the screen,

sorry in a rush will check back later

regards

danzil

[m0n-ty]

cheers guys

 

-I know nobody's mentioned it but it's definitly not the power SU. Its been replaced and fully tested

-Its not windows either, when i boot into bios it gets nowhere near windows. it just lasts about the same amount of time before shutting down

-the beeps that i hear when ram isn't installed are constant and its hard to tell you what pattern they're in using a forum.

-how do i check if its the graphics card? the only other one i have is for an agp port which i don't have in this motherboard, the fan starts up on the graphics card and images are displayed

 

thanks for your help lads

[danzil]

ok here is what i would try.

remove the motherboard place on an anti staic surface,connect psu,memory cpu n fan, and graphics card,unless you have one onb board..

power it on then see.

if you have on board vga use that first,,,if you have disbled it in the bios,reset the bios,by using the jumper on board,or removing the battery for 10-20 mins,

if still the same,then we know it is one of those items of hardware.....

when you say it lasts for 15 seconds,,,does it stay on or completely power down....does it blue screen,

it is a good sign that it throws out the constant beep without memory,but obviously ram has to be installed for a display to be seen...

let me know how you get on with the above.

regards

danzil

[m0n-ty]

danzil, you are a genius

I removed motherboard, etc and it worked so i worked out that it was the case that was stopping it from working.

 

basically the graphics card couldn't be inserted propery because the motherboard was too low compaired to where the cards interact with the back of the case, so lifting the motherboard makes the computer operational but the graphics card is not fixed to the case.

 

that can be worked round but thanks man, and also jamey you were right about the graphics card

 

cheers guys

 

ps. my backup windows cd isn't booting, how can i make it boot

[danzil]

no problem glad to help.

as for the cd,try making another copy to see if that one boots......or boro a copy of your friend,,then activate it using your key.

regards

danzil