no power at all when I hit power button

[legend_018]

I thought this was strange. Yesterday I put an old nvidia video card into my computer. It was either a compaq or an emachine using the onboard video. I wanted to put in the nvidia card to see if it would allow google earth to not be so blurry trying to look at neighborhoods.

Anyways, my computer started but than I had to reboot and it wouldn't start. I mean NO power at all. It almost looked like there was some static getting to the board because I could hear a noise and it scared me becuase it sounded like a strange zapping noise. Without any more information I'm sure one would say the power supply or the motherboard etc.

But my problem was the power cord it self. How it got zapped I don't know. But I changed power cords and the computer works great!!!!

well good to know since power cord isn't that hard to try out.

EDIT: It wasn't a loud noise and I could see a quick light like a spark. Hard to explain. But basically no power.

[blue60007]

Maybe the PSU can't handle the load of the video card? What wattage is the PSu and what card did you put in?

[legend_018]

It's working fine now though after I replaced the power cord. It was as if the powercord was shot. Well the PSU is what ever came with the computer, probably generic. The nvidia card is pretty old, well a good 5 years at least. The computer - ammm maybe 2 years old or even a little newer than that. I'm still using the nvida card and I even downloaded drivers for it and it's working. My power problem at that particular time was the power cord. To tell you the truth, a couple times over the course of the last month - that computer wouldnt turn on and I would magically unplug and replug a few things in and it would than work. This time it was SHOT and I'm wondering if the power cord was going bad before I even put that old nvdia card in.
It's a good lesson because if I didn't think of trying a new power cord, I could be out buying motherboards right now "lol".

I'm not sure the wattage, I think it's a 2.9 Gig Processor, 512 RAM Compaq or an EMachine.

[blue60007]

The cord might have been damaged (got smashed under a desk or whatever). If you still have it, for giggles, you could check it for damage. Luckily it didn't start a fire or anything!