Built 3 months ago, all ok until today

[vicbee]

I built a pc 3 months ago and all has been working well. Actually, on 2-3 occasions when I pressed the button to start the pc I had the same problem as now, but switching off and on again would resolve it...until now.

Usual start process: press button, all fans start full speed, then slow down then the system starts.

When I now press the button the fans go on full speed but never slow down and the screen stays dark. I've tried multiple times without success. I also vacuumed and air sprayed the pc which was a bit dusty (3 months). I used the pc yesterday without problems.

The fans are hooked directly to the power supply, the cpu fan is tight and working, the video card is working, the board lits up...

Antec 900 case; Asus P5K-E board, Nvidia 8800GTS 512MB video, 2x 1GB Corsair XMS2-8500C5 RAM; 850W Antec power.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[Cricket]

Pull the motherboard from the case and see if the system runs without issues out of the case. Follow these instructions.

Cricket

[vicbee]

I was hoping to avoid doing all that but it's done and didn't take more than an hour.

All's working properly now, which doesn't really explain what the problem was in the first place. I suppose it's like rebooting a system when it freezes... finding the root cause of the problem can be done but it will be expensive. Anyway, thanks for the help...back to online gaming!

[Cricket]

If the system is working fine now but won't work properly when it's in the case then you probably have a shorting problem somewhere.

Make sure that all the installed standoffs are used and there are no strays. All installed standoffs should be used to hold down the motherboard. Stray standoffs will end up touching the underside of the motherboard and cause all sorts of problems.

Cricket

[liambl]

It is possible something was loose and when you rebuilt it outsiade the case you reseated the loose component.

[Minpin]

This was happening to me two weeks ago. Turns out my RAM had gone bad, it was about 3-4 months old as well. I would run mem test on it to confirm. Thank god corsair has great customer service, one and a half week from the time i shipped it to delivery! Woohoo!

[vicbee]

Well, everything worked outside the case and then inside the case so I thought whatever the problem might be history. But no. This morning when I started the pc, I again had the same problem. I opened the case and moved some wiring around and it worked.

I figured I have a short somewhere, but its not clear to me where. While I'm at it I will vent my frustrations with some of the components I purchased.
For one, the Antec 850W power is a problem. I had an Antec 500W one with cables that can be plugged in or removed if not used. That was smart and VERY convenient. This one isn't. The cable are barly long enough in some instances (such as the 8 pin ATX connector or the power connectors for the different drives). If I could have unplugged those from the power case I would have been able to custom make what I needed...
Of course I could instead complain about the ASUS P5K-E mobo, with its on board wifi that never worked (and the ASUS forum is filled with complaints about all their wifi mobos). It seems that all the cables (ANTEC power or case) connect to opposite sides of the mobo. Real frustrating when you want to have a clean looking system without cable crossing over the mobo.
The Antec 900 case is geeky cool with all its fans and its partly clear side panel. But there is no room to run the generally too short cables between the case and the side panels away from the clear element.

I spent some time evaluating and buying the right components but I learned that how those components work together is almost just as important and I strongly believe that a lot can be done in the industry to optimize connectivity. Just my 2 bits...

[Minpin]

I have the p5k-e wifi mobo and its worked perfectly for me from day one. Maybe its your router? This sounds like a dumb question, but.....have you reset the router lately? This will sometimes fix wireless issues.

[vicbee]

I'm glad to read that someone has a properly working p5k-e (or other ASUS wifi mobo- again, check their forum to see the litany of complaints).
After spending several days trying to connect the onboard wifi and trying to resolve the problem through forums and with a thoroughly ineffective ASUS cs, I finally decided to buy a cheap and simple Trendnet external wireless router. It too was not working properly but their cs was absolutely amazing.
Over 2 days they spent 3 hours (no joke) with me until they finally uncovered the problem: the wireless router was running through the Comcast cable modem and thus needed to be synchronized with it (meaning reseting both) in order to work properly... Real simple in hindsight but neither ASUS nor all the friendly help on the forums (not this one) nor I managed to figure that out.
It is quite possible that the onboard wifi will work properly if I follow the same procedure I did with the Trendnet router, but I was then way too tired of dealing with wireless issues to even attempt it. As the maxim says" if it ain't broke, don't fix it".