It starts, then..

[Ethdios]

Well, I got some old computer parts from my school lately 'cause they were throwing them out, so I took them off their hands so I could experiment with putting a PC together so I know better what I'm doing when I have enough money to buy the components for the PC I'm planning on building. [/runonsentence]

So, anyway, I'm pretty sure I've got everything hooked up correctly and whatnot, except for the power switch/power led/hdd led/etc. I couldn't see anywhere on the mobo where it said where to put which connectors so I just guessed ... heh, don't have to worry about frying this "trash". Anyway, I plugged it in and hit the power button, and it started... for like two seconds. Things began spinning and whirring and then it just died.

So what's wrong? I'd assume I got the power switch right, since it did indeed get power... it just didn't keep it going.

[Alaron]

Welcome to PCMech.

Here is our standard troubleshooting procedure: http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=132409

I have to wonder if the school was throwing them out since they did not work.

[shadowpr]

Try this: http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=132409

It sounds like a grounding problem.

Also, list all parts, make and model, including power supply.

[Ethdios]

Well, she did say some of them might not work and stuff, but they were mostly throwing them out because they just did a big upgrade to their servers or something, and this stuff is so old that it's not even worth selling. Pentium 3 processors? IDE Cables? lol.

And the only parts of theirs that I'm using are their motherboards, and I know that even with a fried motherboard, everything still gets powered up and whirring, you just get nothing on the monitor (I fried a mobo once, >.>). I took out one of the mobos and tried a different one and I get the same result, so apparently I'm still doing the same thing wrong (I tried another mobo because it had it labeled where to put the Power Led/HDD Led/etc. cable thingys.

[Ethdios]

Grounding problem?

And the parts? They're all so old. I can't tell what the processor is 'cause, well I just can't. It's Intel but besides that I dunno.

HD - 80 GB Western Digital
GC - ATI something or other (2800 pro or something, too lazy to look). It's AGP.
Mobo - Intel
RAM - Some stick of 256 MB generic RAM (really doesn't say, just says made in Puerto Rico or something, lol)
Power supply - ... 450 W. I'll look for the rest tomorrow. I'm tired!

Edit: I shoulda just put this in an edit in my second post so I'm not double posting ... oh well.

[Panama Red]

If the ram came out of a server, it might be ECC and unless the mobo can handle ECC ram, you may be dealing with a compatibility issue.