Lights and Fans On, But No One Home?

[Cirerrek]

Came down one evening. Computer was off. Went to power it up and the HD light flickered and the power light flickered, fans started running, but none of the usual booting noises. As soon as I released the power button everything just quit. Pulled the case cover and the motherboard light was on.

Turned off the power supply via switch, unhooked the powercord. Waiting a few seconds an then plugged it back in and flipped the p/s switch. mobo light came back on. Tried the power button again and with the cover off I noticed a light flickering on the videocard as well as the power + hd light and the usual mobo light.

Next step was to replace the CMOS battery (rig is a couple of years old now). Installed the new battery. Plugged back in the power cable. Flicked switch on p/s. Oddly the fans started up and all the lights that were flickering before started flickering.

The power button on the case no longer seems to be in the equation. Even unplugged the leads from it to the mobo, but things continued to run as long as the power was on to the p/s

Any ideas as to what might be going on?

[Panama Red]

Sounds like your power supply failed. Even the good ones like Antec can leave the room early.

[Cirerrek]

If it is only the p/s I think I'll dance a jig

No wait, my wife gave me the go ahead to replace the mobo, cpu, ram, and p/s.

Now I'll have to break off a capacitor or something .

Time to see if I can locate a local source for a capatible power supply.

Thanks for the suggestion Panama Red.

[Cirerrek]

Couldn't beat online prices vs. local prices, so scored an Antec 500W Neopower from Newegg and it got here in a day.

Slightly bigger casing, but it fit in my case just barely. After getting everything plugged back in, it fired up with a little beeping and wanting to start me out in safemode. Started normally. Reset the clock and badda bing, back in business.

Thanks for the suggestion. The Mech is apparently still the place for reliable guidance on PC topics.

Gracias.