Boot Up Issue (Stumped)

[BobPCBuilder]

Ok so for the last 10 years or so, I have built a PC about every 18 months. About 9 months ago I go out and purchase all the parts to build my new system. Everything (except those pesky front USB connections) worked fine on the stystem. I even added added a Creative X-Fi sound card with no issues as well as a USB Card for more connections.

Problem: about 2 months back when I would go to turn my system on, power supply would come on but I would never get that single beep I get which is followed usually by the load I see on the monitor and the mouse light and keyboard lights coming on.

Bad Solution: my only solution to this problem was to hit some random combination of reset and power on/off until eventually the system would boot up. (Obviously not good for my hard drive).

Things I think I have eliminated: Last week my power button on my inexpensive case finally breaks off from the repetitive on/offs the last 2 months... so I had wanted a new case and ended up with a monster size rocketfish case and went ahead and put a new 700 watt power supply. Yes, I had checked all my seatings etc in the old case and moving everything over to the new case I was forced to take all but the ram and CPU off the board and re attach when I moved to the new case...

Again... issue still an issue, multiple reset/power on/off hits to get boot screen to come up.

I have put this in the motherboard section because that would be the next thing I look in to. But I am hoping by describing the problem and listing my parts below, someone will have the "magical answer"...

Thanks in advace

Vista 32 Bit OS
Gigabyte (GA-M55plus-S3G) Motherboard
AMD Athalon 64X2 Dual Core 4200 + 2.2 Ghz
PNY DDR2 2GB
Mad Dog TF DVDRW
Maxtor SATAII/300 Internal Hard Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS Video Adapter (PNY 350MB)
Samsung SyncMaster 226BW LCD

Device Manager shows no conflicts and appears to have all devices named correctly.

[shadowpr]

What brand power supply?

[BobPCBuilder]

Rocketfish as mentioned above... brand new when I changed out the case this weekend... Had an old 450 watt one...

[shadowpr]

I would try this: http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=132409

See if you can get it to boot right away. If not, then I would suspect that it's either the power supply, or could be the mother board was damaged from the contant on/off.

[Cricket]

Since you replaced the case (along with the power button and the power supply) then the things I would look at are the optical drives (try disconnecting them and then try to power up...defective optical drives can do weird things to a computer) and the motherboard itself.

Cricket

[BobPCBuilder]

Actually, the constant on/off did not start until I had issues booting up. As mentioned I have upgraded to a new Rocketfish 700W power supplly with the new case.... and still have the issue.

Could it be the hard drive?

Is it safe to assume the AMD X2 Processer is not part of the problem?

[Davo2]

Bob, you said: power supply would come on but I would never get that single beep I get which is followed usually by the load I see on the monitor

Are you saying it won't POST? It might be the PS, but I would look for something shorting out the MB, maybe a standoff under the board in the wrong spot or a loose screw under there. Otherwise you probably have a bad board or a bad CPU. The board could have been subjected to static electricity; that problem often doesn't show up for weeks, or even months. Look closely at the capacitors, are any swollen, or leaking? Make sure everything is seated correctly.

Also, why wouldn't the front USB ports work? That is a big red flag. BTW, the system doesn't need a Hard Drive to POST, so that isn't the problem, unless I misunderstand the way you described the symptoms.