# [SOLVED] No power after pressing Power button.



## Chris Armstrong (Aug 4, 2012)

Few weeks ago my Gateway DX4300 displayed a dialogue box that stated, "Your Computer has detected a Trojan Horse Virus, Shutting down." It then shut down, as the message stated it would. No Biggy...figured the computer was doing what it was meant to do upon a security threat. Well, after a few minutes I tried restarting the computer, and nothing, no power, no lights, no noises, completely dead.

So...thus far, I have tested the PSU with the paper clip trick, and an actual PSU tester, and it works just fine, according to those 2 test. I have also replaced the motherboard, thinking for sure that had to be the problem, but of course not, still no power whatsoever. I then figured, maybe it is the power button itself, so I used a screwdriver to short the 2 power on switch pins, and nothing. I have also replaced the CMOS battery, tested multiple outlets, power cord is good, reseated all connections. Also tried jumping it by moving the jumper from pins 1 & 2 to 2 & 3. And still nothing...

I have no idea what to try next, or what could cause a complete power failure on a newer computer...any help would be greatly appreciated! 

Computer Specs:
Gateway DX4300 | Vista Home Premium 64x | AMD Phenom 9750 Quad Core Processor | ATI Radeon 4650 GPU


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## fgreco (Nov 20, 2002)

Take the hard drive out then try powering it. Did you try that? If not do it and see if it powers to bios. The virus would be on the hard drive not motherboard.


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## Chris Armstrong (Aug 4, 2012)

*Re: No power after pressing Power button.*

No...I have yet to try that...Will post results afterwards.

Thanks!


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: No power after pressing Power button.*

Do you get any signs of power after pushing the power button, i.e. fans-lights-etc.
If not, that indicates a PSU issue. Shorting with a paper clip or using a PSU tester only indicates the PSU is capable of running but not if it is capable of booting the PC.
As noted by fgreco, infections do not harm hardware. Can you boot to the Bios and or Safe Mode?
You can disconnect the Hdd as suggested above or try booting from a bootable disc to bypass the Hdd.


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## Chris Armstrong (Aug 4, 2012)

*Re: No power after pressing Power button.*

Well, just removed the HDD, and still, absolutely nothing...no fans, lights, clicks, or ticks.


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## Chris Armstrong (Aug 4, 2012)

*Re: No power after pressing Power button.*



Tyree said:


> Do you get any signs of power after pushing the power button, i.e. fans-lights-etc.
> If not, that indicates a PSU issue. Shorting with a paper clip or using a PSU tester only indicates the PSU is capable of running but not if it is capable of booting the PC.
> As noted by fgreco, infections do not harm hardware. Can you boot to the Bios and or Safe Mode?
> You can disconnect the Hdd as suggested above or try booting from a bootable disc to bypass the Hdd.



No signs of power at all. And no, will not boot to safe mode or BIOS.

I will see if I can borrow a working PSU from a friend, may be a day or so before I have results...will follow up with update as soon as I have tested another PSU. Thanks for the info guys!!


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## berts (Aug 4, 2012)

*Re: No power after pressing Power button.*

I agree with the above posters, possibly a PSU issue, replace that and you should be good.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: No power after pressing Power button.*

No power at all would certainly indicate a PSU problem.
We recommend a minimum 550W good quality PSU for a PCI-E GPU.


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## Chris Armstrong (Aug 4, 2012)

*Re: No power after pressing Power button.*

Thank you guys for the info. Talked with a friend, and I will be able to acquire a working PSU tomorrow evening to confirm that it is the PSU that is faulty. I will post an update then.

If indeed it is the PSU, I will look into getting a 550W for sure.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: No power after pressing Power button.*



Chris Armstrong said:


> If indeed it is the PSU, I will look into getting a 550W for sure.


A "good quality" PSU.
All SeaSonic- All XFX- Most Corsair (not the CX-GS-M Series) are top quality.


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## Chris Armstrong (Aug 4, 2012)

*Re: No power after pressing Power button.*

Well...I have performed the test with a "known" working PSU, and sure enough, no power, at all! Well....except for a slight flick of the PSU fan, it moves about a quarter of an inch at most when i press the power button.

I am wondering if I am bypassing the power switch properly. With the PSU plugged in, I unplug the cases' power button connector from the MOBO. I then use a flat head and touch both the power on switch pins. Thinking that maybe I was touching the wrong pins, I decided to touch all 4 sets of switch pins, just to be thorough.

If that is correct, are there any other suggestions, ideas, or test I can perform?

Thanks in advance!


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## Chris Armstrong (Aug 4, 2012)

*Re: No power after pressing Power button.*

Also....if I were to get a new PSU that has the power switch integrated into the PSU itself, this would make the cases' power button obsolete, right?


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## joshesamlie (Jul 25, 2012)

*Re: No power after pressing Power button.*

*Cause*

No power from the computer can be caused by any of the below possibilities.


Connections not connected properly.
Third-party hardware.
Bad power cable.
Incorrect power supply.
Bad battery.
Bad power supply, power button, or power board or inverter.
Third-party hardware
If additional hardware has been recently added to the computer it is recommend that you temporarily disconnect that device or devices from the computer to verify they are not preventing your computer from turning on.


Incorrect power supply
If you are building your own computer or if the computer has never turned on since you purchased it, it is possible you are using a power supply that does not supply enough power or the incorrect power supply. Verify your power supply meets the requirements of your motherboard and processor.


Bad Power Supply, power button, or power board or inverter
If, after following the above sections, your computer still receives no power, it is likely that a hardware component in the computer has failed. It is most likely that the power supply has failed. If you do not plan on replacing the power supply yourself or if you have a portable computer, we recommend having the computer serviced by your computer manufacturer or a local computer repair shop.
If you have a desktop computer and plan on trying to repair the computer yourself, we recommend you replace the components in your computer in the below order.


First open the computer and verify the power connections. You may also wish to consider disconnecting the main power cable and reconnecting the power cable to make sure it has not become loose. Also verify the power button cable is correctly connected to the Motherboard.
Replace the power supply with a new power supply.
Replace the motherboard.


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## Chris Armstrong (Aug 4, 2012)

*Re: No power after pressing Power button.*



joshesamlie said:


> *Cause*
> 
> No power from the computer can be caused by any of the below possibilities.
> 
> ...




Thanks for the info Josh.

Steps 1 - 5 have already been verified or do not apply.

Am currently on step 6. I ordered a new motherboard 1st since the PSU tested out ok, via the paper clip test, and an actual psu tester. Being that the new mobo did not solve the issue, I have already ordered a new Consair 500w PSU from newegg. They ship pretty fast, so it should be here Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest.

Once I have received the new PSU, I will follow up with an update on whether or not that fixed the issue.


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## LouMjr (Feb 5, 2012)

*Re: No power after pressing Power button.*

I agree with the above posts. A good power supply tester is not that costly. Most are under $40. Yet keep in mine that not all of them are load testing the PSU. A quick alternative test ie: above is swap out the PSU with a know PSU in good working order before buying an unneeded PSU. Just a thought.:wink:


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## Chris Armstrong (Aug 4, 2012)

*Re: No power after pressing Power button.*

The power supply tester I have on hand is: Ultra Products ULT31553 20/24 Pin ATX Power Supply Tester

I tested both power supply's (the one that was already in the my tower, and the one I borrowed off of a friend) they both tested positive, and neither are powering up the new mobo, or anything for that matter. But neither one of them have the power switch integrated into the psu itself. So...with the new PSU that I have already ordered, that has the on/off switch on the back of it, I am thinking I will be able to bypass the cases' power switch. That seems to be the only thing left that may be causing this predicament, and I have not been able to locate a replacement power button for the case, so i figured I might as well get a good psu that will take the place of the power button.

Any thoughts on my thought process above are welcome.


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## ard1947 (Jul 23, 2012)

*Re: No power after pressing Power button.*

Hi, an interesting one. I think the Gateway DX4300 only had an ATI 3200 on-board, so your spec with a Radeon 4650 must be an add-in board? Did you try NOT installing that, and powering up without it? I have known failed Graphics Cards cause power-up issues. It is also worth eliminating any external USB ports, as children often force inappropriate items in there, and damage the pins (causing a possible 5V rail short, that could cause the PSU to "safely" sense this and not power itself up). One more thing might be to remove the CMOS battery for a minute or two (or use the CMOS reset to factory defaults jumper) - some bad/odd settings can cause conflicts, that can cause failure to power up. That is rare on modern Mobos though. HTH, Tony.


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## ard1947 (Jul 23, 2012)

*Re: No power after pressing Power button.*

Hi again - forgot to say - your Gateway DX4300 has 4 USB ports both REAR AND FRONT, so don't forget to to a physical check of ALL of those for internal pin shorts, or if possible, don't connect any of those from the case to the MOBO headers, for testing and elimination.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: No power after pressing Power button.*

A PSU tester will only tell you if the PSU is capable of running but not of it is capable of actually booting the PC.
The Power On/Off switch on a PSU does not replace the case Power Button. 
If you suspect the Case Power Button as defective, jump the two Power pins on the Mobo with a small metallic object i.e. a small bladed screwdriver.
If no joy, remove the dedicated GPU and try to boot using the Onboard Graphics


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## Chris Armstrong (Aug 4, 2012)

*Re: No power after pressing Power button.*

Welp...just received the PSU today that I ordered from newegg, and sure enough, that what the issue. The computer booted right on up.

So...A run down of the events:
-Computer detected trojan horse virus, and it shut down.
-PC would not start back up after that - completely dead!
-Tested the PSU with the paper clip trick and an actual PSU tester.
-And both test showed that the PSU was working.
-After testing every other possible situation, I concluded that it had to be the MOBO.
-MOBO did not resolve problem...obv.
-Tyree pointed out that, "Shorting with a paper clip or using a PSU tester only indicates the PSU is capable of running but not if it is capable of booting the PC."
-So I went on ahead a purchased a new PSU...and wha la...this solved the issue!

Quick Question: What is the point of a PSU test, since it only only indicates the PSU is capable of running but not if it is capable of booting the PC? This test seems completely pointless to me.

Thank you all for your assistance, it has been greatly appreciated!!


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Glad you got the problem resolved and hopefully you purchased a good quality PSU with sufficient power for your hardware to avoid a repeat of the situation.


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## LouMjr (Feb 5, 2012)

As shown not all PSU testers will provide adequate load tests. Most testers only show available output in voltage, not amperage draw or load tests. But in most of the tests I have done it is still a good idea to keep a tester handy because if there is a low voltage output it will often show right away. I also always keep a spare PSU just in case. It's easy to change one out and do a quick test sometimes as well. Maybe some more feedback is available by some others on here with better test equipment. Glad to see you're up and running once again.


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