Why a computer won't turn on?

Hello to all at sciforums.com One day I realized I couldn't install a cd software on my computer because in the my computer window the E-drive icon wasn't in there. I was told from a few people at allexperts.com it either is a defective E-drive device or I could open the case to unplug and replug the wires to the back of the E-drive device & the Motherboard to turn it on again to see if the E-Drive icon would come back inside the my computer window. I unplugged & replugged those two wires inside the computer and now it won't turn on. I was told from a few people at askexperts.com it might be a faulty wire inside the computer that will not make it turn on. I have a multi-meter with probes I was expected to have in the HVAC field. I'm out of the field now since I got laid off as a helper's technician last spring. I then found another job into the HVAC business with a different company. But this time it was in the installation department, not the service dept. This Employer was mean & nasty to me for no reason when I always showed him respect. So I quit and developed this believe that perhaps this is not what I'm supposed to do in life. Will this tool let me know which wire inside the computer is bad? If it will, what would I have to do to discover the faulty wire? This smart-meter measures volts, amps, ohms and continuity. Which one of these settings does it have to be on to search for the faulty wire? Thank you in advance for your time. Have a blessed day.

Sterling
Sterlbo1@hotmail.com

 

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That wouldn't be the route I would take to get the drive to appear, BIOS settings/jumper setting on drive and the like would have been first point of call. Was the psu turned on when you pulled the mobo power? It seems like a strange recommendation to me to pull the cd molex and mobo power (what mobo power leads was it: 4pin, 20/24 pin or what?).

If it turned on before you pulled the wires I don't think faulty wiring is the first place to look. Have you tried turning off the power at the wall (or take psu lead out). Make sure all wires are in (including making sure not pulled pwr switch connector when fiddling inside the case). Rig it like it was before adding the new drive so leave the new drive unplugged. See if it turns on then.

Also is there power going to your mobo? Check obvious things before testing, for instance any LEDs on the board that used to come on (eg. mine has digital POST code display (2 digit code instead of beeps), and various other LEDs so I can see when board has power). Clear mobo CMOS too if messed up BIOS settings (make sure there is NO power to your mobo before doing this, if it's on it can go very wrong). Check all jumper overrides are default (like some mobo have fsb freq settings you can set by hardware using jumper switches).

 

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Try to plug it in first...

 

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If it stopped turning on after you unplugged and plugged those wires, then I'm sure that's the problem. You probably forgot to plug something back in. Though it still confuses me that the whole computer doesn't turn on now. Did you pull out the mainboard power connector and then forget to plug it in?

It's doubtful that one bad cable would cause your computer to completely not boot (unless, does it give you any sort of POST error or beep code?).

 

Why not switch the wires around changing the a drive with the e drive to see if the wires are working first.

 

Is there a beeping pattern when you try and start the machine? Does the machine post?

Unplug the optical drive completely, and try turning the machine on. Does it post? Is there a beeping pattern?

Your optical drive has two cables going to it, the gray IDE ribbon cable and the four-wire power connector, correct? Are there any other cables?

 

What you need to do is during Bootup watch to see if your drive is detected.

If it is but it's not showing in the OS, then it means that an OS setting is the problem and the drive isn't necessarily at fault. If the drive isn't being detected during bootup it only leaves a few options.

1: Check your CMOS battery (if it's failing to keep a charge, your CMOS settings could be being corrupted and therefore potentially require resetting each boot)
2: Check your drive jumper setting with the cable position and BIOS settings. If you've plugged in a Drive to be Primary in the Secondary slot and got your BIOS set for autodetection, it's going to get messy. (For the most part always start with Cable Select for the jumpers and autodetect in the BIOS, only deviate from this if it's not giving you the right drive size of the drive isn't appearing to exist etc)
3: Your drive is dead, bury it. (not literally)

 

Well it could be just you're power supply.