Computer starts and then powers off immediately

I have a thread in the ABIT motherboard forum as well but I figure this is more of a general hardware issue... (Although I think it's the mobo.)

At first the system would not POST. Then I swapped PSU's, nothing. OK, switch back. Now it powers on for only a second before powering off. (Before, it would power on and not POST. But it would stay on.) What's the usual reason for this? I used to know but forgot and now I can't find the answer in my search, so I thought I would just ask.

what size psu are you using and what make

They are both generic, one is 350 and the other is 450.

i've had the same problem, and the way it worked was by unplugging a bunch of stuff from the motherboard. i dont know why that worked for me but it just did. I only had to unplug when starting up, but i could attach whatever i wanted again afterwards.

Also it could be that some wires are bent.

I tried booting with only RAM/CPU/Video but nothing. So I'm pretty sure that's not it. The weird thing is that it didn't do this yesterday. What wires might we be talking about?

oso_fast said:

i've had the same problem, and the way it worked was by unplugging a bunch of stuff from the motherboard. i dont know why that worked for me but it just did. I only had to unplug when starting up, but i could attach whatever i wanted again afterwards.

Also it could be that some wires are bent.

Click to expand...

That sounds like you need a more powerful PSU. When you just turn a computer on it draws a lot of power. Drives are spinning up, capacitors are charging, etc. If you have to relieve this burden to boot, you might want to consider upgrading your PSU. How far do your lines drop under load?