Help Building a Computer

[Norgy]

Do you have one of those speaker things connected? Usually, if you do, the motherboard will emit sounds when you turn on the power, giving you some clue as to what's wrong.

Could be that your CPU fan is a goner, since it shuts down. The motherboards I have experienced do not POST when the CPU fan doesn't run.

[grumbler]

Sorry to dredge this up, but it's for the same computer. It's worked fine for a long time, but apparently  now it isn't starting up once more. The computer will turn on, the fan will start up, and then it will shut down.

This sounds like a circuit problem to me, but I could be mistaken. Does anyone have any thoughts?

You should be getting POST beeps.  Have you swapped out memory (or at least shifted memory in the slots)?  Could also be that the silicone grease between the CPU and cooler has broken down, though normally this wouldn't stop a boot-up, just cause shutdowns later on. 

Disconnect everything except the CPU and one stick of memory, and see if the system will boot up.  If it does, add stuff back in until it fails.  If it doesn't, replace the memory.  If it still fails, use a different memory slot.  If no memory/slot combo works, call back. 

[Caliga]

Could be that your CPU fan is a goner, since it shuts down. The motherboards I have experienced do not POST when the CPU fan doesn't run.

Seems possible, though in my case when I've had this I get past POST but then get an on-screen message like "CPU fan failure" or something and the computer shuts off.  I've seen than on ASUS boards and I think maybe Gigabyte boards too.  Of course if he opens the case and boots it he'll easily be able to tell if that's the issue.

[Norgy]

You're right, Cal. My newest Asus board does indeed POST even with CPU fan problems.

Does the rig have a discreet graphics card?
And is the PSU a POS or a good one?