Power shuts off after about 3 seconds..

[Fat Tony]

I was doing some work on my computer this morning, adding a floppy and straightening out some wires, and when I plugged the power cord back into the power supply, which i had accidentally left switched on, I think (i'm not entirely sure) that I saw a flash come from inside the case. Now when I turn on the computer it stays on for about 3 seconds and then shuts down. Although, when i have the reset button held down it doesn't shut down, but i think that's just because it wont let it, because it still doesn't post. I don't have any other power supplies i can use right now, but i might later. Any suggestion, or ideas would be helpful.

Thanks,
F|T

[Fat Tony]

I figure some more info might be needed so here's what i have:

t-bird 950
Abit kg7 RAID
40gig 7200 rpm
8 gig 5400 rpm
HP 8x4x32 cd/rw
Creative DVD 12x
Generic floppy
1 case fan (not sure of power or size, but it's not that big)
1 PCI system blower

It's all on a 300watt power supply... does this just mean i need a bigger one? Because I do have all of the power cords used...

Again, thanks

F|T

[Bovon]

If at all possible, you need to try to see where that flash came from. Look for smoked places on or around the motherboard. On many motherboards, the cpu fan must be connected to the cpu fan header on the motherboard. If it is not connected there, the bios does not detect a fan, and shuts the computer down...this is a fail safe thing that saves the cpu if no fan is attached to the cpu. Sometimes, this feature can be disabled in the bios. Maybe that flash was in the fan circuit and the bios no longer detects the fan.

Also, please let us know what type system you have, AT or ATX, what other stuff do you have installed...hardware like. What OS are you running, how much ram,. one..two..or three modules. It is necessary for those trying to help to have as much insight to what you have as you do...except we can't see it.

[Fat Tony]

Well, that was it! I feel so stupid.. i forgot to plug the cord back into the mobo. But now i have another problem... the computer wont turn on with the Floppy plugged into the computer. It's a really old really crappy floppy, and it might be broken, but i'm not sure. I tried it with the ide cables going both ways so i don't think that's the problem, and it's not old enough to the point where having the ide plugged in backwards would break it... at least i don't think so anyway. Again, any help is welcome.

F|T

[Bovon]

When you get around to listing your system, and what you have installed like has been asked, maybe somebody can help. Remember, we cannot see what you see, we do not know what you know. Working on a computer long distance is bad enough, but to try to help with nothing to work with is impossible.

[userserver]

Make sure the stripe on your floppy cable is away from the power connector and make sure no pins are bent.