Computer wont boot up :(

[Julian]

Gonna try to be as detailed as possible.

A week ago I was leaving for spring break. I had opened up my case to look at something, but I touched nothing. I left my tower there without replugging anything.

1 week passes by

I come in, connect all the cords, then when I try to turn the computer on, it does nothing. I check to see if the surge protector thing is on, if everything is connected, it is. Hitting the power button does nothing.

At this point I'm hearing the low screechy like noise, so I disconnected everything. I tried switching the 1/0 thing in the back a few times, then I tried to boot up, and the green light would come on for a few seconds then it would go off. I tried this a few times, same thing.

At this point, I disconnected everything from the back except for the power cord, and my computer was able to boot up with no problem, but I was still hearing that screechy-like noise, and my monitor wasn't plugged in so I shut it down...

Ever since then, I haven't been able to replicate it at all, even the 1 second power ups, now no matter what I do the computer wont boot up at all.

The screechy noise is coming from around where the power supply is, so I'm thinking that something happened with it. This noise happens as soon as I connect the power cord, without even trying to hit the power button. One time I left this on for about a minute, then I removed the cord, the noise kept on going for about 5 more seconds.

Not too sure what to do here. The computer is kinda old so I think I may just build a new one, but I'm not sure. I don't really have the money, and if I did that I would have to use up the $ I was saving to take a few summer courses

[viperlasson]

You don't happen to have a spare power supply do you? Maybe salvage from another computer to test if yours died. Does the computer get through post (does it make the BEEP?)?

Is there a diode on the motherboard that lights up when you turn on your power supply? Try re-seating your RAM into the slots, for some reason whenever I can't post after doing something with my desktop, its always the ram.

[Julian]

It doesn't turn on at all, hitting the button to boot up does nothing. It doesn't get to the beeps. (and the one time that it was booting up, there were no beeps.)

Second part, I dunno, I'll try the ram thing tomorrow morning, going to sleep now

[Furtwangler]

try removing the board from the case and cleaning the back of it and the case to make sure nothing is shorting it, make sure when you reseat the board that the only thing touching it from the case is where the screws go. Take out the ram and see if it beeps at you. Make sure the case wires are on properly.

Like viper said id see if an LED of some kind is there and if it is lighting when the mobo is powered. If you have the resources (a multimeter) you could always take out the PSU and test the pins individually to make sure it's working. Remove everything but the ram from the motherboard and videocard if it doesnt have onboard and try booting like that.

[Spekkio]

How To: Jump Start A Power Supply (PSU) / Test A Power Supply And Components - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net
you can use this technique to test to see if your power supply will start w/o the computer attached. if it doesn't work testing that way, we've isolated your problem. when trying this, obviously you are dealing with electricity. the wires you're attempting to short with the paperclip should offer you no chance of electrocution, but if you goof it up or the power supply is shorted inside, you could find yourself in a world of hurt if you're not careful. use your brain and protect yourself when you try it.