Comp died out of NO where! Help.

[wongb18c]

Ok, I'm new to this forum so bare with me. It happened last night as I turned on my comp, it's been 3 weeks since I turned it on because I was away. Anyway, everything is fine... I check email, chat on aim blah blah.. then I plug my usb cable from my mp3 player into the back.

Then all of a sudden... just as I plug the usb in, the comp shuts off!

I tried to turn it back on it won't work.. I tried everything spent the whole night trying to solve the problem but no go. How could this be? Talk about aggravation, at first I thought it was the power supply so I went out a bought a new one, when I put in the new power supply still won't work.. so I'm like OK... this is freaking crazy. Maybe it's the motherboard... I spent another 75$ and bought a cheap asus motherboard and rebuilt everything... Using the new mother board and the new power supply, the cd rom gets power and so does my 2 HD's but the cpu fan does not... nor does my video card.

Also the new motherboard has no built in video jack.. so I have to use my video card - will this cause problems?

Does anyone have a clue of what's wrong, I'm pretty new to this stuff so any help would be appreciated! What steps should I take to diagnose this problem.. and fix it? $175 dollars later I have nothing but parts.... any suggestions would be appreciated. TIA.

*One side note, when I plugged in the new power supply and turned it on for the first time I smelled some plastic burning.. it's a 430 watt supply maybe it's too much?

[merlin_2]

did the new motherboard come with a floppy disk and did you load it?...have you checked all the wiring?you have not mention ram sticks..did you put them back in?i dont like this plastic smell? is you psu correctly adjusted for the voltage?what is your cpu?  ...does it have the paste on it? some do some dont...is the new motherboard any good?this may help you>http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/

[wongb18c]

The new motherboard did not come with floppy only a CD.  It's not a very good motherboard since it doesn't even have a built in videocard.  It cost me 75$, I bought it because I was desperate to get my comp back online... didn't want to spend a lot of money.

I have checked all the wiring yes... my psu is set for 115V for north america standards.  

I have one RAM stick in - a 512 ddr stick.

I have a AMD 1800 cpu, with paste and sink and fan.

When I turn my comp on, I get nothing on the screen... the cpu fan and video card does not get power.... however... I believe the CD rom and HD's do... since I can hear it.  

Is a 430 watt psu too much for my setup..?  Sorry for stupid questions..  newbie here.  Any help would be appreciated... I'm really stuck in a bind... need the comp for school.

[jonah]

The wattage of the Power Supply (PSU) just shows how mch power draw it can handle. You shouldn't be able to burn anything out. Your PSU at 430 Should allow you to add more components. It shouldn't fail unless the PSU was defective from the beginning.

[wongb18c]

That's what I figured... I started to worry a little bit since when I first turned it on using the new PSU... I smelled a little burning of plastic... which I know isn't right.

[Raptor]

Having a built in videocard does not mean that it isn't a good mainboard.

Having a more powerful Power Supply Unit than your system need doesn't matteer, it adds to the stability should you decide to install more power demanding parts.

How PC Power Supplies Work

Burning plastic can't be good. Did you check to see if all the plugs are connected properly? Remove hardware before booting to eliminate faulty hardware that may be causing your problem.

Did you  take the proper precautions before even touching the hardware?