Hi, i recently bought a new computer and decided to give my parents my old one. Before doing so, i took the side off and blew out all of the dust. I also took out my video capture card since they wouldnt need it. Well, after all of that i hook it up for them and it wont come on. I check out the back of the PC, and the power supply light is blinking. After some unplugging and plugging in of the power cables from the power supply, i notice the light starts blinking(and clicking) when i plug in the motherboard.
I figured maybe the heat sinc had came loose from the processor after reading some possibilities online and figured i could just but some thermal paste and redo it myself. After applying new thermal paste and getting everything set, i try the computer again and its still doing the same thing. Im frustrated at this point because before i cleaned it out, it worked great.
Since i was able to narrow it down to the power cable plugging into the motherboard, i figured i would mess with it a little. I noticed that as soon as i started to plug it in the light would blink but when i would pull it out and it stopped. Then the next time it would go further before it started to blink. After removing it and plugging it back in i was able to get it to plug in without the light blinking. The computer powers up, works as if everything is fine. I can even shutdown the computer and the start it up days later without issue.
Now for the problem. I was plugging some stuff in earlier and hit the button on my power stick and shut off the juice to my computer. After turning it back on, the power supply light started blinking again. I know i can get it to work again by messing with the cable plugging into the motherboard but i would really like not to have to do this.
I was wondering if what im doing(messing with the cable on the motherboard) could cause problems with the power supply or motherboard?. Also, anyone know whats causing this? Is it a bad power supply? motherboard? something else?
Im sorry for the length of the post, i just figured i would explain the entire situation to try and help with answering the question. Any help would be greatly appreciated.