I'm kinda stumped

[Alexander]

I have been working regularly on a friends PC (It's always something new).

However, one of the ongoing problems is that if the computer is powered down the power button on the front doesn't work properly. You have to flip off the switch to the power supply and then tap the power button on the front or the computer will do, what I call, a false start. (system will start to power up, fans will start, drives will spin up, and then it will turn back off.)

Recently thier DVD-Rom has failed. DVD playback will lock after a few min and it will not read a data CD at all. (like a game CD).

I thought at first that the DVD issue may be a driver problem. Went through that process, with no luck. My next thought was that it might be a problem with WinME (as most of their other problems have resulted from the same source). I have procured a copy of XP to test on the system, but as yet have not installed it. However, I have been thinking....

With the power issue, and then the DVD issue, I have a feeling that it may be the motherboard and power supply. I am hoping that is not the case, because a different mutual friend (that I told them not to buy from, btw) built the system and has since refused to support it. (Thus my involvement)

I'll give you guys the specs on the system and if you have any other ideas, I would be happy to entertain them.

Motherboard: MSI SocketA (MS-6330 I think)
CPU Chip: AMD Athalon 1.3Gig
Ram: 512 Mg
Video: sis 64mg video (APG)
Power Supply: 300w
OS: WinME
the drives are all pretty generic.

Part of the reason that I was thinking about this was because a friend of mine said that the power up problem was a known issue with some MSI boards, but I haven't found anything online about it.

Any help you guys can give would be fantastic.

Thank you,
Alexander

 

[Apokalipse]

I don't think it's a problem with the DVD or anything just that Windows ME is not a very good OS. 98 crashes a lot but ME has a lot more problems with compatibility and drivers and stuff.

you said it appears to start to boot up then turns off, does it go through the POST > Power On Self Test, where it detects the Hardware and everything on boot

if yes then it IS a problem with ME, but if no it might be the BIOS or Motherboard

 

[Alexander]

No it doesn't get throught the self test. I don't even get the diagnostic beep from BIOS. Basically, it acts like it gets power to everything and then at the point that the post would start it powers back down.

Alexander

 

[Alexander]

Just to let you guys know.. I tested the power supply and the fans would spin up, so that looked ok, then I went on to the Motherboard...

I found two leaking caps on either side of the CPU soooo... I think I have finally found the culprit for all of the problems they have been having with controllers, booting, etc....

Thanks for the heads up, I appreciate it.

Alexander