I merely suspect it might be the motherboard's fault...

Ok, I custom built my computer. It was working fine, but I was using a power supply I yanked out of a dell computer temporarily since my previous power supply died. Well, I got myself a new power supply and swapped out the dell power supply from my computer. I stuck the dell power supply into the dell computer and it works fine. I tried to turn on my computer, and everything seems to be fine. It shows the initial screen, but doesn't continue. I try restarting the computer and pressing 'delete' to go into bios settings, but it says 'Preparing to go into setup...' and freezes.

What could cause this? The harddrives sound like they are turning on. The computer speaker only beeps once when I turn it on, which I think is normal. I've only got 2 ideas. That this is the motherboard's fault - that maybe the bios got corrupted somehow. Or, maybe the power supply is supplying enough power to the motherboard to turn it on, but then it freezes cause something is glitchy...

Suggestions?

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-7VT600
Old Power Supply: 250WT
New Power Supply: 300WT (115VTac only)

How long have you let it set once you turn it on and it locks up? I've had them set for almost 5 min befor doing anything.

I'd check out the PSU first... perhaps the output voltages are a little on the low side. Is this a brand-name PSU?

Check all your connections, too... cables, especially IDE, tend to work loose whenever you crawl into the case.

No, I got it from newegg, I think this is the one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16817101401

I've tried leaving the computer on for hours, and it is definately froze up.

So is it possible for the motherboard wire voltages to be incorrect to the point that it turns on, but freezes?

Any other suggestions?

In the magical world of electronics, almost anything is possible. Do you have a means of checking the voltage levels?

Is it possible you installed a software or update at around the same time as you put this power supply in and the failure is just coincidental?

Well, I believe the world of electronics has its limits. For example, I don't think that any software on my harddrives have anything to do with the freezing considering it never actually reads the harddrives. It doesn't proceed with the boot device order at all. (no way to flash the bios with a floppy for example)

No, I have no means of checking the voltage levels. I'm hoping I can avoid taking it someplace and pay for it to be checked out.

Okay, I misread what the original problem is... it's saying "preparing to go into setup" as in going to the BIOS settings?

Did you try resetting the BIOS? Or perhaps reflash it?

Checking the voltages just requires a cheap voltmeter... I think you can get a cheesy digital multimeter now for like $20

I've tried resetting the BIOS by taking out the battery and waiting a few moments. As far as I know, you can't flash the BIOS, if you can't boot from a floppy? Remember that I can't boot from floppy, CD, or harddrive cause the computer freezes on the first screen.

Time to RMA that motherboard, then.

Dunno what RMA is. I've swapped the old power supply, which is known to work, back in when the computer ran fine. It still did the freezing thing with the known working ps though. So this definately suggests that something is fubar about the motherboard. I'm going to take it in someplace now and hope that they can fix it without replacing it (I only just bought the motherboard a few months ago).

So why would the motherboard suddenly start freezing up on the first screen when all I did was swap out power supplies. Any theories?

Could be anything... concidence, ESD... whatever.

RMA is Return Materiel Authorisation-- call the seller or manufacturer and tell them the product you recently purchased has failed and you'd like a warranty repair/replacement. I am running on the assumption that this build is recent.

Well, now I know the advice that I was looking for. "Double check all of your power connections with all the harddrives, cd roms, etc...".

I had no idea that if I forgot to plug the power into the CD drive that the motherboard will hang.

I never thought about that.. If the IDE cable is pluged into it they it could do that.. I havent had many to do that but ya they will. Glad you got it