Vista - Sleep mode may have actually destroyed my motherboard

I know it sounds improbable, but here's what happened today. For background, a few days ago, trying to be a little more enery-efficient around the house, I enabled Sleep mode on my home pc with Vista Ultimate 32bit. I tested it a few times with very short intervals, and it seemed to work fine, coming back up in 2 or 3 seconds when I pressed the pc's power button. So I decided it was safe and started using Sleep mode regularly.

Today, when I pressed the power button to have the pc return from Sleep mode, I heard the case fans come on, but within 5 seconds, they just shut off again. The computer appeared off. The screen remained dark the whole time. I have since tried pressing the power button many times, always with the same result: the fans come on for a few seconds, then the computer shuts off. Pressing the reset button while the fans are running does nothing.

I've read several dozen threads in this forum concerning Vista Sleep mode issues, and I've read the troubleshooting guide at http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/63...-problems.html. This symptom seems very different from any of those mentioned in the guide. In fact, this seems literally like a case of motherboard death by Windows Vista Sleep mode.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Jacob

some pc specs:
Motherboard: ASUS M2N32 WS Professional
Video Card: EVGA e-GeForce 8800GTS 320MB
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
Memory: 4 x 1GB
OCZ DDR2 PC2-4200 / 533MHz / Value Series (P/N OCZ25331024V)
Hard Drive: Western Digital SE16 500GB
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-S203B SATA DVD+RW
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad 750W
Case: Antec P182
(please let me know if other details would be helpful)

Have you changed any parts recently?

Nope, I haven't changed any parts since the initial build of this pc back in September/October of this year.

Since this problem began, I've tried disconnecting the hard drive, the DVD drive, removing and replacing the CMOS battery, disconnecting and reconnecting the power supply and removing the video card. Still, the fans come on for a duration of about 5 seconds and then everything shuts down.

Jacob

How old is the case? Have you tried to switch the power button with the reset button to see if the switch is bad?

It's an Antec P182, just a couple months old.

I didn't know you could interchange the power and reset buttons like that. If you think it's a good idea, I'd be willing to give it a try.

Jacob

It should work from my understanding, but you might have to actually hold the button down. I'm doubting that though but maybe you will? The reason I suggest this is because if you hold the button down with a good switch it'll shut down so I'm just wondering if that it's it. Besides the only thing that could go wrong is the computer simply won't turn on.

"jakewan" <jakewan.328mh1@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net> wrote in message
news:jakewan.328mh1@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net...No, actually what that sounds like is a dead power supply. I know this is
going to sound funny, but sniff the grill in the power supply. If there is
like a strong sorta musty burnt smell, it's probable that one of the
capacitors failed. CompUSA or your local PC shop will have replacements. If
it turns out NOT to be that, you can always return it. However, from what
you describe, this is what it sounds like.

--
Ok, I got the big purple f*cker, Sponge Bob is next!!
http://www.lockergnome.com/darksentinel
You know what to do with the munge

If it was that the computer would more than likely wouldn't even boot up. And if something did burn up, you would know it. I woke up to my ps burning in my room one night. Now I'm not saying that it isn't because i've had my share of stupid computer problems, but I'm kind of doubting it. But then again I could be wrong.

In article <jakewan.328mh1@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net>,
jakewan <jakewan.328mh1@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net> wrote:Your symptoms are indicative of a short. This can happen internal
to the power supply, and can *also* happen in a peripheral (cdroms are
common culprits for some reason) or even the motherbaord.

First, did you build it yourself? If you did check that your
standoffs are properly located. Then remove the bios battery (it's
already unplugged right? :-) And go have coffee. In 20-30 minutes come
back and reinstall the battery.

Now, disconnect all the drives (floppy too), remove all the cards,
and power on. It should come up with whatever beep sequence indicates no
video (unless you have onboard video in which case you might get to "no
operating system"). If it doesn't power up replace the power supply (with
a bigger one :-) and try again. Still doesn't power up? Remove the
memory DIMMS. If you don't get self test and then the memory error beeps
you need to replace the mother board. If it does you still might but first
try known good memory. Also, remove and replace the existing motherboard
checking for accidental contact between, say, a standoff and a trace.

Ok, so now it's powered on and is failing self test because of no
video. Add the video card. If that works add the cdrom. Etc.

BTW, it's entirely possible that after doing all this you'll end
up with a perfectly working system and no indication of error. Take heart!
It'll happen again soon enough and eventually become reproducible :-)

Yeah I'm going to go ahead and agree with the post above me. But I would check the switch idea first. I've heard of other people doing this and sometimes it helps. I would do what above said and take evertything out. Everything. Ram and all. If it works and you get beeps then put one piece in at a time. If it dosn't work, I would take the mobo out and place it on the box you go the mobo with or and cardboard box would work. Something could be grounding out. Usually, if it was grounding out it wouldn't boot at all, but one of my mobo's was having a problem with showing no video and I did this. Ended up being grounded to the case and I had to send the mobo back to Asus. How old is your mobo? Could still be under warrenty if this is the case.