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I have an old server computer from 2005 that still has a lot of potential in my opinion. I acquired it from my dad’s old storage unit. It was running well for about a month and then one day—in the middle of configuring Windows updates—there was a power failure inside the computer.

I was able to start it up for maybe 2 minutes after that but I haven’t gotten it to work since. When I first got it, it seemed to have the same issue to a lesser degree. The problem might be the motherboard 24 pin connector pins not getting a good connection to the power supply cable. I have already replaced the power supply, but I’m still having the same issue. Here is a picture of what the boot screen looks like. It just gets stuck there.

my pc boot screen--weird huh? Suggestions?

Since it might be a power issue, I was wondering if it is possible to replace the pins in the 24 pin power connector on the motherboard. I have already replaced the cable which comes from the power supply. Is it possible to re-attach the pins?

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3 Answers 3

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Change the mobo. No point in replacing the connector at this point since the PCB is multilayered in modern mobos meaning different pins can go to different layers.

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  • I'm not sure if that connector is the problem even though it's likely. Is it possible to take a 24 pin connector off of another motherboard and move it to this one? I have an old windows 98 computer which I don't mind grabbing it from. I really don't want to get a new motherboard if I don't have too. Plus I'm not even sure if that's the problem. It's a good guess, but I can't be sure.
    – www139
    Sep 1, 2015 at 1:27
  • Like I said. As far as I know no, because the wires are distributed across multiple layers of the motherboard and you'd have to break the motherboard to replace the connector that's attached. You also need to post more details, can you log into the BIOS with F2/DEL, etc?
    – eco
    Sep 1, 2015 at 1:30
  • oh, ok. Didn't understand :) Thanks for explaining!
    – www139
    Sep 1, 2015 at 1:32
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I figured out the issue. It was a combination of not enough power and one of the ram chips was bad/not compatible. Since there is no model or any other information available, it made fixing a little harder than it would have normally been.

I purchased a new power supply, which I think may have helped. In any case it now has more power available and makes much less noise. Then I bent the pins inside the 24 pin connector on the motherboard. When I tried to start it up, it was giving infinite long 'beeps' which indicated an issue with ram memory. From there, I just tested to see what ram chip was not working.

I think part of the issue was caused by lack of power. Earlier (yesterday), I tried turning on the computer and there were no beeps indicating bad ram, even though there was clearly an issue with the ram memory.

In any case, I fixed it. Hope this dialogue helps someone out there :)

Thanks everyone :)

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    I'm glad you got it solved. One thing I would see is try to post as many details as you can on a list fashion so others can help you troubleshoot faster. One thing I've noticed too is that when I state a problem differently, specially to a different person the solution pops into my head because I notice a detail I hadn't noticed before. It's a good feeling when you fix something so Cheers!
    – eco
    Sep 2, 2015 at 20:01
  • Thank you. I spend over 6 hours working on it so it was satisfying! Thanks for the encouragement. I'm relatively new to hardware related things. Up until this point I've been learning web development. I will post more details next time. Thanks for the help everyone!
    – www139
    Sep 4, 2015 at 1:23
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I've seen all kinds of strange things happen when the CMOS battery gets old. It's usually a CR2032 watch battery.

Sometimes a weak battery will perform worse than if you remove the battery altogether. As a temporary measure, removing the battery and the power and booting without a battery sometimes clears things up. If that helps, then a fresh battery may be all you need.

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