Why is my pc taking ages to even start booting up?

[Phil Meehan]

When I turn my pc on, or restart, the fan turns on, the lights on my cd
drives flash in what seems to be a random pattern, and the power and hd
lights turn on. And that's it. No POST test, nothing. Sometimes it is taking
up to 15 minutes to kick in.

I've checked all the obvious, making sure all my cards & cables etc are
properly connected, and I've tried booting up, taking out 1 device at a
time, even disconnecting all my drives, and ram. I even tried a different
processor, but still no difference.

Here are my specifications:-

Asrock k7s8xe mobo
Athlon 2600XP processor,
512 DDR 3200 vdata ram,
Radeon 9600 xt
Windows XP Pro SP1

The specifications I've listed above are all new components that I have
replaced since this problem started happening. It has cost me an
unnecessary fortune, and I have no idea what's wrong now, I've checked
everything I can, any help or advice is appreciated. The only thing I could
think of now, is maybe that my case is somehow shorting the motherboard,
preventing it from starting the boot up process.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[CWatters]

Could this be a faulty or overloaded power supply?
How long does it take to boot into the BIOS?
What does your BIOS say about the voltage rails?

The only thing I could
think of now, is maybe that my case is somehow shorting the motherboard,
preventing it from starting the boot up process.

Watch out for metal posts at the front edge of the PCB. On two PC I built
recently there are tracks on the PCB too close to these posts for comfort.

 

[Nick Burns]

It won't boot without Ram, Try just the mb and 1 stick of ram and the video
card. If you had a case short, you would have popped a fuse or smoked.

 

[Nick Burns]

I had a shuttle ak31 mother board. It would never boot the first time, I
would power up and quickly shut off and power up again, then it would boot.
This problem was in the mother board, as I changed everything else.

 

[Phil Meehan]

Could this be a faulty or overloaded power supply?
How long does it take to boot into the BIOS?
What does your BIOS say about the voltage rails?


Watch out for metal posts at the front edge of the PCB. On two PC I built
recently there are tracks on the PCB too close to these posts for comfort.

Thanks for your suggestions, but what is the PCB? Excuse me if I sound
dumb.

I doubt if it's the power supply, because I have changed it since the
problem started. That's why I'm thinking it could be the case, because the
insides have been just about rebuilt. New mobo, cpu, graphics card, ram,
heatsink & fan & power supply, all brand new, good quality components.
There is only the case, and my drives remaining.

 

[Norm]

If you suspect the case then just remove everything and assemble it outside
the case and try. By the was PCB is printed circuit board as in
motherboard. Just make note of the 2 pins that need to be shorted together
to turn on the power supply.

 

[Phil Meehan]

If you suspect the case then just remove everything and assemble it outside
the case and try. By the was PCB is printed circuit board as in
motherboard. Just make note of the 2 pins that need to be shorted together
to turn on the power supply.

Ok, thanks for that, I'll give it a try.