Edit: see posts after this one.
I've been having some thermal problems with my PC for a week or so. I knew what it was, dust builds up in the CPU heatsink, and needs to be vacuumed out. No big deal, right?
I do so, reassemble, and the computer shuts right down after five seconds. It repeats this ad naseum. This usually means that it won't boot because a fan isn't attached somewhere. It shuts down to protect itself. Smart, right?
I suppose it would be, except the damned fans ARE attached!
I completely disassemble the system (which I'd actually been planning on doing for some time anyway so I could make the cable placement more prone to airflow). I check everything. Nothing! Not a darn thing.
I pop out the processor and inspect. Nothing to note. I reassemble, and...
It boots! Wonderful. I put the hard drives back, and hit the power.
You know that dreaded sound of calm before the storm? The silence is actually deafening. Then I hear it. Like the sound of Rice Krispies in milk. Then I see the magic smoke being released from my board! Crap! I pull the plug. Power is still going in! Curse this good power supply with it's robust capacitors!
I am not precisely sure what I did, but I have a suspicion. I think I plugged the floppy power plug in one pin off. The power supply is *supposed* to automatically shut down when that happens.
It actually still boots - for a split second. Then shuts right back down. If you boot without any drives, it stays up, but what good is that?
So I'm guessing my northbridge is blown. Going to do some shopping on NewEgg for a new motherboard. Right now I'm on an old P133 I had kicking around. 16 colors, because I can't find the drivers for the video card (and frankly, don't care enough to search). The board looks *really* funky in just 16 colors.
See you guys when I puzzle this out...