Refurbished PC arrives DOA?

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Small formfactor desktop PC arrives, hooked up, usb mouse, PS-2 keyboard, when started the power light flashes and then nothing as far as screen display, hard drive activity, or usb mouse or keyboard lights. The power seems good, the processor fan spins up and runs full, no regulation in a few seconds as might be expected. What might be the problem or thing(s) to check?

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I would check all connectors. These tend to vibrate loose during shipping. Same for RAM, perhaps CPU, all shorting pins, etc. The transportation can often cause these type problems

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Test the power the power supply.Even though it powers everything up in sight.

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If you have a warranty on the computer I would not go out of my way to be too invasive. Check the basic
stuff, like cables & components to ensure they are attched well enough and that all cables are fitted and not loose.
As Ted mentions, cables and components can come loose during transport. Some couriers are rough with their packages.

If your power supply is one of those with a voltage regulator switch on it, ensure that it is set to your region.

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The ironic thing is this computer arrived in a box not even so much as blemished with a single crease in a corner or even a smudge mark and packed in very roomy form-fitting soft-wrapped foam. After checking eveything, it all looked intact and attached to the right areas and switched correctly, resetting CMOS jumper and shorting BIOS out had no effect. So I figured it must either be the mobo or the cpu. Nothing I could do about the mobo if that was gone so CPU it is.

Its a four-bolt down on the heat sink and it seemed very snug and tight and level but when I unbolted it and lifted it the CPU came away with the heat sink seemingly very easily. So I mangaed to pry the CPU off the heat sink and inspected the pins which all looked good and it fell back into the ZIF socket as it should. Locked it down and replaced the heat sink and tightened it on and it seemed to be exactly as it was before…except now the computer fires up and works fine.

So I don’t know how the heat sink could be securely tightened down on all corners and somehow not fully connected the CPU pins, or bent a bunch of them over, but reseating the CPU did the trick. I won’t live long enough to fully understand computers will I?

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The ironic thing is this computer arrived in a box not even so much as blemished with a single crease in a corner or even a smudge mark and packed in very roomy form-fitting soft-wrapped foam. After checking eveything, it all looked intact and attached to the right areas and switched correctly, resetting CMOS jumper and shorting BIOS out had no effect. So I figured it must either be the mobo or the cpu. Nothing I could do about the mobo if that was gone so CPU it is.

Its a four-bolt down on the heat sink and it seemed very snug and tight and level but when I unbolted it and lifted it the CPU came away with the heat sink seemingly very easily. So I mangaed to pry the CPU off the heat sink and inspected the pins which all looked good and it fell back into the ZIF socket as it should. Locked it down and replaced the heat sink and tightened it on and it seemed to be exactly as it was before…except now the computer fires up and works fine.

So I don’t know how the heat sink could be securely tightened down on all corners and somehow not fully connected the CPU pins, or bent a bunch of them over, but reseating the CPU did the trick. I won’t live long enough to fully understand computers will I?

Like I said, shipping can cause all sorts of problems. The box can be shaken without damaging the packaging and yet this shaking can cause something to loosen. Who knows how. Cables and RAM are more obvious, but as I stated I would also check the CPU. I’m glad this worked for you. I’m not sure any of us will live that long! Cheers, Ted

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