System won't power up.

[skypest]

When I push my power button, the power light flickers as long as I hold the button in, but goes out when I let go (ie: I can't turn the computer on). Occasionally I can get it to power up by hitting the reset button while holding the power button in. I need to fix this, but don't know were to start. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

I built the system about 1 1/2 years ago and it worked fine till recently.

Processor - Intel P-4 3.6 ghz
Motherboard - Intel 915 PBL
Power Supply - Antec smartpower 2.0 500 watt

 

[PC eye]

One low cost "that can go" believe it or not is something you find in the jewelry/watch dept. in retail stores namely the Lithium battery they put on the boards. After so long when the battery decides to slip away you suddenly have a problem figuring out whaaaa the... when the system fails to start one day. Then the $2-$3 solution is thought of unless you find a hardware fault.

1 1/2yrs.? That sounds about right since that was seen on the last build here where "nothing came on" one day. A quick trip to a local Wallyworld solved that fast however when it was realized that there were no hardware problems at that time to worry about. In your situation hope a low cost replacement does it for you otherwise... board fault, bad cap in supply, need new power switch(not as likely but what you said about the reset button?, or even the ultimate demise of the cpu.