dehumidifier,
I don't see an A17 board anyhwere on Abit's website...are you sure that's the model? Anyway...do you have the 12v power supply connected?

Looks like this? http://www.pcstats.com/articleimages/p4upgrade_pow3.jpg

hope this helps.

Here is what I would suggest:

If other things on the system are powering up but the fan is not ,and you're not getting to post, it is most likely
a failure of the motherboard fan power slot or the fan itself.  I'd bet on it being the fan. If the fan will not work, the COPS protection on the AMD CPU will kick in and not allow the system to post.

It is still possible that something else is going on here such as a bad motherboard or that there are multiple problems.
I'm fairly certain that if the situation you are describing is accurate, that replacing the CPU fan will take care of the problem.

Good luck!

I've got the 12v power supply connected. will try the steps out as listed as much as possible.

hmm, I'm no expert on this, but from what I see the 12v power connector is in the top right of the motherboard (closest to the cpu and chipset). Now when the computer powers on, the fan on cpu....maybe even cpu too (cant tell) and the fan over the chipset does not work at all. Does the 12v power that area? Tried Changing fans but no luck there.
I'm kinda hoping it's the psu not working, I know on my previous motherboard there was no need for the 12v, so I dont know if it has worked from when I got it. The Graphics, Memory, CPU,and everything else were working fine yesterday. It is a 400w PSU that came with the case itself, it's a cheap case, so maybe it's just due to a cheap and nasty psu?

The fan on the chipset is part of the motherboard circuitry, so if the motherboard (cpu) isn't booting, it's not surprising that the chipset fan isn't either.  If it was a cheap case and the power supply came with it, I would replace it - it's better in the long run.

I'm thinking you have a non supported cpu.  Make sure your cpu is a 2.8ghz pentium 4c not a pentium 4e.  See here for the review:
http://www.hardwarezoom.com/viewcontent.jsp?ReviewID=200

This board supports celerons and Northwood cpu's.  I believe you have a prescott, which doesn't seem to be supported.   Using a non supported cpu will give you these exact same symptoms.  see here for the chart:  http://www.abit.com.tw/test_report/AI7/index.php

I think your power supply is fine, it's more than enough juice.

one more note:  from what I could find your board does not support the 90mm core and the voltage requirements of the pentium 4e.

Hope this helps

Tim.


BTW.  I recently ran into this problem with celerons. I was trying to use a celeron d in a mobo that only supported up to a celeron c although both were 2.6 ghz.  When I tried to boot I only got fans, nothing else. It made it seem just like the 12v rail on the PSU wasn't working.

Well I went out and purchased a new Jeantech 450w PSU, Set that all up and everything worked fine. So I guess it pays to get rid of those cheapo psus, cos mines working a treat now. Thanks for all your help guys, appreciate all your input and things to try.

Well so much for my comment.  Glad you got it.  :)