Topic awaiting preservation: Computer not powering back up (Page 1 of 1)

My brother's computer isn't powering back up and while I was home digging out some information I thoght I'd drop a note in here to see if anyone had any ideas (I'll also be phoning the manufacturers but.......).

Anyway it was switched on but had powered itself down (turning the monitor off that kind of thing) but when he moved te mouse to get it to spring back to life nothing happened. He powered it down and nothing happened when he tried to switch it on. He has swapped power leads and I've taken the casing off and it looks like the power supply is working (although pos. not at 100%) as when you power it down and start it again a little yellow LED on the motherboard comes on, the power lights on the front flash and the processor fan does a revolution but just as you expect it to kick in nothing happens - the LED stays on but nothing else. Its a bit like trying to start your car when it just turns over but doesn't actually start properly.

So basically I'm just looking for ideas on where the problem might lie which might help me help the tech support spot the problem.

Computer is just over a year old (so out of warranty) and is running XP Home edition.

And , of course, it doesn't happen when thins are low pressure but my brother's partner has to get her dissertation done in a couple of days and the thing is stuck on the HD (and she can't find the backups). I'd rather avoid the extra hassle of taking it out and hooking it up to one of mine (and I'm not sure that the problem doesn't lie in the HD).

Anyway I'd better get back to it - any and all help is appreciated

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Emps

The Emperor dot org

Do you hear a "beep" when you switch on the PC ? If no, then I'd suggest that the motherboard rests in peace, that is to say, is dead.

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If wishes were fishes, we'd all cast nets.

I had a similar problem a good few months back Emps. I am running XPHome on a 1.9g gig intel processor. It was an intermittent refusal to boot up. Either on a restart or within say an hour of switching it off. After testing loads of things, I cleaned up the dust and crap (quite a lot) that had built up on the cooling fans and processor fins, and since then it has been working fine.
I guessed that it had been overheating through continous use and bad ventilation, and perhaps a cutout swich had been activated.
That's all I can think of from personal experience Emps. Sorry I can't be of more help.

:::tao:::

Thanks for the help everyone

I have spoken to the help desk people and they suggest it is the power pack so they are taking it back in - he seemed interested in the yellow LED - would that be set to shine when there was some power but cut out unless there isn't enough? I don't know - next I'll have to start a new thread on fitting a second disk drive - not a big deal but I haven't done it yet so.........

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Emps

The Emperor dot org

The most similar problem that I had and have with my computer goes like this: once in a while, my computer refuses to boot. I push the button in the case and it won't boot, it won't turn on. Usually, what I do is to take the plug out of the outlet, to disconnect the power supply from the power outlet. Then, I plug it again and usually the computer will then boot.

Sometimes, even using this trick, it doesn't boot. Then, I wait some time, one hour or more and try again, and then it will boot.

I have no idea why this happens. Since it's not an usual problem, I never tried to trace the problem. But if I were to start a search, the first part I'd change would be the power supply. I think it is to blame, but I have no proof.

Some weeks ago, I had another problem: the computer booted but Windows won't start. I found the problem was in my HD, that was about to fail. It did fail some days after and now I'm waiting for my new HD, since it was under warranty yet.

So, from my experience, I would _GUESS_ that in your case, the power supply should also be the one to blame, or at least the one to try first.

I always thought that power supply is one piece of hardware that one could save some money, but after years of building my own computers, I decided that I am going to spend money to buy a very good power supply for my next computer. Probably, it will be the Antec TruePower, 430 or more watts.

Did you know that a Pentium 4, 3.0GHz, when at 100% load is like a 80W lamp inside your computer? That's a lot of energy and a lot of heat.

There is another possibility: the mainboard battery. This little fellow powers the bios which is needed to power-up the machine. Sometimes they are poor quality and stop working in less then a year. Open the case an look for an flat silver disc. Take it out an go to the local electronic parts store and get a new one. Replace and reboot. Also an hot disk or cpu could cause these problems.
Picture of bios battery

And since you don't want to start a second thread about building in a second harddisk tell you to follow this link:
http://www.perfectdrivers.com/howto/seconddrive.html . It's with pictures....



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"Art has to be forgotten. Beauty must be realized."
Piet Mondriaan

Viol: I've been putting togethor some really old boxes from scraps and donations from friends. <off topic> I'm doin this so I'll have a lil' POVRay render farm at my disposal</off topic> During the course of building these boxes I've had the same quirk you describe arise. It thends to happen when I have too much stuff in a box taxing the power supply. I've been able to solve this by either removing a case fan, or using a higher watt power supply. If your box has a case fan try unplugging it to see if its the feather that breaks the llamas back.

Thanks all - I'll look into that.

Rinswind:

quote:

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And since you don't want to start a second thread about building in a second harddisk tell you to follow this link: http://www.perfectdrivers.com/howto/seconddrive.html . It's with pictures....

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Well I do but I got summoned to the pub before then - I'm going to start a new thread now (we can jam the results in the FAQ) and I'll throw that link in to get the ball rolling

[edit: OK threa don istallind a second hard drive is here:
http://www.ozoneasylum.com/Forum1/HTML/008831.html

if anyone has anything else to add to that.]

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Emps

The Emperor dot org

Schitz, I think you're in the right track.

My power supply is of bad quality, I guess, because it was really cheap, and although nominally it is supposed to have 350 W, I don't think it has. I had 5 hard drives connected to it, plus two CD/DVD drives, and two case fans, plus the fan atop the CPU. Besides, there is the Wacom, a USB hub with blue illlumination, and an ATI card that has a remote control, all of this uses power from the power supply. Right now I have four HDs, because one crashed.

I'm about to start buying new parts to assemble a new computer, and then I'll use parts of this computer in the new one, like HDs and a DVD drive. Then, I believe that, if the problem is too much stuff connected to the PS, it should go away.