OT Computer Problem/Question

Anthony · Jul 24, 2008

I walked into the kitchen for a few minutes and when I returned saw that my PC which I had left running(P4, XP Home, about 4 yrs old) had shut down. It will no longer power up. When I push the power switch I see a slight jiggle in the blades of the 3 fans, the lights flash on the keyboard, and then nothing.

I"m thinking it"s either a power supply failure or the motherboard has gone bad. I remember when a friend"s eMachine P3 failed like this last year it turned out to be the MB and he junked it. It happened to 2 identical machines he had within a month of each other; they were about each about 5 yrs old at the time.

Any suggestions about what I should check out before giving up on it?

Mike (WA) · Jul 24, 2008

I'm sure no expert, but the fact that the fan doesn't work would seem to indicate bad power supply. I'm sure that the fan has nothing to do with the motherboard. Would think your local computer guru could check it out in short order.

robersw · Jul 24, 2008

Sounds like a power supply failure to me. Relative cheap fix nowadays. As long is it a standard size case, any atx power supply should fit in there. You can upgrade wattage a little bit, but the main thing is to make a sure the new one has all of the connectors your computer needs.
Good Luck

Offandgone · Jul 24, 2008

Check an see if all the fans come on. Check P4 fan. check for any beep codes at turn on and post back. I hope your internal speaker is connected.

Allan in NE · Jul 24, 2008

Depends on the system and any protection built into the hardware of that system.

Usually a motherboard/power supply protection issue.

ANY component out of it's voltage parameters can make 'em "blink" at boot and just plain shut itself right back down again to keep from letting the smoke out.

Line voltage or some piece of hardware attached within your computer is probably going south.

It is easy to say that the motherboard is at fault when actually, the motherboard is the saviour and the one doing the real protecting. :>)

Unplug your computer from the wall. Wait a minute or two and then plug in and try it again. Often works. :>)

Allan

NEsota · Jul 24, 2008

You might find an okay P.S. in an out of service unit.

Offandgone · Jul 24, 2008

CPU fan not running will shut it down within a second after turn on.

souNdguy · Jul 24, 2008

See if the power supply has a seperate on/off switch ont he back.. if so, turn switch oof, unplug from the wall, hit the power button on front.. let set 5 minutes... check the wall plug to make sure ti does work ( btdt! ).. now plug back in.. turn on switch in back, then hit power switch.

sometimes those 'soft on / soft off/ atx style power supplies need a reset.

If that don't do it.. you can get a PS for about 35-50$ depending on the wattage you need. pull your old one and take it with you to match up the # of pins.. some new ones have a modular plug with an extra connector if you need the 24pin ver vs the 20 or 22 pin ver ( can't remember which..e tc.. )

I got my last one at staples.. they let me open the box and match the plug up.. I needed a bigger PS for a video card upgrade fro my pc.. etc..

soundguy

Allan in NE · Jul 24, 2008

Oh for sure,

"Anything" that isn't right "voltage-wise" will shut a good system right down.

That is how the machine is "telling you" that something is amiss. :>)

Allan

Offandgone · Jul 24, 2008

These are all passable causes for the lights to blink on than back off. The others suggesting PS problems could very well be correct also. I was hoping we could get some codes.

Allan in NE · Jul 24, 2008

Yes,

The PS is a hardware component as well.

When they do this "blink" thing, they don't even get as far as the BIOS, so the beep codes aren't even accessed yet.

It is usually down to an electrical/mechanical diagnosis at that point. :>(

Sound cards and video cards are real stinkers on this ailment.

Allan

Anonymous-0 · Jul 24, 2008

Not quite the same problem, but I just had an e-machine that would not boot up.
Woke up 1 morning to find the big e screen on the on the monitor. Tried to reboot but it wouldn't go any farther than the e screen.
Next move was to unplug everything and open it up and reseat all cards and plugs. Hook it back up and hooray it worked. Then for the heck of it I tried a restart and it went right back to the dreaded e-screen.
Unplugged it again, cleaned and reseated again. This time I plugged it in at the table and could hear all the clickity-clak from the hard drive. Hooray---- wrong. After connecting everything I still got the e-screen when I powered up at the desk. No clickity-clak just the big e.
Then I started unplugging devices until I got too the printer. Thats when I restarted it and it booted up and has been running ever since.
I have not had the nuggets to plug the printer back up to see what will happen.
I know this is not your problem but thought I'd just throw it out here, maybe it'll help someone someday. :<)

davediehl@hotmail.com · Jul 24, 2008

Power supply. The tell tale sign is the fan twitching when the button is pressed. BTDT many times.

Offandgone · Jul 24, 2008

I have had hard drive ribbon gables do that for no reason that I could see. They just loosen from the heating and colling and the vibration.

TomH in PA · Jul 24, 2008

I start out by unplugging everything that can be unplugged. Disconnect everything connected to the disks, pull all the expansion cards, pull the memory, everything. Then see if it tries to boot. If still nothing, try replacing the cheapest part first (power supply). If that doesn't help, all you have left is a motherboard that doesn't work.

If you do get it to try booting, plug one thing in at a time and see when it quits. There's a reasonable chance it will work when you get it all back together (had a bad connection somewhere).

Anthony · Jul 24, 2008

Thanks everyone for the rapid replies.
I tried some things. I put in one of the power supplies from from my friend's old eMachine with all of the drives disconnected. Still the same symptoms, but now the lights on the front panel by the power switch come on (good sign?). So now I removed the sound card as someone mentioned, and voila, the fans are spinning.

I think it's safe to say the old power supply is shot. Could a bad sound card damage the power supply? I was a little leary, but I put the Sound Blaster card back in and again no go.

So I think I'll get a new PS, leave the sound card out and see what happens.

I know eMachine isn't well regarded, but that power supply (Bestec) had to weigh 2-3X as heavy as the OKIA one that was in my computer. I am afraid to use it as the rating is 250 watt max, whereas the OKIA says 450 watt max (but I don't believe it).

I just don't want to throw good money after bad as this is a cheap computer (Wintergreen) that has run flawless since I bought it and it was only $299 brand new. Do you think I should try running it with the old eMachine PS for a while to see how it goes after I put everything back together?? This machine does not have a lot of accessories, 1 DVD drive, 1 HD, 1 floppy, onboard video and the Sound Blaster Live card that I removed.

robersw · Jul 24, 2008

I don't know if your computer has an extra expansion slot or not, but if it does you might try putting the sound card in a different slot before you buy another one. Might have a bad slot.

You can buy another power supply for generally $30 or less. For a P4, you will need a minimum of 350W. If you had a 450W, I would put atleast that if not a 500W or larger.
Good Luck

Dan-IA · Jul 24, 2008

I did diagnoses like these for years. Pull all the cables off of everything inside the case except for the power supply cable to the motherboard. Jerk all the cards out except for your memory sticks. Then turn it on. If the fan spins longer and your computer lets out two short beeps, then your power supply and motherboard are fine. Then you have to figure out which piece caused the failure by putting things back one at a time, starting and shutting down between each. Remember never change anything inside the case with the power on. If your video is a card, that's the first one to go back.

Dan-IA · Jul 24, 2008

Sounds like its just your sound card.

Allan in NE · Jul 24, 2008

Doubt if there is anything wrong with your old Power Supply.

That is the purpose of the failsafe function; to protect the PS and motherboard.

Allan

TomH in PA · Jul 24, 2008

250 watts is plenty of power. I'd try the other one to see if it works out of curiosity, but I'd use whichever is quieter.

Dan-IA · Jul 24, 2008

Yep. Gotta love how complicated those filtered, regulated multi-level power supplies are. I used to know a trick where you could run a power supply by itself with a 10Kohm resistor across two pins on the motherboard connector (ps1) and then you could verify output levels with a voltmeter, but very few places go to that much work in testing a PS.

Anthony · Jul 25, 2008

Like I said, I put in another power supply, actually tried two, now the fans run and lights on keyboard stay on but there are no beeps. The "speaker" appears to be connected, it is one of those solid-state things that looks like a pencil eraser. Along with no beeps, there is no video; I tried the onboard video and also a separate pci video card. The lights on the keyboard, num-lock and cap-lock stay on even after I power the unit down by holding the power switch down, is that the way it's supposed to work?
I am thinking something happened to the motherboard, any ideas?

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