Anyone good with computers that could answer this question I’d appreciate it. I’ve tried on ‘computer forums’ before and the ppl there are mostly just assholes that talk in a language i don’t understand. Anyway the support line doesnt open till tomorrow at 10am and I just want to get an idea what I’m looking at.
Today when I woke up my desktop fans were running real loud. I checked the temp of everything and it wasnt too high, the alarms weren’t going off. Anyway the vents were completely blocked with dust, i cleaned them all off then opened up the computer to see if there was alot of dust inside. I unpluged everything to do this. I didnt do much inside just looked at the fans and they all looked ok. I pluged everything back into the computer and I plugged the Powersupply in last. Its pluged into a surge protecter but I thought I heard a little click (maybe a spark? Like when u are plugging something into a wall outlet). Anyway now the computer will not power on and I’m just trying to figure out whats wrong/how much this is going to cost me to fix. If i left any important info out let me know and thanks again.
Check the surge protector. Do other things that are plugged into it work properly? Have you tried different outlets in that surge protector if other things work when plugged into it?
Open up your chassis and see if there is a little orange or green light on your motherboard. If there isn’t then it’s either your PSU or Motherboard.
When you say the computer will not power on, what exactly do you mean? Do the fans come on? Does it beep at all when you press the power button?
I you have a fuse in your surge protector, check it to make sure it didn’t blow.
I’d also suggest trying to plug the computer somewhere else, with the least amount of stuff plugged in. Just plug the case and a screen (no keyboard, mouse, etc) and see if you at least get something with that.
If that doesn’t work, you might have a blown power supply, and that ranges in cost from 10$-100$ depending on the quality. Avoid the cheapest of the cheap is my advice.
Other possibility is that you’ve unplugged or moved something inside the case itself. Unlikely if you only looked at the fans, but another thing you might try is to unplug a maximum of stuff from the internal power supply (keep only the motherboard plugged in - no drives - and keep only the video card in) and see if that powers up. You could have a component that’s blown or short-circuited and is preventing power up. Reducing the computer to it’s bare minimum will let you test that hypothesis.
If it does start up at some point, then reattach one by one each component and recheck at each step. You should be able to isolate the culprit using that method.
[quote]JokerFMJ wrote:
First, what type of computer is it?
You can try this:
Check the surge protector. Do other things that are plugged into it work properly? Have you tried different outlets in that surge protector if other things work when plugged into it?
Open up your chassis and see if there is a little orange or green light on your motherboard. If there isn’t then it’s either your PSU or Motherboard.
When you say the computer will not power on, what exactly do you mean? Do the fans come on? Does it beep at all when you press the power button?
[/quote]
Thanks for the reply.
Its a custom built computer. Everything else is working properly pluged into the surge protector including my other computer. I tried plugging it into different plugs on the surge protector.
The computer does absolutley nothing when I plug it in. I press the on button and nothing happens.
[quote]pookie wrote:
I you have a fuse in your surge protector, check it to make sure it didn’t blow.
I’d also suggest trying to plug the computer somewhere else, with the least amount of stuff plugged in. Just plug the case and a screen (no keyboard, mouse, etc) and see if you at least get something with that.
If that doesn’t work, you might have a blown power supply, and that ranges in cost from 10$-100$ depending on the quality. Avoid the cheapest of the cheap is my advice.
Other possibility is that you’ve unplugged or moved something inside the case itself. Unlikely if you only looked at the fans, but another thing you might try is to unplug a maximum of stuff from the internal power supply (keep only the motherboard plugged in - no drives - and keep only the video card in) and see if that powers up. You could have a component that’s blown or short-circuited and is preventing power up. Reducing the computer to it’s bare minimum will let you test that hypothesis.
If it does start up at some point, then reattach one by one each component and recheck at each step. You should be able to isolate the culprit using that method.
[/quote]
Thanks for the reply.
I plugged it into the a different wall jack and nothing again. I don’t really feel comfortabe pulling the hole computer apart.
Is there anyway to avoid this type of thing? I mean all I did was plug it in and it blew the powersupply?
[quote]ss847859 wrote:
Is there anyway to avoid this type of thing? I mean all I did was plug it in and it blew the powersupply?[/quote]
If it’s a cheap power supply (and those are unfortunately pretty common), then yes, it can blow that easily. Best way to avoid this is to buy a better quality one. A lot of casings are sold with included power supply, but often those are really bottom-of-the-barrel quality-wise to keep the price as low as possible.
The good news is that it’s pretty easy to replace and that generally the rest of the computer doesn’t get damaged.
Quick tip: If you go the store and have a choice between 3 or 4 different power supplies of the same wattage, pick the heaviest one.
[quote]ss847859 wrote:
I plugged it into the a different wall jack and nothing again. I don’t really feel comfortabe pulling the hole computer apart.[/quote]
As for that, you shouldn’t worry. PCs are very easy to assemble and dissasemble. Most cables can’t be plugged in the wrong way, same thing for the cards. There are tons of picture tutorials on the net showing how to build your own PC, and you’ll save a bundle in technician time by doing it yourself.
Sounds like a power supply problem. When my mom unplugs my surge protector while my computer is running (yeah this ruins my computer, tons and tons of problems) it won’t turn back on when I plug everything back in. Somehow when I switch to another outlet in the surge protector, it solves this problem.
Also, your computer could have overheated, and needs more time to cool off.
You can try experimenting with the button on the back of your computer, it’s basically an on-off switch on the powersupply on the outside of your computer. Mines a custom one too so I have no idea if you’ll have it.
Then, if you have another power cord laying around, you can switch it out and see if that fixes it, if not, then you’ll probably need a new power supply for your computer.
Is there anyway to avoid this type of thing? I mean all I did was plug it in and it blew the powersupply?
[/quote]
Yep - whenever you open the case you actually want to leave it plugged in so that the computer is grounded. I suppose you could hit the outlet’s circuit breaker for safety. There’s probably some sort of best practice that pro technicians use, but I don’t know what that is.
Anyway, you’ll hopefully only be out $30 or so. But you might have blown some other components. And newegg or a similar site is far cheaper than retail, if you can wait.
[quote]Chris82362 wrote:
Sounds like a power supply problem. When my mom unplugs my surge protector while my computer is running (yeah this ruins my computer, tons and tons of problems) it won’t turn back on when I plug everything back in. Somehow when I switch to another outlet in the surge protector, it solves this problem.
Also, your computer could have overheated, and needs more time to cool off.
You can try experimenting with the button on the back of your computer, it’s basically an on-off switch on the powersupply on the outside of your computer. Mines a custom one too so I have no idea if you’ll have it.
Then, if you have another power cord laying around, you can switch it out and see if that fixes it, if not, then you’ll probably need a new power supply for your computer.[/quote]
Don’t think it overheated. I’ll try to find another cord see if thats the problem but I doubt it.
Is there anyway to avoid this type of thing? I mean all I did was plug it in and it blew the powersupply?
Yep - whenever you open the case you actually want to leave it plugged in so that the computer is grounded. I suppose you could hit the outlet’s circuit breaker for safety. There’s probably some sort of best practice that pro technicians use, but I don’t know what that is.
Anyway, you’ll hopefully only be out $30 or so. But you might have blown some other components. And newegg or a similar site is far cheaper than retail, if you can wait.[/quote]
Well the computer is under warranty so I shouldnt be out any money, i will just have to deal with my old laptop for a while.
[quote]pookie wrote:
ss847859 wrote:
Is there anyway to avoid this type of thing? I mean all I did was plug it in and it blew the powersupply?
If it’s a cheap power supply (and those are unfortunately pretty common), then yes, it can blow that easily. Best way to avoid this is to buy a better quality one. A lot of casings are sold with included power supply, but often those are really bottom-of-the-barrel quality-wise to keep the price as low as possible.
The good news is that it’s pretty easy to replace and that generally the rest of the computer doesn’t get damaged.
Quick tip: If you go the store and have a choice between 3 or 4 different power supplies of the same wattage, pick the heaviest one.
[/quote]
I don’t think it was a cheap powersupply. Its under warranty, if the company is going to replace it I might ask about upgrading it and I’ll pay them the difference. Anyway thanks for your help.
If it is the PSU, i’d spend at least $70 if you can afford it to prevent this from happening again. Buy a reliable brand of PSU such as Rosewill, Antec or OCZ. Of course PC Power and Cooling make top notch PSU’s, but they also cost about $150.
[quote]JokerFMJ wrote:
When your PSU is plugged in do you see a light on your motherboard? Should be either orange or green.[/quote]
No there is nothing. I also just found a loose screw inside the case that was just jingling around. I’ve never opened the case before today so it was probubly loose from before I got it, could this have ruined the computer?
[quote]rainjack wrote:
Did you flip the switch on the back of the computer? [/quote]
YA BEAT ME TO IT!!! The on/off switch on the PSU itself which it may or may not have. Common thing, so common and obvious that it often gets overlooked, even by those who should know better. Of course I would never do such a thing =]
Rule # 1 in hardware troubleshooting, once it’s determined that the problem is definitely hardware. Go from the easiest and most obvious back into more technical possibilities in ascending order after that.
[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
rainjack wrote:
Did you flip the switch on the back of the computer?
YA BEAT ME TO IT!!! The on/off switch on the PSU itself which it may or may not have. Common thing, so common and obvious that it often gets overlooked, even by those who should know better. Of course I would never do such a thing =]
Rule # 1 in hardware troubleshooting, once it’s determined that the problem is definitely hardware. Go from the easiest and most obvious back into more technical possibilities in ascending order after that.[/quote]
Yea heh I wish it was that simple. Thanks anyway =)