Guest Dj_Bouncy Posted May 11, 2006 Share Posted May 11, 2006 Computer won't boot up~~Basically, everytime I turn my computer on, it starts to boot up (fans whirling and such) then it will shut off before it fully boots up. Sometimes, it will boot up but then, it will shut down at random times. I'm wondering do I need a new HD? Or Power supply 0.o? Or is it buggy and I need to reformat? (comp is about 4 years old now?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaRkViEt73 Posted May 11, 2006 Share Posted May 11, 2006 most rebooting problems stem from an unstable or failing power supply, followed less commonly by failing ram. It's not 100% guaranteed, but it's most likely your power supply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DarkMagician Posted May 11, 2006 Share Posted May 11, 2006 you computer may have gathered dust for the past 4 years, get a can of compressed air and open you computer sheild and clean out the chips. you should only do that if your a pro because you might mess up the wires or kill your RAM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dj_Bouncy Posted May 12, 2006 Share Posted May 12, 2006 Thanks for the help!!! Any advice when one is buying power supply? or when one is replacing it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaRkViEt73 Posted May 12, 2006 Share Posted May 12, 2006 just occasionally touch the metal case to ground yourself. It's really not too difficult to replace a power supply as long as you plug everything in correctly. Most, if not all, of the plugs only go in one way. And my advice is to go shop on www.newegg.com since they sell power supplies for cheap and they have user reviews. Since it doesn't sound like you need a monster 600 watt power supply, just go find something cheap but not too cheap. Maybe 450 watts maximum is good enough for you unless you have tons of stuff inside your computer. I got a good deal on my 550w Rosewill power supply. Newegg had it on sale for $50 which was a great deal. I wouldn't consider Rosewill to be a premium-grade company. But good user reviews, cheap price for a high wattage PSU (which I need), and the cool blue LED light inside convinced me it was a good buy. And it's turned out great so far for me, no problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Steph* Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 Oh yeah that happened to me. I infected my computer with spyware when I was clueless about the Internet. I had to get a new hard drive...the old one was too messed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TKr3alm3r Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 have u tried just resetting ur BIOS...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest snowberry Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 i was having the same problem, I replaced the power supply and everything is ok now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joanna Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 I didn't want to make a new thread cuz it might waste space.. so i'll post it here i'm having a computer problem at the moment.. I think it's similar to this but not sure if it's the right answer.. when I turn the computer on.. it runs ..u can hear it and the fans too but the green button of the computer when you turn it on.. doesn't flash and nothing appears on my computer monitor, the mouse (optical one) doesn't light either.. all I can do is open my burning drive while my computer is "on" :S anyone have idea what is wrong? if so please help! I hope i didn't lose my data! btw.. there was alot of thunder after this happened.. not sure if it affected this since the thunder/lightning happened after.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest deadytwo Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 it mite also be that ur fans are screwed, the comp mite be overheating and turning itself off. you shldnt turn it on until its fixed cos you mite screw up the internal stuff if its actually overheating cos then some of the stuff on the inside will melt. yeh and power supply mite be clogged with dust. dont hav it on ground level Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaRkViEt73 Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 @Joanna. The cause of your problem could be anybody's guess. It could be a number of things that may cause the symptoms you've described... from a bad video card, or bad RAM, a fried CPU, to a bad motherboard. I don't think the power supply would be at fault in this situation (I'd say highly unlikely altho it can't be ruled out completely). The video card or your RAM are the two most likely causes in my opinion. Then comes the CPU followed lastly by the motherboard. The first thing you should do is open the side of the case and peer inside. Touch any metal part of the case to ground yourself (discharges harmful static electricity) then make sure that the heatsink/fan on your CPU is on tight. If it's loose or the CPU fan doesn't spin then your CPU could be fried. If it's on pretty tight and the fan spins when you turn on the computer (don't touch anything when it's on!) then it's time to investigate the video card or RAM. So the next step would be to put in another video card or replace the RAM memory inside your computer and see if the computer will boot. Unfortunately, because most people will not have an extra video card or RAM chips lying around, that'll probably mean you'll have to run to your local electronics store, buy the part, bring it home to test it out... and returning it if it doesn't fix your problem. Make sure the place you're "renting" the part from doesn't have a 15% restocking fee for returning items! Don't know if stores in Australia even have a "restocking fee" like some stores here in the US but watch out for that. If it ends up being the motherboard... well, get someone who knows exactly what they're doing to assist you if you can. Otherwise don't mess with it. PS: I wouldn't worry too much about your harddrives. They are highly unlikely to be affected in any way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joanna Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 wow you guys really have great computer skills! thanks alot for your help deadytwo and DaRkViEt73. I haven't done anything with the computer yet, i'll try your advice this wkends. By reading your posts I think it's the RAM problem.. but gonna investigate later though. ahh gosh this is a punishment for me for going on long hours and downloading alot >< after this is fixed i think I shouldnt go on too often since that will cause the overheating.. and I think I should stop opening the comp cuz i dont want the internal stuff to be damaged. by im really glad to hear that my harddrive will unlikely be affect =) cuz that's my greatest fear of the comp.. losing everything >< Thanks so much you guys for taking your time to help me with my problem *hugs* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awdark Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 @Joanna. The cause of your problem could be anybody's guess. It could be a number of things that may cause the symptoms you've described... from a bad video card, or bad RAM, a fried CPU, to a bad motherboard. I don't think the power supply would be at fault in this situation (I'd say highly unlikely altho it can't be ruled out completely). The video card or your RAM are the two most likely causes in my opinion. Then comes the CPU followed lastly by the motherboard. O_o really? I would say PSU (as a result of unstable power) then motherboard. DarkViet how many motherboard have you blown? just curious im onto my 4th blown motherboard. Compaq that I blew turned the lights on and the fans on. DFI I blew turned the fans on. Asrock I blew turned the fans and the power light on breifly. Laptop motherboard I blew woudl turn on a power light and the fan... And thats why I think its either power or motherboard but im leaing towards blown motherboard. If its a ram problem, one could remove all the ram and turn the computer on. It should theoretically give the ram death beeps... (*beep* pause *beep* pause... repeat 1024 times) if it can't do that, then most likely the RAM is okay... and I would definitely blame power supply/motherboard. Powersupply just take your computer to someone's house and plug in the 20pin atx connector and possibly the 4pin P4 power connector to the motherboard. Click power and see fi it starts up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaRkViEt73 Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 O_o really? I would say PSU (as a result of unstable power) then motherboard. DarkViet how many motherboard have you blown? Personally, I have not blown one single motherboard. Actually, I've never had anything go bad on me other than harddrives. But I have seen alot of computers with genuine motherboard problems. The reason why I tend to rule out the PSU or the motherboard is because I've rarely seen a PSU go unstable and be so SELECTIVE in what it wants to power like in this case. I also don't think the motherboard is a likely candidate (altho it can't be ruled out completely) because if a motherboard was damaged, it normally wouldn't pass power to other components. In other words, you wouldn't be able to open the CD/DVD drives because the PSU will detect the motherboard isn't working and thus cut power. Also the fans wouldn't work in this kind of case. A failing motherboard, from what I've seen, results in the computer being COMPLETELY dead. But Joanna is able to open the CD/DVD drives and the fans still work. So altho I wouldn't completely rule out the power supply or the motherboard, they're simply not likely to be at fault. You could still be right tho, but the vid card/memory is my best guess considering what still works in the system. [EDIT] I just realised I had glossed over the fact Joanna mentioned the green light doesn't turn on. That's indicative of a mobo/power failure. I predict a +1 for Mr 100% Dark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awdark Posted May 24, 2006 Share Posted May 24, 2006 fyi, 3 of the 4 motherboards do keep the power flowing. To fans, components and other stuff. I would have to hold the power button for about 10 seconds for it to power down. So far only my Asrock would cut power to the fans and power the PSU down as a result of a power surge to the USB port. Laptop, DFI, Compaq, and one I accidentally sent 120vac through (was mostly charcoal, but once I pushed the power button, the PSU stayed on and the fans kept going) all kept power flowing to the components. The only difference is the fan looses its speed control and is throttled to max instead of a slower speed. As weird as that sounds, even the CPU continues to be powered, at least with the blown comcrap mobo because the CPU was warm after about 4 minutes of staying powered on. The boards however do seem to do a fine job of taking ALL of the hit and not allowing any of the other parts to get damaged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Adionik Posted May 24, 2006 Share Posted May 24, 2006 Personally, I have not blown one single motherboard. Actually, I've never had anything go bad on me other than harddrives. smile.gif But I have seen alot of computers with genuine motherboard problems. The reason why I tend to rule out the PSU or the motherboard is because I've rarely seen a PSU go unstable and be so SELECTIVE in what it wants to power like in this case. I've seen 2 PSU's blow out 2 completely different computers. Both were Hewlet Packards...so they deserved it anwyay. Took everything except the HDD's with smoke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mangujowa Posted May 24, 2006 Share Posted May 24, 2006 I've seen 2 PSU's blow out 2 completely different computers. Both were Hewlet Packards...so they deserved it anwyay. Took everything except the HDD's with smoke. augh. I have a HP Laptop. >__<" hahhaha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joanna Posted May 24, 2006 Share Posted May 24, 2006 I took my computer to a computer technician today and tolkd them the problem, they haven't looked into it yet but they think it's either the motherboard or video card.. my last computer had similar problems.. the computer sometimes booted up and sometimes not.. it turned out it was that the HD was dead.. so I thought it would be the same problem again.. but I guess not when i get my computer back i'll tell you guys what was the problem was Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awdark Posted May 24, 2006 Share Posted May 24, 2006 It would be odd for a dead drive to cause the computer to not post like the way you describe. A dead drive should allow the computer to post, (shows the memory and other garbage) then fail at booting. For something to sometimes work and other times not work, its fun to blame ram or capacitors. Both of those tend to produce almost impossible to diagnose problems that occur about half the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joanna Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 I got my computer back today with a new motherboard =) so yeh it was the motherboard problem. thankgod everything is still the same expect my Norton AntiVIrus expired >< I guess cuz of the new motherboard.. damn that sucks cuz then I need to buy a new one T___T thanks for ur help guys ^___^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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