PC wont start, guidance welcome.

Alien18

Alien18

Alien18

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Joined
2 Jan 2005
Posts
189
Hi All,

I've just got home from my day job to start my eveningwork from home (oh joy!) to find that my PC simply will not boot up/start.

I press the button, the green light comes on and everything starts whirring for about 1 sec (often less). Then it stops, the green light goes out. Give it a moment and it tries again.

It does this in an infinite loop (until I flick the switch in the PSU in the back).

Most times it tries start for a fraction of a second, sometimes it manages a whole second or two (maybe 3!).

Before I decide to take my system apart, clean out all the dust and piece it together a bit at a time, I thought I'd ask on here if anyone had experienced such a thing before?

Many thanks,
Alien18
 
Was dreading that response!

I have tried cleaning out hte inside & and the fans, etc (since it really was long overdue!) and restarted to no avail, though it did last a good 5-10secs and got my hopes up!

I wonder if my PSU has had a fault all the time, since I had it it starts up for a sec, stops, then restarts (has done this 100% of the time since I've had it!).

Is there anything worth trying before ordering a new PSU?

Or are we pretty certain it's a PSU job?

Thanks for you swift replies guys, much appreciated.

Alien18
 
Sorry for the double post, but, assuming I have to buy a new PSU. Can anyone recommend a replacement for a 580W Hiper Type R Modular?

Not sure I need one as powerful as that, I don't do PC gaming anymore and can't for the life of me remember the GFX card used.

Thanks again.

[Edit] If it helps I have an abit IB9 motherboard.

I'm currently eying up this (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-017-CS&tool=3) but not sure if the 400W will be powerful enough!
 
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I had a similar problem, although it turned out to be my motherboard. Would press the power switch and got 1-4 seconds of life out of the it and then nothing.

Strangely, if I held down the reset switch and repeatedly pressed the power switch it started up and got me an extra 2 weeks or so before it completely died. That may not however be a great idea as I am guessing I was lucky that it didn't take anything else with it when it failed after what I was doing :D

So might be worth checking the motherboard!
 
What gfx card do you have in there? doesnt matter if you dont game anymore its still in there drawing power, that one you linked to is good, especially for the price, but if you do need more then this is quite reasonable
Hiper have terrible reputation, to be fair youre lucky it didnt blow n take anything else with it, sounds like its just died quietly
 
95thrifles said:
What gfx card do you have in there? doesnt matter if you dont game anymore its still in there drawing power, that one you linked to is good, especially for the price, but if you do need more then this is quite reasonable
Hiper have terrible reputation, to be fair youre lucky it didnt blow n take anything else with it, sounds like its just died quietly
Click to expand...

Hi, yeh i realised the second I said it that the GFX card will still draw the power.

All I know is it's an nVidia from a good few years ago (4-5+ maybe even + some more - getting old now!).

I was just looking at an OCZ:

Out of the one you mention here and this one here

Which would you recommend? Oh and the quieter the better would be nice I think my PSU has been noisy since day one (though it could be one of the HDDs that I've had for years!)

I'd rather buy a good one that'll last than buy as cheap as I can!

Thanks, Alein18
 
Right, I've just ordered this one.

Does anyone know what the DPD courier's course of action is if no one is in to answer the door when they deliver?

If I leave them a note to leave it with a neighbour either side, will they do so?

May thanks once again for everyone's help.

Alien18
 
sry dint get back b4 youd ordered, the one I linked is newer so more efficient where as the other one was modular
not sure bout leaving a note but they tried to deliver to me on Fri n I wasnt in so they left a callingcard, they automatically re-attempt delivery next working day, and if you want theres a section on the callingcard where you can sign n leave instructions for them to leave it in a particular place, obv you take responsibility if it gets nicked though
 
Hi,

I now have my new PSU, but cant get my old one out!!

The heat sink of the processor is in the way and I can't remember how to take it off. I've undone the 4 black plastic things that turn about quater to a half turn, then seem to pop up! but it doesn't see to want to budge! Is it possible it's been there so long and got so hot over the years that it's kind of "ceased" to the processor?

why the fudge should it be so hard to replace a PSU!? It shouldn't need me to dismantle the whole frickin' PC and disconnect everything from the mobo! arg! [/rant]
 
Seems a bit much just to remove a PSU. Must be really cramped in your case.

Does a little twist and pull action on the cooler help? Last stock cooler I removed used thermal tape and that was a tricky one to separate.
 
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Tealc said:
Seems a bit much just to remove a PSU. Must be really cramped in your case.

Does a little twist and pull action on the cooler help? Last stock cooler I removed used thermal tape and that was a tricky one to separate.
Click to expand...
It is an Antec case which I have praised until now! lol!

Managed to get the heatsink off, but don't think it's gone back on correctly.

I switched on the PC and it all started up a dream (though still doing what the old PSU did of booting for a a second or two then essentially rebooting) but the entire time the PC was on there was a siren sound emitting from it somewhere.

From googling it seems the siren sound is normally associated with overheating.

On the basis that my PC has been off for 2 days (it is a little warm in my room but not THAT warm) I don't think that the CPU is actually over heating that quickly, so I'm wondering if the Heatsink is not powering up at all, presumably that might sound a similar sort of siren.

I'm going to get a drink and have a look at the heatsink and see if the fan is running when it boots up!

ARG PCs! Next time I've just going to buy a Dell and let them worry about it! Can't be arsed with this tinkering/fixing all the time! lol!
 
Nope can't find it for the life of me, had some years ago that I never opened and didn't throw it away.

I was planning on getting some more on the basis that it'd probably be ok in the mean time for the short use I'd want it for!

Surely that wouldn't cause the immediate siren im getting at the start! Could it be that I've connected up the wrong cable to the motherboard or something? The cables were slightly different to my last one (there's teh 20+4 pin beast that is the same as my last PSU).

The 4 pin mobo power was a bit of guess work, there are 2x4pin daisy chained but since they were both identical I went with the one numbered 1.

Then there's the gfx card power, there was a 6+2 and a 6 daisying off that, i put the 6 in my gfx card.

I've just switched my PC back on and the fan is running on the heat sink, so it's getting power.

But this time I got a blue screen saying "INTERNAL_POWER_ERROR" which I am about to google.

Any help appreciated.
 
Ok, I've checked all connections, etc and rebooted a number of times and got in to BIOS. and I think it is overheating that damn quickly! It reckons the CPU Temp is 80*C! Guessing that's why the alarm is going off!
 
I was wrong, in my annoyed/ over tired state I read 80 Degrees C as the temp, but that's the limit the warning is set to, i've got the thermal compound on it now and it's running fine and dandy at around 38 Degrees C at boot up, but the siren is still sounding!!

Any help would be much appreciated. I have triple checked all connections, i think the siren sound is coming from the PC speaker (it's lower front of case, defo not PSU). Didn't even know I had a PC speaker!!

Would a siren sound be raised by the BIOS? For example, if CPU temp > 80, then raise siren. If so, surely there's a way to find out what condition is raising the alarm!

Really desperate to get this working before I go on holiday for 2 weeks on Sunday! It's seriously impacting on my work too now!! arg!
 
Ok have you tried resetting BIOS to defaults? If not perform a clrcmos to be sure
If the Heatsink isnt correctly seated or got proper TIM applied then yeah that could be the cause, and it will happen retty rapidly (within a coupla seconds of powering on) so maybe take it back off and reseat it, applying TIM if you didnt first time round (wasnt clear above) Then if youve done that try booting, leave the side off so you can see whats happening in case there are problems
 
95thrifles said:
Ok have you tried resetting BIOS to defaults? If not perform a clrcmos to be sure
If the Heatsink isnt correctly seated or got proper TIM applied then yeah that could be the cause, and it will happen retty rapidly (within a coupla seconds of powering on) so maybe take it back off and reseat it, applying TIM if you didnt first time round (wasnt clear above) Then if youve done that try booting, leave the side off so you can see whats happening in case there are problems
Click to expand...

I have tried any reset options in my BIOS (there's a couple including load -optimised).

How do I perform a "clrcmos"?

It definitly isnt the CPU temp, that's at 38*C at bootup whilst the warning level is set to 80*C. I have re-applied some Thermal Paste today to no avail (assuming TIM is Thermal paste stuff).

The side is off, I tried disconnecting all the HDDs in case it was one of them, and it still made the noise. The fan is running on the heat sink too!
 
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