Old pc keeps switching off on boot up

[grahamcole23]

Hi folks

I’ve got a situation with an old Evesham pc that belonged to my Dad. Typically I need to get access to some old files on the hard drive that are only available using the software on it. This is an old filing cabinet system called PaperMaster Pro 98. Dad scanned everything into this software.

The PC will fire and go through POST and get through some of the start up processes but then switches off. Every time I switch the machine on it will only stay active for shorter and shorter periods of time. The power switch isn’t great so I have tried the power switch from an older pc that he had to no avail.

He also had an older Evesham Pc which I can fire up. However the problematic pc is on a SATA drive and the older computer that fires up doesn’t have a SATA controller on it and I don’t think the board is capable of running it.

Does anyone have thoughts on what I may be able to do to fix this problem.

I have previously tried cloning the drive but the software just won’t work in the emulator.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated

 

[Werewolf]

Are you getting any errors on the machine?

I'd start with the simple stuff, have you checked the fans are all working?
What you're describing, if you're not allowing enough time to fully cool down after each shut down could describe an overheating component, where it might take 5-10 minutes to overheat the first time, then after it's been off for a couple of minutes might take a few minutes.
If the machine hasn't been used for a long time, or was old at the time you last stopped using it there is a chance one or more fans may have died.

With regards to the SATA/IDE you can get PCI (not PCI express) SATA controllers, and there are IDE to SATA adaptors, the cards may be a bit of an issue due to drivers, but an inline adaptor should work fine as it's not relying on drivers or anything.

However this would only get the drive accessable to the host machine, not necessarily let it boot from it (as old windows tended not to like big hardware changes), and may not let you run the software on the drive as that probably required installing to windows.

I would also possibly look at swapping the PSU out, as some parts in the power supplies do age and start to fail over time (capacitors are the worst ones), and a suitable PSU for an older machine should be relatively cheap as it's likely not going to need to be more than around 300 watts or so.

Basically I'd check for overheating, then try swapping out the PSU as my first ports of call given the symptoms (I'm assuming the drive itself is working and not giving a drive error when you cloned it).

Also do you know what the specification of the machine that is having issues is, and what version of windows it's running?

 

[drakulton]

Sounds like an overheating CPU. Ensure the CPU cooler is free of dust and replace the thermal paste which has probably turned to dust by now.

 

[Jamin280672]

Does sound like the PSU tripping to me, and as Werewolf said, because its not getting enough time to cool down, thats why its tripping faster and faster each time.

 

[grahamcole23]

Are you getting any errors on the machine?

I'd start with the simple stuff, have you checked the fans are all working?
What you're describing, if you're not allowing enough time to fully cool down after each shut down could describe an overheating component, where it might take 5-10 minutes to overheat the first time, then after it's been off for a couple of minutes might take a few minutes.
If the machine hasn't been used for a long time, or was old at the time you last stopped using it there is a chance one or more fans may have died.

With regards to the SATA/IDE you can get PCI (not PCI express) SATA controllers, and there are IDE to SATA adaptors, the cards may be a bit of an issue due to drivers, but an inline adaptor should work fine as it's not relying on drivers or anything.

However this would only get the drive accessable to the host machine, not necessarily let it boot from it (as old windows tended not to like big hardware changes), and may not let you run the software on the drive as that probably required installing to windows.

I would also possibly look at swapping the PSU out, as some parts in the power supplies do age and start to fail over time (capacitors are the worst ones), and a suitable PSU for an older machine should be relatively cheap as it's likely not going to need to be more than around 300 watts or so.

Basically I'd check for overheating, then try swapping out the PSU as my first ports of call given the symptoms (I'm assuming the drive itself is working and not giving a drive error when you cloned it).

Also do you know what the specification of the machine that is having issues is, and what version of windows it's running?

Hi there. Fans are working and it does boot to various stages of the windows start process.

I blasted the psu with compressed air and the boot process went a bit further this morning. I have another machine so was thinking o swapping the psu out.