Power Issue with Friend's PC

Chalex4 · 13 Aug 2008 at 14:54

I was hoping you guys could assist me with a problem that a friend's computer is having. It has been working fine for the last 3 years until yesterday when it just stopped working. By this, I mean that when the power button on the front of the PC is pressed, the fans spin up for 1 second, the everything powers down again.

However, the fans don't always power up. Often, when the power button is pressed, nothing happens. I don't think it is a PSU issue because the fans spin up and a green light on the motherboard lights up.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Chalex4 · 13 Aug 2008 at 15:13

Just in case it is a PSU issue, I have tried unplugging all the unnecessary items in the PC to try and get it to boot. No luck.

As it happens, I do not have any spare PSUs lying around so I will probably recommend them to go to a local computer shop to see if a newer PSU does the job.

Unfortunately, this is a Mesh PC (P4, 1GB ram) and has just left its 3 year warranty period, so they are on their own

.

labrat · 13 Aug 2008 at 15:19

Also try the memory modules one at a time to see if one has failed. Sometimes get this behaviour when a RAM module fails.

Acid_death69 · 13 Aug 2008 at 15:39

sounds like dead a mobo

edscdk · 13 Aug 2008 at 16:01

I second acid..

Trill · 13 Aug 2008 at 16:44

I wouldn't be so quick to say the MB has failed like the others so try some different ram to start with.

Acid_death69 · 13 Aug 2008 at 17:07

what have you got in the pc like, wha's your rig setup?

Chalex4 · 13 Aug 2008 at 20:41

Thanks for your help guys. I tried testing the individual RAM modules but the same problem persisted. In the end I narrowed it down to a PSU or mobo problem, and told them to go to their local PC shop where they would have the necessary resources to check it all out.

MikeHiow · 13 Aug 2008 at 21:06

I had the same issue with my old system, running a tagan PSU.

It was the PSU, often happening after a complete power off (unplugged), leaving it plugged in but off for a few hours, then switching on would allow it to post, but it'd keep rebooting it's self. Once windows had loaded, it'd be fine for weeks, until power loss happened again, and it started all over again.

I'd check the PSU first.