Help please - Death in the family? ME!

[Davbaron]

I have a major problem for which I am looking for advice. I think my computer is in a bad way, possibly dead.
I was playing my flight simulator when the monitor suddenly went blank. The HD has
stopped going and all I have is a number of lights to my joystick and the front of the
computer which shows that power is getting there.
I tried to re boot, but nothing happened, apart from the "power-indicating" lights
coming on. There was no beep and no activity at all.
So I disconnected the plugs and waited a couple of minutes and ... still the same.
I have put the windows ME startup disk in (whilst the power was off,) switched on....
still the same.
According to my PC magazine, I should have had some sort of activity when i used
the start up disk.
So, what is the verdict ? and what is my next step please?
Is my hard drive dead? Motherboard? The monitor seems Ok 'cos the 'puter does not work when connected to my other monitor ( of the second computer which is sending this post ).
The ironic thing is that a recent run of Norton utilities gave it a good disk health !

 

[err]

Try these out to find the suspects :

1. disconnect HD and make sure you computer boots. If it boots, it could be your HD
2. test the Power supply on another system if possible to see if it is the culprit
3. the prime suspect could be the mobo now. Try swapping out if possible. If not, disconnect everything but RAM and CPU and make sure you can see your monitor screen.
4. make sure the video cable to the monitor is properly seated


I hate to say this, but in my experience, 9 out of 10 times it is the mobo. Give it a test and we'll help you out.

eRr

 

[Davbaron]

Thanks Err - I haven't yet gone into the case . I am not a techie so I will try to give as much info as possible without going into major surgery until (if?) I have to.
Since posting I have checked the CD Rom and I can open that when I am switched on.
Also, now thinking about it, several times in previous 24 hrs the 'puter switched off on its own volition!!
Does that assist diagnosis?

 

[Ryan]

Who made your computer?

 

[veryape]

Yes, the power switching off indicates you may have a bad power supply, which goes for around $30USD. It's not definite but it is likely. BTW, by switching off do you mean it resets and boots back into windows or does it shut off completely?

 

[Davbaron]

Thanks for the replies.From these and other forums,some have suggested mobo, some PSU and one says CPU burnt!
The latter says that because I have a green light showing on my switch on button and the joystick (HOTAS ) lights are on, and the CD tray will still open, that my PSU is OK?
Veryape - When i described the computer switching off in mid programme, what happened was that it was as if i had hit the switch off button and "wrongly" closed down.( In fact, I hd done nothing of the sort ) When you do that intentionally, the puter comes back on- re boots- and then scan disk runs saying that the system was incorrectly shut down. That is what happened- switch off - re boot- scan disk.

 

[Gstanfor]

Does your computer sound any different than normal? Your power supply fan or your CPU heatsink fan or your video card fan may have died leading to a overheat situation.

Is there a funny smell coming from the machine? an electrolytic capacitor may have blown up on the mainboard or in the power supply.

Were you connected to the internet when this occured? While unlikely, someone may have used a trojan to take your machine over and possibly corrpt the motherboard BIOS.

Greg

 

[Davbaron]

I've run the computer with the side of the case off.
The CPU fan is running and that is the noise I hear.
There is no noise of anything else.
There is no noises /bleeps like when it is booting. Wouldn't I get these if the problem was only the video card? Is not the video card eliminated as being the cause?
When switched on the cd tray opens and the joystick lights are on. If I then pull out the plug then the lights go off and the cd tray will not open. A friend says that that indicates the PSU is OK?
I was not on the internet.
I was playing a flight sim mission downloaded from the internet some hours earlier??
There is no smell about the CPU area.
Are we getting close to mobo probs?

 

[ojai00]

I would change the power supply. Even though you power supply could be burnt, the fans and lights in your computer will still come on. I was stumped when my computer went out about a month back. I refused to believe it was the power supply because the fans were working, but the computer wasn't booting up. Originally, I had thought it was the motherboard, but I decided to try a new power supply...and voila! If you don't smell anything funky from your computer, then it's likely that your motherboard or CPU didn't burn out. Ask a friend to put a new power supply in for you, it's really not that hard. Just unscrew the old on, unplug it from your computer and put the new one in place of your old one. Hope this helps.

 

[Davbaron]

Thanks for all the replies. I thought I had it solved. After looking in the case - CPU fan works, no smell, pressed the vid card and memory slots and little plugs. Started it up and it booted. !!
Didn't know why!! but what the hell--- Ran fine for a couple of days.
Yesterday it stopped again - same conditions - running a flight sim, which i had been doing during the revived two days, no problem.
Again, I now cannot get it to start - Same lights on etc. I have had a two bleep and a one bleep and a no bleep situation on trying to start??
It's as if something is making ( or not now ) an intermittent connection?
I have tried a different monitor, monitor cable and video card from my other computer and it still doesn't go.
IMPORTANT Safety question. I am going to now look at the power on /off switch on the case. The computer will be disconnected from the mains electricity. Are there any risks re lectricity - ie anything lethal lurking in the PSu??
I'd appreciate an early reply re the last question. Thanks

Happy New Year to all

 

[Gstanfor]

Do you know what motherboard your machine uses? By now it's almost certainly either the power supply (yes, there are dangerous voltages in there - stored in the capacitors) or a faulty Electrolytic Capacitor on the motherboard. If the motherboard is an ABIT i'd bet money on faulty capacitors.

It could possibly be the power button, but that is fairly unlikely. The power button is a low voltage momentary contact switch so you should be able to check it out yourself safely. If you don't have much electronics experience however, i would not attempt going inside the actual power supply.

Greg

 

[JonnyDuke]

Davbaron,

From your latest post it sounds as though your memory stick is not making a good connection. Locate a can of dusting air and spray vigorously into memory socket with RAM removed. CAREFULLY use pencil eraser to clean contacts on RAM stick if you can maintain static protection while doing so (anti-static bag to hold and ground yourself through computer with strap)

YES!! DO NOT open the Power supply... there may not be anything wrong with it and those capacitors store quite a charge! Try what I suggested first...if you still have a problem, then go get another PSU.