PC Boots everywhere except new apartment

[darktyco]

Hey all,

I have a PC sitting here by me that won't boot. Whenever I push the power button the power LED just blinks orange.

The strange thing is, this PC was functioning for months when it was at my work and it was functioning for months when it was in my apartment (used for VPN.) However, as soon as I moved it into a new apartment it quit working. So I took it back to work to get a replacement, but when I plugged it in over there it started working again. After that I decided to take it back to my new place, but as soon as I tried to power it on the same problem happened again.

Does anyone have a guess as to what the problem might be? My other PC and all my other electronics work fine at the new place, and I have this problem PC plugged into a new (although cheap) line conditioner.

I remember I read an interesting thread on these boards about a problem similar to that, but I was unable to find it on the search (I read it at least two years ago.) Could this be an issue with the wiring here? Could it just be that it was a lucky chance that the PC booted the time I took it into work? If anyone has any ideas I'd really love to hear them.

Thanks!

 

[HannibalX]

Funny power at your new place?

 

[Trippytiger]

I think I can help, but you're going to need an old priest and a young priest...

 

[HannibalX]

<--- Doesn't know much about power, watts, current blah blah.

Could the power/current at your new place not be steady or fluctuating possibly? Have you tried plugging it in another outlet on a different breaker?

 

[krotchy]

your cheap line conditioner could be outputting a square wave, which is upsetting your power supply maybe?

 

[lenjack]

Try it without the line conditioner and let us know.

 

[darktyco]

Thanks for the replies, I took it off the line conditioner but the same thing happened.

And I have no idea how to tell whether or not the power is "funny", but it is true that my own PC and other stuff operates normally.

 

[cessna152]

Have you tried different power outlets in the same house? I had this issue once in the dorms. The power was really crappy going to that one outlet for some reason.

 

[mad0maxx]

I would try this...

http://www.apcc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=PF11VNT3

It says it could test for building faulty wiring and all that other jank if you do not know how to do it like me ^_^

"
Site wiring fault indicator
In order to work properly, surge suppressors require a correctly wired and grounded outlet. APC surge protectors identify dangerous wiring problems before you plug in your equipment.
"

 

[savvy]

Yeah, it's faulty wiring probably.

 

[darktyco]

Hmmm, yeah, it appears to be faulty wiring to a single outlet. If I plug the PC into that outlet, it won't work (the LED flashes orange.) If I plug it into other outlets on the same side of the apartment after that, it still doesn't work.

But, if I plug it into an outlet in the kitchen (or over at work) it starts to work again, and will work on any outlet in the apartment EXCEPT the original problem outlet. The odd thing is that other devices work on that problem outlet, but maybe because this work PC is a crappy Dell GX150 it has some kind of generically craptastic PSU that can't handle it.

Anyways, I think I'll avoid having anything plugged into that outlet besides a lamp....

Thanks for the help!

 

[HannibalX]

A GX150? Man I have been throwing those away all week at my work.

 

[Kappo]

The older GX stuff is bad about this stuff. Personally, I wouldnt even plug a lamp into this thing until the apartment gets it fixed.

 

[corkyg]

Try reseating things like memory, CPU, and all connections. The move could have vibrated something just enough to lose contact.

And, take it somewhere else to verify the power source question. Measure your line voltage. (Before and after the surge suppressor.)

 

[fire400]

anyone know if this could be the root cause if your surge is still working, will the outlet send false signals and make your components still turn on and off...?

could it be powerjack outlet specific or could you find out if you plugged a testing device of some sort to really find out without calling in a tech?