Question PC won't boot, but fans spin?

[thestrangebrew1]

My friend's parents pc stopped booting up. When you press the power button, you can here and feel the fans spin, but the power light that normally lights up doesn't. There is a green light that comes on on the back of the tower when it's plugged into the wall, but the power button light doesn't light up. The pc is an HPp6767c model. I'm guessing she needs a new psu but curious what you guys think. Thanks!

 

[ch33zw1z]

Pull out RAM, any post errors?

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I'm going to pick up the computer sometime this week to take it apart and start troubleshooting. It's been years since I've opened up a case lol

 

[ch33zw1z]

Just like riding a bike

 

[mindless1]

Yes, on a previously working OEM PC one of the most common failures is the PSU, especially after the industry wised up to the bad capacitor plague on motherboards and started getting pickier about that.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

So I finally got a hold of the pc and I've taken it apart. Fans spin on PSU, cpu fan and I can hear the hd spin up. Mobo has a green light. There's 3 sticks of RAM, I swapped each one out and powered on the pc. No boot when only 1 stick was in (tried all 3 modules in the first slot). I took all the RAM out and no beep either. I disconnected the cd drive (no other peripherals are hooked up to this) and powered it on but still no boot. There's no gpu so obviously that's not the issue. Took out the cmos battery, and put it back in after about 10 mins and no dice. And even replaced the cmos battery still no dice. I'm still leaning towards a new psu, but any other suggestions?

 

[ch33zw1z]

If you have a psu to test with, try it. Make sure you disconnect anything like hdds, CD-ROMs etc.... You really want that mobo to present a POST error when you RAM isnt so you know it's alive.

Edit: omg the typos

 

[VirtualLarry]

HP Pavilion p6767c Desktop PC Product Specifications | HP® Customer Support

Looking for upgrade information? Trying to find the names of hardware components or software programs? This document contains the technical details for this product.

support.hp.com

Support site says PSU is "internal ATX", so yes, try a fresh PSU on it. Even a $28 Raidmax 400W special might be more than enough for that rig.

If that doesn't work, pull the HDD for recovery and privacy purposes and junk the rest. (CPU and RAM might have some remaining value on ebay).

Edit: Also, consider the video output, sometimes the chipset iGPU in those older boards could overheat if the chipset heatsink got covered in dust and the case fan died or something, and then it cooks itself. Consider dropping in something like a GT610/GT620/GT710/GT1030 if you happen to have any of them around. It's probably not that, as if the video output was hosed, then either you would get a POST beep error, or a normal POST "beep", just with no video. If the power button LED is not lighting up, then it's probably not POSTing successfully, just with no video output, and does point more towards a PSU or other serious component failure.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I swapped out the psu with a new 1 I ordered off Amazon yesterday (EVGA brand) and still no luck. We'll just have to pull the hdd out and junk the rest I think as suggested abvoe.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'm sorry to hear that. A replacement PSU is often a "quick fix" for a dead OEM PC, but it sounds like there is something further wrong with your PC in question, maybe the mobo went out somehow. It is fairly old.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I'm sorry to hear that. A replacement PSU is often a "quick fix" for a dead OEM PC, but it sounds like there is something further wrong with your PC in question, maybe the mobo went out somehow. It is fairly old.

Yea that's what I'm thinking. Just have to figure out how to get her stuff off the hdd now. If i were to install the hdd in my tower, it would be recognized as a drive and I can get the stuff off now correct?

 

[VirtualLarry]

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forums.anandtech.com

 

[ch33zw1z]

Yea that's what I'm thinking. Just have to figure out how to get her stuff off the hdd now. If i were to install the hdd in my tower, it would be recognized as a drive and I can get the stuff off now correct?

Yes, either that or what @VirtualLarry suggested. Both will work, assuming the disk is functioning.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Awesome thanks guys! Ordered it!