Dead Computer please help

I think there is something wrong with either the power supply or the mother board of my computer. My computer was on before i went to sleep, and it was not when i woke up, and now it refuses to turn on at all. When i hit the power button, the cpu and the graphics card fan sort of moves a little bit and then just stops. Any other attempts to turn on the computer does nothing. If you unplug and replug the computer, the cpu fan would move a little again and stop.

This is clearly a serious issue, but i am not sure which part i should replace. Anyone here can help solve this issue?

My power supply is a 500w power supply, and everything ran fine before. any ideas?

 

Welcome aboard. Ouch, this is a tough one. Remove everything that's not needed to boot, meaning if you have more than one stick of RAM, extra HDD's/optical drives and remove any peripherals that need power and try to boot. This can rule in/out your power supply(PSU). What brand/model/age is it and which video card do you have?

Since your machine doesn't even want to boot to BIOS and your CPU fan spins slowly, I would suspect your fan first and it is obviously the cheapest to replace. Your CPU could be just thermally shutting down because of that slow fan. It is strange that it just happened, usually these symptoms appear slowly.

Start with that and then we move on. Make sure you clean the CPU with the highest % isopropyl alcohol until the surface is shiny, I've used %70 successfully, and install the new fan if it has thermal paste already pre-applied, otherwise you'll also have to buy some thermal paste, most fans have the paste.

 

Welcome to MG's :major and happy new year , maybe your power supply is faulty , you would find another one ( from a friend ) for instance replacing your power supply to check if it works !! :cool

 

Decent video on how to properly change your heatsink fan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRRWbQUqW1Y

 

thanks for the replay guys,

I don't think it is a CPU issue because when I press the power button, the fan makes the tiniest move for a split sec, then just stops. Has anyone seen this before on a computer and know the problem? Since it moves so little, it is unlikily to be a ram or cpu issue. unfortunately, everyone around me is on a laptop right now, so yeah.

I am on my way to get a new power supply. Wish me luck and keeps the tips coming, it would be really cool if someone seen this type of thing before.

 

I didn't say your CPU has problems but the cooler heatsink fan on top of the CPU might be faulty. Anyways, I hope I'm wrong since you've probably bought the PSU already. Another possibility is a dead chipset fan if you have one.

 

ok bad news, it is not the power supply.

got the guys at the shop to check my power supply and it is good...

plan B guys open to suggestions.

The fans that move is the CPU heat sink fan, and the graphic card fan, But again these move for a split second. not even a full rotation of the fan.

 

so a dead cup fan would do this to a computer? cause that is even cheaper then a psu. i would love for that to be true. is there anyway of the testing that besides buying a new cpu fan?

 

is that your theory that the cpu fan that was faulty, and that trigged a protection which shut down the entire computer? does such a thing exist?

 

i think there's too much emphasis on the fans and to me it sounds as if there not the problem

it's gonna be a process of elimination so start by unplugging the power connectors out of the hard drives / dvd roms etc
have nothing plugged into the usb sockets and see if it switches on

still no joy

unplug the graphics card and try to switch it on if thats the fault it should burst into life but error because no graphics ( presuming it's not onboard graphics )

still no joy

unplug the memory sticks and switch on it should burst into life but error

if it's still dead your down to cpu or and mother board
i would say it's the cpu rather than mother board but thats no more than an educated guess

there are mother boards that will not burst into life if the memory is bad and can give the symptoms you have described so my method above is not foolproof but it's still worth going through the motions

 

I agree completely. I will try that. Although i do have some very problematic memory cards that have been giving me blue screens. but it sound like something i should try. I will try as as soon as i get the chance. keep the tips coming and i will keep trying. I will keep you guys posted. Thanks guys.

 

AugieDoggie
Is it possible to replace the (processor) fan without taking the heatsink off the CPU ?
If your heatsink is correctly fixed to the CPU with thermal paste, no dust is able to get between the CPU and heatsink, why is dismantling the h/s - CPU and cleaning both parts and (obviously) then replacing h/s paste often recommended, if nothing can get into that space ?
Dumb_Question
12.January.2012
Compaq Presario S5160UK (Celeron 2.7GHz) - MSI MS6577 v2.1 - XP SP3

 

My PC ONLY boots when the CPU fan is stationery: if the fan is going fast it fails to get even as far as booting. I have monitoed the temperature of my CPU as soon possible after XP has started (this is more than 1 min after booting) using MBM5 and my CPU temperature did not exceed 50C (44C as I remember). Of course, my PC is not the same as yeungx's neither is my CPU.

Dumb_Question
12.January.2012
Compaq Presario S5160UK (Celeron 2.7GHz) - MSI MS6577 v2.1 - XP SP3

 

I haven't seen one but you probably could finagle something. The reason one cleans off the old paste is that you don't want to add to it's thickness due the hs/f has pre-applied paste on it.