Computer won't start

Help!!! Tried to kick up my computer this morning (Presario w/Athlon 3200 processor running on XP) like usual. Only this morning the green light came on, hesitated and then blinked off, several seconds later it blinked on again, off again. Nothing on the monitor at all. The only way I could stop the blinking was to disconnect the power source. After checking the obvious, I opened the case and pushed the on button again. The fans start up and within two seconds close down again and thats with the green lamp on the start button starts to flash. Somebody told me I had to go into bios to fix, but can't do that since the computer never kicks up that far. Any ideas/suggestions would be really appreciated. Thanks

 

just try taking out the CMOS battery and waiting 15 minutes, then reinstalling it before buying a new power supply.also check the cabling- unplug and reconnect.If you had a storm last night was there lightening ( a lot of snow thunder happened on the east coast)- your surge protector may have failed in which case if it was warranted yo may be eligible for a replacement on the surge protector manufacturer's insurance. but check the obvious first.If its not the battery, cabling or strip, and you haven;t left anything ourt 9 like you added a new peripheral), and all your drivers, etc were up to date before the problem happened, there may be some other larger issue..

 

If this doesn't work, I second plodr's guess it's the power supply.

Most OEM (Compaq, Dell, etc.) PSUs are incredibly weak to begin with. I've replaced some that were as low as 185 watts - barely enough to run the system when new.

Factor in that power supplies typically lose 5-15% of their output per year as they age. If the PSU is 2-3 years old it may have lost up to 40% of its max. output.

If the PC is "stock" (no upgrades) I would get at least a 350-watt PSU. If you have upgraded the video card (or plan to), get at least a 450-watt or whatever the video card mfr's specs state - whichever is greater. Extra wattage will give you a cushion against the aging factor noted above.

Here are a few top rated units from NewEgg.ca:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182006

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817154026

Avoid cheaper "no name" models unless they have a good customer rating. Saving a few bucks now is no bargain if it dies quickly and you end up having to RMA it and pay $10+ shipping plus the headache of reinstalling it.

Hope this helps.

(P.S. Went through exactly the same problem two days ago on my main PC. A new PSU solved the problem. )

 

Never thought of that. Does the power supply weaken over time? This is the original that came with the machine when I bought it several years back. Thanks.

 

Ok. Battery is out and I'm standing here with fingers crossed. Will update when I put it back in. Thanks.

 

thanks gman.
Yes the computer has been around for a few years. Been good to me tho. Never had anyone fill me in on the PSU problem before. Really apppreciate that. Will see what transpires when I slip the battery back in. Guess it's a toss-up between new PSU and new computer. Prefer the first option, might be less time consuming than setting up a new system.

 

Have put the battery back in and no luck. Same situation as before. Is there some way to test the PSU to determine the output or is it a case of trial and error--put a new one in an see if it works?

 

Greetings, blindcast.

To see if your PSU is strong enough to handle your load, you can plug your specs into this online calculator - might give you some idea if you are indeed under-powered. There are also cheap PSU testers available.

Then again, you may have other issues. You might try disconnecting your optical drive(s) and hard drive, see if your symptoms change. Reseat your RAM - if you have multiple sticks, try swapping slots, leaving one stick out, etc.

For the most part, however, I agree with you and the others - sure sounds like PSU symptoms, and as a good new unit can be gotten fairly cheaply, that would be a good start. The plus is, of course, that if you buy a new PSU and it turns out that that's not the problem, you've got a spare.

 

Caliban,

Although I have two such testers (basic light and digital model), I recently had a case where such a test didn't catch 12V issues since they were load based problems (An analogy would be trying to start your car and hearing "click, click, click". Although touching a multimeter to the battery terminals may show around 12 volts the battery has sulfated to the point it cannot handle the amp load the starter demands).

Although this is likely a non-issue for the OP, do you have any tips for testing a PSU under load (other than the common sense method of noting if a client is attempting to use a 350 watt PSU in an SLI setup)? Feel free to laugh - I had a repair job recently where this was the issue. :-D I'm only asking for when I have to run diagnostics on higher wattage PSUs. Thanks.

 

Hey guys, you really know your stuff. Took the PSU to my neighbourhood computer shop--Evergreen Computers off Lonsdale--and they pinpointed the problem as blown capacitor in the unit, replaced it and it's running like a charm. Thanks to all who provided their knowledge, experience and wisdom. I'm a happy camper.

 

Cool. Glad you solved the problem. :cool

 

Glad you got it sorted, blindcast, and thanks for the feedback. :major

@ gman: You're right about the load testing - most of the newer digital testers can't compare with the older types. I use an old load tester by Antec (thumbnail below) - it's a heavy thing, rated at 1000w, and works like a charm, but I just checked the Antec site and there's no mention of it (even in the 'Discontinued' section).

Basically, it's a big ole' resistor tied in series with a SPST switch and a 20-pin connector - damn thing gets hot if you leave it on too long!
.

 

Hi Bilndcast, My firts thought would be to check out the power supply. If you have a multimeter check the red and a black to see if there's +5 Volts and the yellow and a black to see if there's +12 volts. Another thing you could try is to pull off the plug with the red 2 black and yellow off the Drives one at a time and recycle the power sw. to see if it can start. If you find it will start with a certain plug removed you've found the problem.
Atleast it's a start. be safe be carefull go slow and you may want to jot down where the plugs are at before you start.
Best of Luck
Cabie65

 

I have used this method to test under load with a multimeter.