Power Supply Problem - maybe

my g/f's work computer has bitten the dust. it's a hp pavilion 510c (1.3 ghtz), windows xp with sp2. i'm guessing it's the power supply that went out, but i'm not sure. i'd say she had some problems for about 6 mos. or so. sometimes it would start making a buzzing noise (fan maybe), and if you hit the side, sometimes it would stop. other times it would lock up (if left on too long after making noise), or even reboot to a dos screen. i think the last time she used the comp (friday), it started making a clicking sound, and she had to hold the power button to shut it down. i brought the comp home to do updates (windows), and install a new cd drive, however it won't power up period (acts like it's not plugged in). when i plug in the power cord, the led on the back of the power supply, breifly lights up and goes off. it doesn't smell or anything (inside the comp). how do i check the p/s voltages? or what do i check for? i'll post some pics when i get them uploaded somewhere. - sos

 

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/racer-nbkffa@sbcglobal.net/album?.dir=/5527scd&.src=ph <-- here are some pics posted on my yahoo

 

Have you been pluggin the power cable into the back of the psu while the AC is connected?This can kill a computer pretty quick,the ac switches are the only thing that can turn on the juice fast enough to avoid a surge

First try a cmos reset,this will reset the computer and you may get lucky,with th AC disconnected remove the small flat battery for 10 secs or find the cmos reset jumper located near the battery and switch it over to pins 2-3 for 10 secs and then back to pins 1-2 and fire it up,the underlying clicking problem should be investigated further,I would suspect a fan may have died the comp may have shut itself down for protection,if you manage to get the comp started check all fans are spinning ,in fact make sure you can rotate all of them with your finger and they dont make any clicking sounds before hand,if not remove any non critical hardware,all add in cards,cdroms, hardrive,ect use only one stick of ram,a known good working stick if you have one and try and fire it up

heres a diagram of the ATX connector,what you need is a paperclip formed in a U shape,first disconnect the psu from all components,with the clip connect pins 14 and 15 this should fire the psu into life,next put the negative probe in any black pin and the positive probe in the voltage you want to test,make sure you dont have the testmeter set to amps or sparks can fly

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b214/Rikky_/z_mbconatxmain.gif

 

thx, for the replies. however, i think there are 2 problems with this comp. 1st, i think the h/d is bad. i took the h/d out and put it in my comp (as a slave), and it wouldn't boot up (gave me an error on a dos screen), i also changed jumper settings, but it still didn't work. we also heard this clicking/scratching noise, that she had heard on firday. i then put a h/d (spare) into her comp, and it still acts as if it is not plugged in (no lights/beeps or anything). - sos

 

well, what i had said was correct (although i was guessing on the p/s problem).
she took it to bestbuy today to have it diagnosed (for free), and they said the p/s was bad, as well as the h/d. i guess at this point, it's cheaper to buy a new comp (for her boss). i wouldn't mind keeping the old comp (for parts), but they never did a backup of the os (partitioned drive), that i know of. anyway, it's not mine until he decides to trash it, or whatever. thx - sos