PC woes... [no more!]

[Akatosh]

Some five or six hours ago, my PC just... stopped working. It just froze and nothing happened anymore, so I pressed the 'Reset' button. It shut down just fine, but nothing happened afterwards - the cooling fan ran, but the screen just stayed black. So I shut the whole thing down entirely, waited five seconds, then turned it on again... nothing. The fan ran, but that was it. So I turned it off again, fetched a boot disc and turned the PC on again, only to find that it shut itself off again after two seconds. So I unplugged it, waited a few hours, and guess what? Now it's not even starting up anymore. Not even the cooling fan starts to rotate or something. It's just that... NOTHING happens, at all. I checked all the plugs, screwed the whole thing open and everything seems to be in perfect working order. It's no power outage either - everything else here works just fine (including the obsolete notebook I'm using right now).

I'm at a total loss here. Any ideas what this could be, or even how to fix it?   

[miguel]

I'm afraid you'll be getting a lot of...dare I say...THE BLUE SCREEN...

It happened with me a few years ago, but I used to play non-original games all the time, doing images of DVDs on the hard drive and such, downloading stuff all the time from not safe contents and I guess it's just the wrong way.
I learned my lesson and got a laptop that I only use with proper original software.

If it's not the power supply (it happens a lot, believe me, specially with high temperatures) then I guess it's something related to the boards, RAM, graphics card or sound card, they sometimes burn! Your computer will not start if they burned.

Try to start it again and access the setup if you can.

[BOYD1981]

yeh, sounds like your PSU has kicked the bucket (no other hardware failure would prevent the pc from switching on, apart from perhaps the power switch...), it happened to me last year and i only just got round to getting myself a new one.
good news is that power supplies are fairly cheap and really easy to install, although i personally would avoid getting one that is both cheap and powerful, it's better to get yourself one with the same wattage that you already have made by company you've heard of, it might cost a bit more than one of those cheaper ones but it'll probably last longer too.

[Oliwerko]

Yeah, go for a new PSU (and pray that only that is the one which has burned out).
When nothing happens then, I guess there is no other way than having it repaired by professionals. But running fans and everything but black screen may be dead graphics card, it happened to me already.

miguel - I dare to say it has absolutely nothing to do with playing non-original games and definitely not anything to do with creating images. Computers fail from time to time with no proper reasons (and I speak from my own experience), no matter what you do on them. Sure, downloading porn from russian sites and not using any protection is a two-day road to bluescreens, but that's it, I guess.

[miguel]

Oliwerko, software can and will damage your computer if you don't use original stuff. Believe me.
A computer will fail from time to time and there is always a reason for it, it may be hardware or software.
Can you get me some of those russian sites...er, porn you said? And what do you mean by protection?

[jetxl]

miguel, a broken computer is no laughing matter so shut the hell up.

I repaired computers and it could be a motherboard or cpu problem too.

[InCreator]

I suggest to get a spare machine, and re-test every piece (except motherboard, I guess) in another machine.
This way, you know what's wrong.

My condolences, though.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

As someone who has put together pcs for about 15 years, it sounds like either:

A) Power supply failure.  This may or may not be a mild issue, because often when a supply fails it can take your motherboard with it.

B) CPU/BIOS failure.  When either of these fail completely, some motherboards won't post at all (ie, they won't beep or otherwise indicate activity).


It is unlikely to be a video card or ram problem because either of those should not prevent the system from actually starting, just operating normally.  You'll typically get a solid 'beep' noise when either of these fail (in the case of a bad video card sometimes the sytem will boot normally without monitor support).


The first step is to try a known working supply.  If you have LED error lights on your motherboard, pay close attention to their configuration if your board comes on but has problems; they will often tell you what hardware is damaged if you use the manual.  If not, you'll have to troubleshoot the old fashioned way, swapping out the supply, seeing if the system starts, then the processor, and if it still doesn't your board is most likely ruined .

I recently went through a bout of corrupted ram giving me blue screens so I know it can be a pain getting things back to work.  If you're like me at all, though, you may have an older motherboard kit laying around somewhere that you can test from.  Good luck with it.

[Khris]

Oliwerko, software can and will damage your computer if you don't use original stuff. Believe me.

And Bill Gates can look into your room through the monitor.

It could very well be the motherboard, since that's what triggers booting (the case's power switch is connected to the mobo, not the psu). Mine said fairwell a week ago, and although the beepcode pointed to a BIOS checksum error, replacing the BIOS chip didn't work.

[BOYD1981]

that's true, but most PSUs will come on for a second when they're plugged into the mains or you flip the power switch on.
one thing that helped me diagnose my problem as definitely being the PSU was after a few months of not using the PC i decided to try switch it on again, it powered up and then there was a loud pop and then no more power.

[Oliwerko]

Oliwerko, software can and will damage your computer if you don't use original stuff. Believe me.

In what way? I mean, what is the difference between original and non-original in its content regarding damage to your PC?

[Gilbert]

I think miguel was just making a comical comment, in an attempt to mock the 'legal authorities' that we will get haxxxx0redd and in worst case our computers will explode and blow up our homes if we don't use originals and just pirate stiff. It's not meant to be serious.

[Akatosh]

Alright, thanks for the condolences and the advice. I'll try to get a fitting PSU as fast as I can (I think my grandparents have a few to spare) and see if that helps... let's hope it's not the mainboard. Again, thanks for the help - I wouldn't have known what to do. 

[Nikolas]

Just a short story, in case it is related (although I doubt it).

Over the past 2 years I've had 2-3 CABLES burned! Not PSU! Not anything serious. For some reason the power cables that go from the computer to the wall went down! Which is incredible if you think about!

I've quized myself, but in the meantime moved house and everything was fine.

I lack any serious hardware knowledge, but I'm pretty confident to the people I meet. I do know a few people in London and Athens, who know what they're doing and won't screw me to my lack of knowledge, thus I trust them. It's just a matter if you have someone you trust next to you, who can take a serious look, that's all. (at least I think so)

[Oliwerko]

Nikolas - it may be (apart from others) two reasons that were causing problems in our house:

1. Remember to plug the cord completely into the socket on both ends. Especially on the computer end. When it is not completely plugged in, it keeps sparking and the cord can burn out.
2. Here, aluminium cables were used massively in the 80s and 90s. They kind of wear and aprox. once in a year you have to tighten the screws in the sockets to tighten the cables to the socket body. If you don't, same as with the above happens, it keeps sparking and fire can burst out if you don't solve it. (One socket was completely melted in our flat).

[Huw Dawson]

I'd recommend an Antec Earthwatts for a PSU replacement. Will at worst set you back £50 (and that's for the 500 Watt one) and is a lovely PSU - cool, quiet and efficient.

- Huw

[miguel]

I just want to say that I can't believe the reaction of some of you guys!
I mean, was it that bad what I said?
It was a joke.
My computer broke many times guys and it will again.
Akatosh didn't seem upset with me and if you take a closer look at what I wrote you'll find out I wasn't disrespectful in any way.
Well, I apologize for the damage I've done.

[TerranRich]

This is serious business, miguel. Nobody makes jokes around here. Nobody.

[Oliwerko]

I must admit I didn't get the joke. I was really afraid what arguments would you put up for defending legal software 

I think Terran said it pretty well, no one expected jokes here.

[Babar]

....I think TerranRich was being funny....