Another plea for techie help

28 Feb 2005

Right folks - I would really appreciate your help.
My mates's computer has died on her, and as she is self-employed with no work at the moment she can't afford to take it in for someone to charge just to look at it.
So I am trying to at least get to the bottom of the source of the problem.
Symptoms as follows:
When power lead is in the fan automatically starts (without the computer actually being turned on), and a red light flashes on the motherboard.
When the "on" button is the pressed - nothing happens. Fan continues to go - but that is it. It is then completely dead.
I am wondering if it is the starter motor? Or does it sound more sinister than that?
All help much appreciated!!
aRSexx :color:

28 Feb 2005

Quote by Rainbows
I am wondering if it is the starter motor?

When did she last change the oil? lol

28 Feb 2005

Before some super-techie comes along, may I ask whether she's actually tried turning it off at the power source, then switching it on again after a while. When I had the same problem it worked for me - obviously a short-term solution, it needs investigating properly.
Mike.

28 Feb 2005

Quote by MikeNorth
Before some super-techie comes along, may I ask whether she's actually tried turning it off at the power source, then switching it on again after a while. When I had the same problem it worked for me - obviously a short-term solution, it needs investigating properly.
Mike.

Yip - we have tried all that.

28 Feb 2005

Quote by Rainbows
Before some super-techie comes along, may I ask whether she's actually tried turning it off at the power source, then switching it on again after a while. When I had the same problem it worked for me - obviously a short-term solution, it needs investigating properly.
Mike.

Yip - we have tried all that.
Okay - good luck....

28 Feb 2005

When she switches the power on at the mains (the plug on the wall) does the computer emit any beeps?

28 Feb 2005

Quote by JQL
When she switches the power on at the mains (the plug on the wall) does the computer emit any beeps?

No it doesn't. The only thing that happens is that the fan starts up and this red light flashes confused

28 Feb 2005

Look like the Power Supply or the Mainboard are knackered mate

28 Feb 2005

I had that problem once and PC wouldn'y start....I found that I had left a floppy disc in the A: drive. Had me puzzled for hours. redface

Check to see if she's left a disc in the drive?

28 Feb 2005

Its not a disk in the drive because that would mean it is starting.
It maybe a faulty atx power cord. This powers up the motherboard. Then again it may be the whole power unit.
Chances are it would be the motherboard playing up. Has there been any changes to it over the last week or so? Have you changed anything int he BIOS? Any jumper settings on the motherboard?
With no beeps it does sound (pardon the pun) like power only.

28 Feb 2005

Quote by mattmoleman
Its not a disk in the drive because that would mean it is starting.
It maybe a faulty atx power cord. This powers up the motherboard. Then again it may be the whole power unit.
Chances are it would be the motherboard playing up. Has there been any changes to it over the last week or so? Have you changed anything int he BIOS? Any jumper settings on the motherboard?
With no beeps it does sound (pardon the pun) like power only.

Matt - no changes to anything that she knows of (i.e - she doesn't mess around with anything and can't remember being asked to do anything unusual). The only time it has been open is when I opened it - so no jumper settings have been changed.
I am sure it is a power problem - but just don't know how to go about finding out for sure.
sad

28 Feb 2005

Quote by JQL
When she switches the power on at the mains (the plug on the wall) does the computer emit any beeps?

Just read that again lol

- I may be blonde but I do know what the mains are!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

28 Feb 2005

Quote by Rainbows
When she switches the power on at the mains (the plug on the wall) does the computer emit any beeps?

Just read that again lol

- I may be blonde but I do know what the mains are!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
Rainbows, does the computer beep at any time?

28 Feb 2005

Quote by mattmoleman
Rainbows, does the computer beep at any time?

No Matt - the only "action" is the fan and this flashing light on the motherboard. No beeping, no attempt to read any drive ('cos I did hard boot with a reboot disk in a drive).
Just dead.

28 Feb 2005

Quote by Rainbows
When she switches the power on at the mains (the plug on the wall) does the computer emit any beeps?

Just read that again lol

- I may be blonde but I do know what the mains are!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
I apologise if I caused offence. I was differentiating between the power on the wall and the button on the front.
Sounds like the motherboard is totalled. It is probably the PSU on the motherboard (yes moden boards have a PSU on the motherboard as well).

28 Feb 2005

Just a thought...
Is there a CD-ROM in the CD drive? Some older CD drives will stop the computer powering up if they contain a disk at power up.

28 Feb 2005

Quote by JQL
When she switches the power on at the mains (the plug on the wall) does the computer emit any beeps?

Just read that again lol

- I may be blonde but I do know what the mains are!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
I apologise if I caused offence. I was differentiating between the power on the wall and the button on the front.
Sounds like the motherboard is totalled. It is probably the PSU on the motherboard (yes moden boards have a PSU on the motherboard as well).
No offence taken - it made me laugh biggrin

. Ummm - that sounds pretty fatal to me - am I right?

28 Feb 2005

This does sound like either the power supply or motherboard to me. If it's the power supply, then it's a relatively simple swap.. provided that it's not one of the brands that has a funny shaped or built-in power supply to force you to buy from them and them only. If it;s the motherboard, then buying a new PC is probably the cheapest repair option unless you have a friendly techy type on hand to rebuild the machine from scratch.
The next thing to do is to swap the power supply with a known good one, and see if that brings the machine back to life. If it doesn't, then it's the motherboard.
This isn't a job for the faint-hearted, so if you are not confident with electrics, don't go there. It might be worth getting a quote for a new power supply from a local repair shop.
If the machine is totally dead, then you can stil save the hard drive and put it in your new machine to get your data back - but agin this isn't the sort of thing the average PC user can do. Unless the machine is fairly new (last 2 years or so) then the rest of it is probably too out o date to be worth salvaging.

28 Feb 2005

Thanks MrD - am going to try the power option tonight as I am fairly sure that is the problem. Unfortunately a new computer is totally out of budget - so hoping it isn't the motherboard!
Will get back to you later! Thanks for your help.

28 Feb 2005

Just thought i'd throw my twopennies worth in. Definitely the power supply unit or motherboard although I'd err on the side of the PSU. PSU <Â£20 - motherbooard Â£30-50. I'm in the Manchester area - if you are, and you'd like me to come pick it up and have a look - it's my job you see smile

- then let me know.

28 Feb 2005

Thank you all for your help!! Said computer has just been picked up and will have power supply tested tonight. My friend can't believe how helpful everyone on my "internet chat forum" has been biggrin

So thank you all very much!! Tell you what - I am becoming a techie more and more myself these days with all the techie threads on here :D
Thanks guys kiss