ARGH! My computer died the other day, and its months out of its (woefully short) warranty. In any event, I hate warranties anyway, and didn’t want this cheap-arse company touching my precious.
Here’s the problem:
I turn on computer and then start “Morrowind”. I go downstairs to get something to eat. About a half-hour later I come back up. PC is off. I assume I must have hit the power switch or something, but no. I try to turn it on. I hear whirring sound of proccessor fan pitifully starting up and stopping. PC does not activate.
I’m thinking: Power Supply? The on button looks like its working, as the PC is beginning its on-state. But it doesn’t finish. Since the power supply fan doesn’t turn, even though the processor fan does…
Am I right? I opened my case and checked the innards, but its looks cool.
I am running an AMD Athlon 1.[something] Ghz PC, with 512 Megs of RAM and a Radeon 8500.
I have had some problems before, as the internal ethernet card and the mouse line doesn’t work. Could it be the motherboard. Should I replace my box and board and cannibilize the chip, video card, and HDD?
It really sounds like your power supply is shot. That’s the bad news.
The good news is it’s not that expensive or difficult to fix.
If you’re lucky, it’s a dead fan. Is your house very dusty? Is there a lot of dust collected in the fan? It’s possible the fan siezed… and if the fan doesn’t cool off the power supply, it shuts down pretty damn fast, hence your machine shutting down before it posts. I know, 'cause I’ve seen this happen before in my incredibly dusty house (he said, having just cleaned out his machine a few minutes earlier).
If you’re comfortable with opening your machine and removing the power supply, give that a try before replacing your mobo. If you take the power supply to a computer hardware shop they can tell you exactly which fan will replace yours. Heck, they might even be able to test the PS for you while you’re there.
I should point out that a new fan for your power supply will probably cost you around ten bucks. A completely new power supply is around eighty bucks. A new motherboard can be MUCH more expensive- and, trust me on this, a HECK of a lot more difficult to replace.
Check the proc temp as well (generally, the BIOS will have some sort of thermometer). If it is getting too hot, it could be shutting down with all sorts of odd side effects.
But don’t sweat it even if it is a blown mobo. A new one will run you ~100.00 or so, depending on what frilly options you want.
Cool! Anyone know if any chain-commercial stores can do this? There are a few good specialty electronics stores about, but they are on the other side of town.
And yes, my dorm room is very dusty. In fact, when I checked the processor heat sink, it was covered in dust (which I blew off, though it was pretty darn thick). That’s life in Melrose Hall.
I don’t think it is the fan. It’s implausible that the power supply heats up so fast that the computer won’t start POST. Does the power light come on when you turn on the power? It can be as trivial as a broken power switch (it can’t stay in the “on” position).
Sometimes the power supply doesn’t put out enough power so only some things show. Like say lights on the front, etc. Happened to me 2 times. Got myself a new case each time.
Before you take it to a Best Buy or similar store to get it done, definately try replacing the power supply yourself, its really easy. Simply unfasten the 4 screws in the back, unplug from the motherboard, unplug from all of your disk drives and devices, the plop the new one in its place. Its really just a matter of remembering what devices need to get plugged back in, use some tape with IDs on them to mark if necessary. But its really easy to replace if thats the problem.
Sounds like it may be heat. It would cause your PC to shut off, anyway, and depending on how much time you give it to cool off, it may still be hot enough in there to not POST when you try and reboot.
Try running with your case cover off for a while and see if that helps. And take a can of air to everything in there - dust isn’t your friend.
