PC not turning on?
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Postmaster
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 4,155
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From: Southern Louisiana
PC not turning on?
Good morning everyone. I am having a little of an issue here and am hoping someone may be able to point me in the right direction. My home PC is an old gateway that was running windows 98 when I got it from a friend almost 6 years ago. I have since upgraded it with a bigger hard drive and windows XP and a CD burner. It has operated flawlessly for 2 years like this. Last night I ran a virus scan, spybot, adaware and defraged. This morning I try to turn it on and I get nothing. It is not even trying to turn on. I pulled the cover off to see whats going on in there, and when I push the power button the processor fan turns two turns than stops like it is losing current. Any ideas? I really cant afford a new on right now, trying to get Christmas straight and all that. I am on my laptop now, but I take it to work with me and would like to try to get this issue resolved before I go back to work so that my wife can have a computer when I am at work. Any thoughts, or suggestions are appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Elder User
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 513
Likes: 0
From: Zimmerman, MN
Hey BigDaddy,
It sounds like your power supply went kaput. You stated you hit the power button, fan spins a couple times, then stops. Had to swap one out in a computer here. Hit the power button and I'd get a small noise from my speakers, like the PC was powering on, then nothing.
Suggestion:
Yank the power supply (hopefully that old gateway doesn't have a proprietary power supply in that case), go down to your local pc shop or box store (best buy), and see if theirs look like yours. If they have the same shape, you should be good to go within 10 minutes or so.
Good luck to ya.
It sounds like your power supply went kaput. You stated you hit the power button, fan spins a couple times, then stops. Had to swap one out in a computer here. Hit the power button and I'd get a small noise from my speakers, like the PC was powering on, then nothing.
Suggestion:
Yank the power supply (hopefully that old gateway doesn't have a proprietary power supply in that case), go down to your local pc shop or box store (best buy), and see if theirs look like yours. If they have the same shape, you should be good to go within 10 minutes or so.
Good luck to ya.
Thread Starter
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Postmaster
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 4,155
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From: Southern Louisiana
Okay, update. I just tried it again and the sumbeech turned on. Dont know what to think about it. I do know one thing for sure for as long as it is alive it is not going to be turned off again. Thanks for the suggestions though, I figured the same thing. Maybe it will kick around long enough for me to be able to get a new one.
Logistics Pro
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 4,562
Likes: 2
From: Southern MD
Bigdaddy.. . . .
Just a thought - - -
Stick your nose near the power supply (in the back of the PC) and sniff.
IF the power supply smells like 'burning rubber', the power supply could be REALLY going bad.
If it smells, shut it down and unplug it before it shorts out. THEN you will be in dire need of another PC.
Power supplies can be acquired for less than $80 at most places like Best Buy or CompUSA, etc.
A friend's power supply went bad and fried the Motherboard along with it.
(New PC time!!!)
IHTH.
Just a thought - - -
Stick your nose near the power supply (in the back of the PC) and sniff.
IF the power supply smells like 'burning rubber', the power supply could be REALLY going bad.
If it smells, shut it down and unplug it before it shorts out. THEN you will be in dire need of another PC.
Power supplies can be acquired for less than $80 at most places like Best Buy or CompUSA, etc.
A friend's power supply went bad and fried the Motherboard along with it.
(New PC time!!!)
IHTH.
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,245
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If you have an old hard drive, paper clip and multimeter, you can test power supplies pretty easily. Just connect the power to the old hard drive, then jumper the green wire in the power supply harness that plugs into the motherboard to one of the black ground wires. It should turn the power supply on, then you can check the 3.3, 5 and 12 volt legs on the power supply.
Usually when a system attempts to power on like that, then shuts back down it could either be the system board or power supply. As one of the other guys mentioned, there are a number of voltage regulators on the system board itself, and if the components there start to flake out, it can cause the computer to shut right down as well.
Usually when a system attempts to power on like that, then shuts back down it could either be the system board or power supply. As one of the other guys mentioned, there are a number of voltage regulators on the system board itself, and if the components there start to flake out, it can cause the computer to shut right down as well.
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Postmaster
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 4,155
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From: Southern Louisiana
I smelled the power supply and it dosent smell like anything burnt. That was my first thought. It still dosent smell like anything burnt. All in all I have been needing to replace this computer and this was a good wake up call telling me to get prepared to do it.
Lead Driver
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 6,461
Likes: 6
From: Abilene Kansas
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Postmaster
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 4,155
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From: Southern Louisiana
Yes Jake, great people like Kirk make FTE great. Here is an update on the cowbox, the PS exploded this morning. Sounded like a fire cracker and than it started smoking and stuff. I guess it was its time to go anyway.
Postmaster
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 3,759
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From: Pleasant Hill, MO
I hope it didn't take out the rest of the components, unless you're wanting to buy a new one. A'course, lots of people on here, myself included, would be happy to build you a new one and have it shipped.
Ryan
Ryan