PC meltdown

[holy god of nil]

I've just come back home after being away for 10 weeks and tried to boot up my desktop, however I am getting no signal to my monitor and the PC starts to boot then cuts out and continues trying to boot and dieing repeatedly unless turned off at the power. I'm guessing maybe a dieing psu, anyone got any tips?

[matty-hodgson]

try hoovering it out?
like through the back of the PSU.. my old PSU stopped working and i hoovered it and got another 3 weeks from it.

[No.72]

try hoovering it out?
like through the back of the PSU.. my old PSU stopped working and i hoovered it and got another 3 weeks from it.

lol , try clearing the BIOS by moving the jumper pins, and if that doesn't work remove the battry but make sure you put it back in before you start the PC up or you will die. Also if they don't work remove all your USB ports and see if it boots, works for me when the PC has been off for a while.

edit: nice case matty-hodgson

[peterb]

My first thought would be that the CMOS battery has failed and has reset the the real time clock and cleared the CMOS (You can't clear the BIOS - if you do, you have bricked the mobo). However that should not stop the computer procedding to POST - when the bios set up screen should come up so you can reset the clock and redect the computer configuration - so yes, I suspect that 10 weeks of non use (and presumably completely disconnected from a mains supply) has affected the PSU.

It may recover - if you just leave it connected overnight (but not switched on) but it will always be suspect.

However before rushing out and buying a new PSU (what make is the old one)

Try the following:

1. Remove and replace the PSU main connector to the mobo

Try rebooting

2. Remove and replace memory and peripheral cards.

Reason - 10 weeks of non-use may have caused some high contact resistence caused by slight corrosion on the connectors which will be overcome by reseating. It probably isn't worth the hassle doing that with the CPU

Try to reboot

3. If that fails - replace the CMOS battery (or try that first - if it is a coin type lithium cell, they are pretty cheap)

If that doesn't fix it, try a minimal configuration (remove all cards, disconnect drives) - retain memory.

4. If it boots, replace each peripheral one at a time until the system fails to boot. (It may not - it could be fine)

If not - New PSU time. (If the strategy at step 4 works, the PSU is still suspect - loading it gradually may have reformed the dielectric barrier in the electrlytic capacitors, but it could still fail at a later date)

[matty-hodgson]

lol , try clearing the BIOS by moving the jumper pins, and if that doesn't work remove the battry but make sure you put it back in before you start the PC up or you will die. Also if they don't work remove all your USB ports and see if it boots, works for me when the PC has been off for a while.

edit: nice case matty-hodgson

isn't it just!
there's not enough room in it though..

[holy god of nil]

Been very busy, but just come back to the Pc and had a little fiddle, it now starts to boot and carries on without cutting out. However, the activity light never goes out suggesting it never finishes booting I presume. It is still not giving any signal to my monitor (which works fine btw), and the keyboard also doesn't turn on. I am going to open her up and have a look soonish, but unfortunately have no spare gfx cards/ram etc to swap in for testing purposes.

[camalbitboy]

try hoovering it out?
like through the back of the PSU.. my old PSU stopped working and i hoovered it and got another 3 weeks from it.

Umm you should really never ever hoover out a pc. There's a chance of causing a static discharge and frying something unless its a specialist hoover with an ASD hose on it (not likely on your average home hoover.

This is the reason that they invented canned air.