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Computer problems HELP
jacko - 11/5/11 at 08:30 PM

Hi all
Last night our computer switched its self off i have checked the fuse and it is ok but there is no power showing on the computer
The only thing i can see is the fan tryes to move when i press the start button
Has anyone got any idears what it could be

I am righting this on a borrowed laptop


graememk - 11/5/11 at 08:35 PM

emachine ???

PSU or blown caps on the motherboard...


HowardB - 11/5/11 at 08:35 PM

faulty power supply,.... would be my guess

quite cheap replacement, and easy to check, whip the back off, find a connector that has: red, black ,black and yellow, and look for 12v and 5v, if that's there as it should be then it might be more serious, but if not, then it's a £20ish fix

hth


RazMan - 11/5/11 at 08:36 PM

Sounds like the PSU has given up the ghost. Has it overheated due to dust build-up?


Liam - 11/5/11 at 08:39 PM

Does sound failed power supplyey. If you haven't already tried it, switch it off fully at the wall for 10 seconds or so, then try again. Sometimes if a power supply shuts itself down due to some fault it needs a 'proper' power cycle before it'll start up again.


jacko - 11/5/11 at 08:40 PM

quote:
Originally posted by RazMan
Sounds like the PSU has given up the ghost. Has it overheated due to dust build-up?


PSU ? is that power supply unit [ the box where the cable goes in ?

It had been on all day and when i looked in side it was FULL of dust


blakep82 - 11/5/11 at 08:42 PM

this worked on my mates pc, so worth a try. not sure what make his is though, not even sure he knows.
anyway, unplug pc from the wall, press power supply button for 1 full minute, time it to make sure you're not short of a minute, plug in and try again.
can't remember what his mother board is, i didn see the books for it at one time.
worth a shot since its free?


jacko - 11/5/11 at 08:42 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Liam
Does sound failed power supplyey. If you haven't already tried it, switch it off fully at the wall for 10 seconds or so, then try again. Sometimes if a power supply shuts itself down due to some fault it needs a 'proper' power cycle before it'll start up again.



It switched it's self off last night and it will not work tonight


britishtrident - 11/5/11 at 08:52 PM

Either a short somewhere or the PSU

Short could be a loose screw rattling about in the case or a wire trapped.


mcerd1 - 11/5/11 at 09:23 PM

pitty your so far away, I've got a few spare PSU's you could have for nowt


BenB - 11/5/11 at 09:54 PM

Yup. Capacitor cancer in the PSU no doubt
Had the same in the PSU of one of our LED screens at work. The little shits wanted to charge £250 to come and change it and charge £250 (-vat) for the "quality PSU" which infact turned out to be a £20 switched mode power supply when I opened up it up. Bulging caps quickly confirmed. For £20 I couldn't be arsed to get out the soldering iron so a quick Ebay purchase and two days later it was fixed. £500+ saving. Still, if there are fools out there who will hand over £600 odd quid to replace a sub-standard part.....


MikeFellows - 11/5/11 at 10:41 PM

heres a simple check thats usually pretty accurate

in a quiet place put your ear to the psu and plug the power cable in

you should hear a small 'crack' as the psu gets power (im sure there is a scientific term)

if you hear the crack, i would say the psu is fine

no crack, dead psu.

if its got a couple of hard disks and no major gaming hardware buy a cheapo one for £30, 300W should be more than enough.


AndyGT - 11/5/11 at 10:47 PM

girlfriends brother had blown PSU on his PC.

Machine was totalled as failing PSU caused a spike and burnt out all "usable" parts including valuable data on hard drive.

if you are lucky and no other hardware damaged, take it as a lesson "well learnt" and back up irreplaceable data!!!


Fatgadget - 11/5/11 at 11:47 PM

motherboard.


jacko - 12/5/11 at 07:02 PM

Thank's for the info , a mate of my son's is coming to have a look at it in the morning he works on computers for a living so fingers crossed it will be up and running tomorrow
Jacko


jacko - 13/5/11 at 02:59 PM

It's up and running again thank's for the help it was the PSU
Jacko