Computer Help

[chrisrosenb]

My Wife's computer is at least 5 years old. That is the mother board & processor. I believe the processor is a P4 core 2 Duo.  Most of the other parts have been updated over the years.
It is a computer that I built & I used in my shop office. I passed it on to her when I upgraded the shop computer about 2 years ago. It is running Windows 7 & runs it very well.
Or it did.

Late last week she was using the computer & it turned off by its self. It will not restart. The indicator lights on the case & motherboard light up.
I tested the power supply & tests OK. I changed the CMOS battery.
I have unhooked all drives & removed all add in cards. It still will not turn on.

Anybody have any ideas or is it just dead?

 

 

[mishle]

How did you test the power supply?

 

[chrisrosenb]

I have 2 different power supply testers.
It checked out fine with both.

 

[mishle]

I also would test the cpu on another mother board if you have it and make test it with one stick of ram then the other. Is it giving you any error code beeps?

 

[tiralie]

Chris:
Is the fan running? Stupid question but, have you checked the monitor?
I have found with my laptop that sometimes the computer will not start if the fan does not start.
Tim

 

[chrisrosenb]

Tim, the only things that come on are the lights.

 

[tiralie]

Probably the hard drive.
If you have a system disc (CD) try boot from that.
If that works it probably is the hard drive/
If that doesn't work you have a  bigger problem than just a "kacked" hard drive.

Tim

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Chris,

The power supply needs to be tested while plugged into the board and powered on (under a load) in order to get accurate readings or readings at all, if you were unaware.  Secondly, it sounds like the computer isn't even go through the POST (power on self test) and that's probably why you're getting nothing.  That's part of the BIOS ROM chip.  Look for the chip that says AMI, Award, Phoenix- something with one of those names.  If the computer means a lot to you, contact one of those companys for a replacement.  Otherwise, time to get another motherboard.  I'm sure you'd be able to get an older one for free from somebody upgrading.  Shane used to have his own computer repair biz.  Maybe he will offer up his thoughts.

 

[Rick Christopherson]

My first guess would be the power supply. These are switching power supplies and unless your tester is specifically intended to test PC supplies, it didn't fully test it. It is also the cheapest thing to replace. I had a heck of a time troubleshooting my wife's computer at first, until I started to realize it was the soft start of the power supply.

 

[chrisrosenb]

Rick,

I just tried a new power supply & I get the same results.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

That's why I also said if you're not entering the POST, it won't start up.  The error beeps previously mentioned are part of the POST and if you don't even hear them, it's not entering that routine in the BIOS.  I have an old Dell desktop from 2002 running XP.  There's no way it would be able to be updated hardware wise to run Windows 7.  Otherwise I'd just give it to you.  Like I also said, get Shane's opinion.  In the end you're probably going to wind up getting another.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Chris,

If you disconnect all of the drives and remove all of the cards and it still does not power on, it's most like the 1) motherboard, 2) power cord, 3) wall outlet/power strip or other power issue. Hard to test the motherboard unless you have a spare on hand. Power cord, power strip and wall outlet would be my next tests. Seems obvious, but easy to check.

Like others have said, the power supply is the obvious culprit, but it sounds like you've pretty well ruled that out.

 

[chrisrosenb]

Shane,

I have checked everything you mentioned.

If I replace only the motherboard & processor, will I have to reinstall windows?

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Windows resides on your hard drive, not the motherboard or processor.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

You'll probably have to do a "repair install". It won't require that you reinstall applications, nor will any of your data be lost. When you start the computer off of your Windows disc, it will detect that you have Windows installed and ask if you want to keep or overwrite it. Tell it keep it.  A quick search on the web will offer more detail about a repair install. The reason is that the drivers for your old motherboard will probably not work with the new one. It's worth a shot trying to crank it up with the new motherboard, but I wouldn't get your hopes up. Repair install if fairly painless.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/ss/windows-7-startup-repair.htm

 

[chrisrosenb]

You'll probably have to do a "repair install". It won't require that you reinstall applications, nor will any of your data be lost. When you start the computer off of your Windows disc, it will detect that you have Windows installed and ask if you want to keep or overwrite it. Tell it keep it.  A quick search on the web will offer more detail about a repair install. The reason is that the drivers for your old motherboard will probably not work with the new one. It's worth a shot trying to crank it up with the new motherboard, but I wouldn't get your hopes up. Repair install if fairly painless.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/ss/windows-7-startup-repair.htm

The old drivers were why I asked. I had forgot about the repair install.
I just did not want to start from scratch.

I would like to thank everyone for the help.

 

[ossietim]

Chris brand and model of said commputer? any chance it was a H.P?

Sounds to me like video card which is part of the motherboard.

 

[chrisrosenb]

This is a home built computer. It has an Intel motherboard & processor.
It dose not have onboard video. I tried a different video card.

 

[mishle]

On the outlet make sure its grounded. I have seen alot of hardware go bad on ungrounded outlets.

 

[ossietim]

get an old hard drive of the same brand /type .swap the hard drive circuit boards(only) .