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+--- Thread: Computer won't start properly (/showthread.php?tid=2795)
Computer won't start properly - Variable - 10-25-2014
Went dead and wouldn't start. When I hold the power button it's coughing like a car with a low battery (starting-dying-starting) and when I release it it dies again.
I hope it's the power supply and not the GFX card or one of the hard drives. I got a technician coming over in three hours, but in the mean time count me out from tomorrow's game.Â
Any ideas as to possible causes apart from a dead PSU?
Re: Computer won't start properly - Misha - 10-25-2014
Does it reach POST? Do you hear any beeps? If not than maybe it's PSU.
Re: Computer won't start properly - Variable - 10-25-2014
I don't know what POST is but I'm pretty sure it's not reaching it. Just the fans starting and then dying and starting and dying in cycles of half a second as long as power is held down. I don't hear any beeps.
Re: Computer won't start properly - Misha - 10-25-2014
POST: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-on_self-test
Try changing the PSU, or turning on the computer without graphic gard (or with some less power hungry video card if you have it).
It's most likely PSU. You can also try to plug computer into some other power source, different wall socket, and so on.
Re: Computer won't start properly - Variable - 10-25-2014
Thanks, I do hope it's the PSU. The technician will have a replacement. He should be here within the hour.
Re: Computer won't start properly - Variable - 10-25-2014
Ok, it wasn't even the PSU. The dude came here and just opened it up and dusted it good with a brush and now it works. He told me that he is absolutely sure that it was a loose connection and/or dust and assured me that all my hardware is in order. He promised me that if it repeats itself he will take it to hist lab and clean it further with air pressure. I'm with less 300 ILS, but calm now
Thanks for the tips guys.
Re: Computer won't start properly - doveman - 10-26-2014
(10-25-2014, 04:55 PM)Variable link Wrote:Ok, it wasn't even the PSU. The dude came here and just opened it up and dusted it good with a brush and now it works. He told me that he is absolutely sure that it was a loose connection and/or dust and assured me that all my hardware is in order. He promised me that if it repeats itself he will take it to hist lab and clean it further with air pressure. I'm with less 300 ILS, but calm now
Thanks for the tips guys.
Glad you got it working. Don't be tempted to vacuum the dust out if it happens again, as there's a real risk that the static will fry somethingÂ
What I usually do in these situations is disconnect everything and then try with just the bare minimum, so no HDD, 1 stick of RAM, onboard graphics (if your motherboard has that), you can even disconnect all the fans EXCEPT the CPU one, as you risk damaging that if it gets too hot (although it should automatically shutdown before then) and see if it will boot to the point where it says "where's the HDD". Then add more RAM, test again and so on, until you find what's stopping it booting. Checking it gets through POST (which is basically all the tests and hardware initialisation that the BIOS does before it starts to boot the OS) is usually sufficient to detect a faulty component. After you've tested with everything but the HDD/SSDs, add the OS HDD/SSD and then once you've confirmed Windows boots OK, add any other HDD/SSDs you have.
Computer won't start properly - Variable - 10-26-2014
Thanks doveman, it's good you wrote it for future reference.
I'm somewhat surprised this compute is still holding up. I upgraded it's GFX and added an SSD, but all the other hardware is 5 years old!