Members iff Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 Posting from my laptop right now... A few minutes ago, I was playing Resident Evil 5 on my desktop and all of a sudden, the screen went black and the fans seemed to turn off as if the PC crashed and had shut down. Then I noticed that the PC's power indicator LED was still on and the fans were barely on, as if I'd turned them down to low RPM. So I pressed a few keys and nothing happened. In fact, none of the USB devices are showing any signal (no lights active on keyboard, mouse, external HDD) and neither is the monitor (power LED is flashing rather than solid). Despite all this, the PC's power LED is solid and the fans are still running slowly. So I do a hard reboot and nothing changes. I turn off the power supply, unplug it, leave it for a couple minutes, turn it back on and still nothing changes. I opened up the enclosure and nothing smells burnt and when I turn on the PC, all the fans are still running so the mobo is still providing them power. WTF has happened; I'm freaking out a bit. :cry: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dicky sofa Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 Dey baldhead demons a possess ya buttonbox bredda. Give it up to the Lion of Judah an all be right. Bless up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members silverfacechamp Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 Is it posting? In other words, do you get the motherboard manufacture screen before the Windows startup logo where you can enter bios, boot options, etc.? If not: Possible bad power supply, bad mobo, or maybe bad proc. If so: Possible bad hard drive, bad power supply (to hard drive), critical windows error, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KCTigerChief Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 Hard to tell without looking at it, but it sounds like your power supply has went out. Could also be a burned out motherboard too. Quickest easiest fix is to plug a known good power supply in and go from there. They sell power supply testers too if you wanted to go that route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elemenope Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 Sounds like you fried something. I'd open it up and look around. See if you can find the smell. Most likely you fried the power supply...An easy fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members iff Posted January 24, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 Hard to tell without looking at it, but it sounds like your power supply has went out. Could also be a burned out motherboard too. Quickest easiest fix is to plug a known good power supply in and go from there. They sell power supply testers too if you wanted to go that route. No other power supplies here, only other PCs in the house are laptops. Really hoping this is all this covered under warranty if something's {censored}ed up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LoopQuantum Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 Power off. Unplug it. Static bracelet. Reseat sata cable to boot drive. Try again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members iff Posted January 24, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 Sounds like you fried something. I'd open it up and look around. See if you can find the smell. Most likely you fried the power supply...An easy fix. Can't find any smell anywhere and sniffed around a bunch inside. One other thing to note is that the CD drives still open and close...if that's important at all. And I'll try that, Loop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OverDriven Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 Dead power supply would be my first guess, followed by dead video card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members silverfacechamp Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 Nothing happens at all when I boot up, just black screen. Power supply or mobo would be my guess....probably the power supply.....MAYBE the vid card, but that's more rare. The good thing is that your data is probably OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OverDriven Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 A little tip...if your computer fails to post, the very first thing you should check is to make sure the RAM is properly seated. RAM can become unseated due to temperature changes (I've seen it happen lots of times even when the ram is "locked" in) and the computer will basically do nothing when you try to turn it on. Some motherboards will beep 3 times to tell you that the RAM is improperly installed. Pull the RAM sticks out, wipe the contacts with a dry cloth and reinstall them, making sure they're seated all the way into the sockets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LoopQuantum Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 Can't find any smell anywhere and sniffed around a bunch inside. One other thing to note is that the CD drives still open and close...if that's important at all. And I'll try that, Loop. If the drives still open, and it's not posting, I'm almost certain it's the SATA connection to the boot drive. My computer did the exact same thing a few months ago, and this fixed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elemenope Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 Can't find any smell anywhere and sniffed around a bunch inside. One other thing to note is that the CD drives still open and close...if that's important at all. And I'll try that, Loop. Opps sorry you said nothing smells burnt..lol. First thing I would just is hooking a new power supply into it. If that doesnt work try a different video card. If that doesnt work your {censored}ed! Lots of other good suggestions on here as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OverDriven Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 If the drives still open, and it's not posting, I'm almost certain it's the SATA connection to the boot drive. My computer did the exact same thing a few months ago, and this fixed it. The drives will open and close with only power and no data connection. So basically that wouldn't tell you anything except if the CD drive is getting power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LoopQuantum Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 The drives will open and close with only power and no data connection. Exactly. Which is why I don't think it's the power supply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KCTigerChief Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 Exactly. Which is why I don't think it's the power supply. Also, a power supply can die and still provide the couple of volts it would take to power the drives door motor and spin fans a little bit. It just won't have enough power to do anything else. I've experienced this three times. Twice it was the PS, the other time it was the motherboard getting fried from a power supply blowing up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members silverfacechamp Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 Exactly. Which is why I don't think it's the power supply. The PSU may have lost power on some rails but not to the 4-pin molex leads for the drives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members silverfacechamp Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 Only thing is, that doesn't explain why his fans aren't spinning and he's not making it to the POST screen. If it was just a sata connection, he'd at least hit the POST screen.Power supply is the most likely culprit at this point. Reseating the RAM is a great suggestion though. This. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LoopQuantum Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 Only thing is, that doesn't explain why his fans aren't spinning and he's not making it to the POST screen. If it was just a sata connection, he'd at least hit the POST screen. Power supply is the most likely culprit at this point. Reseating the RAM is a great suggestion though. I'm telling you budday, Mine didn't post either. Reseated the cable, and it did. ...but maybe his is something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members iff Posted January 24, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 Only thing is, that doesn't explain why his fans aren't spinning and he's not making it to the POST screen. If it was just a sata connection, he'd at least hit the POST screen.Power supply is the most likely culprit at this point. Reseating the RAM is a great suggestion though. The fans on every device are still working fine, they're just going low RPM. Reseating the RAM in a second. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Steve2112 Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 A little tip...if your computer fails to post, the very first thing you should check is to make sure the RAM is properly seated. RAM can become unseated due to temperature changes (I've seen it happen lots of times even when the ram is "locked" in) and the computer will basically do nothing when you try to turn it on. Some motherboards will beep 3 times to tell you that the RAM is improperly installed. Pull the RAM sticks out, wipe the contacts with a dry cloth and reinstall them, making sure they're seated all the way into the sockets.An EXCELLENT tip. I'm no computer guru...But I have restarted my PC on several occasions by going in, pulling plugs/boards...cleaning and reseating. Good job OD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KCTigerChief Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 I'm telling you budday, Mine didn't post either. Reseated the cable, and it did. ...but maybe his is something else. Hell it's worth a shot man! Computers are funky critters. Give the SATA connection a try OP! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OverDriven Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 Exactly. Which is why I don't think it's the power supply. Right, but the power supply has several rails, so it's possible that one died and not the others. I've seen that happen a few times. The OP can easily try the SATA thing too of course. No harm in that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members again with this Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 I had a similar problem a few months ago. It was the power supply. Some times when they go "bad" they just aren't putting out enough power or one lead fails... Scary, I know. I thought my HHD was cooked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LoopQuantum Posted January 24, 2011 Members Share Posted January 24, 2011 Right, but the power supply has several rails, so it's possible that one died and not the others. I've seen that happen a few times. The OP can easily try the SATA thing too of course. No harm in that. I should just be angling to sell him a new computer. LoopJobFail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.