Pc Nightmare- Off and On saga argh.Please help?

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Basher

85 posts

Master Geek

Topic # 63037 19-Jun-2010 13:53

PC Nightmare - a long winded story can you help??

Replaced pci graphics and installed 500w power supply 18 months ago, had no problems till six months ago when i started to get, NO video Input on my monitor, switched to the built in graphics and worked fine.

3months ago i switched on pc and same thing, no input on monitor again, all lights and most of the fans came on, the usb wireless keybord/mouse (SENDER?) didnt come on either.

Since then i sometimes have to switch the pc on and off between 1 and 100s of times before i get a picture on my screen, which also coincides with my usb wireless/keyboard sender firing up too.

Today i had no luck so once again i went through the process of pulling out all leads and cables giving them all a clean and putting back together. No luck.

Well as you can see ive got the Pc going, but only after leaving out the detachable 4 pin of my 20+4 power supply. i dont know if this is just an unhappy coincidence. (I assume this is safe)

I dont want to turn off the PC now just incase it wont start, and one of you genius guys sends me a post solving my problems.

Please help

Basher

85 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 343719 21-Jun-2010 12:00

Basher: PC Nightmare - a long winded story can you help??

Replaced pci graphics and installed 500w power supply 18 months ago, had no problems till six months ago when i started to get, NO video Input on my monitor, switched to the built in graphics and worked fine.

3months ago i switched on pc and same thing, no input on monitor again, all lights and most of the fans came on, the usb wireless keybord/mouse (SENDER?) didnt come on either.

Since then i sometimes have to switch the pc on and off between 1 and 100s of times before i get a picture on my screen, which also coincides with my usb wireless/keyboard sender firing up too.

Today i had no luck so once again i went through the process of pulling out all leads and cables giving them all a clean and putting back together. No luck.

Well as you can see ive got the Pc going, but only after leaving out the detachable 4 pin of my 20+4 power supply. i dont know if this is just an unhappy coincidence. (I assume this is safe)

I dont want to turn off the PC now just incase it wont start, and one of you genius guys sends me a post solving my problems.

Please help

It didnt work, it never does.

pih

163 posts

Master Geek
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Reply # 344881 24-Jun-2010 13:52

I assume you've tried pulling bits and pieces out until it works? It may come down to pulling everything out (including the HDD and possibly memory) until you get a consistent starting response (with memory out it may just beep at you, but that's better than nothing). Then put things back in one by one (testing it a couple of times each time, as it sounds intermittent) and identify the culprit. If you get to bare metal and it still doesn't fire up then go get another computer :) (or try another power supply if you have one)

Che

33 posts

Geek

Reply # 344898 24-Jun-2010 14:20

Erm, is your system pushed up against a wall?

I had a friend with this problem, and I opened his box to find that the solder had snapped on the VGA socket to the Motherboard. Wiggling the socket/cable closed the circuit and made the monitor go.

Lotec, and probably not the cause, but it's an easy thing to check. Also would explain why it works sometimes, and others not.

richms

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Reply # 345283 25-Jun-2010 16:33

Is the power supply a proper one or a $40 piece of crap?

Richard rich.ms

Basher

85 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 345310 25-Jun-2010 17:55

Cheers guys,

Will try all of the above and see how it goes. Although a new pc is the way i will be going i expect as the pc pretty usless handme down to start with, was thinking of building my own, but thats another story.

Basher

85 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 345510 26-Jun-2010 14:06

Well something did the trick im not sure what.

I pulled the Pc completely to pieces, and laid it all out on my table. Putting the case to oneside,looked for any obvious signs of broken solder etc, found nothing so i connected it all back together still laid out on my table. turned it on and nothing. Pulled the power out of the dvd/cd drive, tried to restart, bingo it came on and started up perfectly, i tried 5 or six more times and same result, came on and booted up normally.

I wiggled the wires about on the socket supplying the power to the dvd drive, plugged it back in, i powered up the pc once again and it booted up perfectly five six more times in a row. I then pulled it all apart again reinstalled it in its case and it has just come on first time again.

Well thanks for all the advice pc seems to be powering up normally again, cant get the graphics card to work, but cant really test it so will have to take it in somewhere to be tested.

The only thing of note, when taking it aprt was that the (Warranty void if removed) sticker/seal on the power supply seems to have been broken then clumsily put back together, so might not go back to the computer shop in palmerston north, Since the graphics card came from the same place too.

Once again thanks for advice..

Basher

Basher

85 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 345540 26-Jun-2010 16:20

AH well..short lived victory, just turned the pc on and off a couple of times to check it and didnt start till 3rd attempt, maybe i should just throw the pc out of the window;( .. gonna turn off pull out the power to dvd and see how it goes

Basher

85 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 345555 26-Jun-2010 16:57

Well loks like im gonna have to dig my old power supply out, it restarted first time after pulling power out of dvd drive, but next few tests took two powerups to get the signal to monitor, still cant figure why i got 10 out of 10 start ups when it wasout of its case on the kitchen table

Basher

85 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 351460 14-Jul-2010 16:16

Put old supply in and still no luck:(

richms

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Reply # 351565 14-Jul-2010 20:26

How are the capacitors on the motherboard looking? Any swelling or goo leakage?

Richard rich.ms

Basher

85 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 356414 26-Jul-2010 11:30

will take a look, cheers, if i remember correctly from school, they are cylinder shaped component?;)