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Any help appreciated

Thomas GaleThomas Gale
edited September 2009 in Chit chat
Hello,
I notice that people have posted their PC related hardware and software woes on this forum before and the more technically minded among you have responded with some helpful advice. My desktop PC kind of died at the weekend. It's a home built affair, about 2.5 years old based around a barbone Shuttle XPC SN27P2 AM2 with an Athlon 64 X2 5200+. I was using it as normal when it unexpectedly and abrubtly turned itself off. Turning it back on produced various results. Sometimes, the fans would start but none of the indicator lights would come on, sometimes both the lights would come on but nothing would output to the monitor and sometimes it would just turn itself off again.

I've brought my awsome technical skills to bear on the problem but to little avail. After using the motherboard jumper to reset the CMOS it did start up again a few times, but behaved erratically before reverting to its previous state?

So any ideas? Power supply maybe? Motherboard? I'm reluctant to upgrade right now, but I'm also reluctant to spend a great deal on getting it repaired professionally...
Cheers.
Tom
Post edited by Thomas Gale on

Comments

  • MrCheeseMrCheese
    edited September 2009
    It could be the CPU overheating and forcing the system off to protect it. Check the CPU heatsink is attatched properly.
  • freddyhardfreddyhard
    edited September 2009
    the second thing i'd try is another PSU. you've already cleared the CMOS which probably would have been the first. however, i clear the CMOS by removing the battery for ? hour. if you can get a spare PSU to try make sure it has enough power to run your system.

    if that doesn't work i'd normally take the mobo out disconnect all devices, except CPU, RAM and graphics (i'll use onboard graphics rather than a card if you have the option) and place on a sheet of cardboard and then see if it will start.

    since the system is making an effort to start i would think it's not the CPU. normally you get beeps if the RAM is dodgy, so if you try the latter it would point to the mobo. if you try anything let us know what happened.

    EDIT:
    MrCheese wrote: »
    It could be the CPU overheating and forcing the system off to protect it. Check the CPU heatsink is attatched properly.
    be carefull not to break the seal between the CPU and heat sink. it's a bit of a job to properly re-seal them.
  • dekhdekh
    edited September 2009
    Have any of the cables worked loose?

    Fans spinning up ok - especially the one on the processor?

    Reseat the memory.
  • milemile
    edited September 2009
    it mgiht just be fecked. :(

    or it might just be a power supply prob. one of the wires might have come loose inside or something.

    if you buy a new one you can always use that when you upgrade.

    check all the cables too, the fans, look for anything burnts out (have a smell) and have a good listen, see if any fan sounds a bit funny, or something sparking.
  • Thomas GaleThomas Gale
    edited September 2009
    Thanks for all the advice.

    I'll certainly try everything recommended and let you know what happens. A bit of further internet research shows that the power supplies for these units can be unreliable after a couple of years. I've never had to change a power supply before so i'm a bit shocked at the cost. If it does come down to that, I presume it's a relatively straightforward job?
  • freddyhardfreddyhard
    edited September 2009
    it normally is. 4 screws and disconnect/reconnect all the power cables. i didn't read anything into the barbone Shuttle XPC SN27P2 that you have though. i might get a chance a little bit later. i have to go set up a trap for a cat.

    EDIT: it might not be the PSU, so can you get another good one to test? if you have a multimeter you could see if one of the molex connectors are reaching their correct voltage. red=5v and yellow=12v. this isn't conclusive and i suppose the system doesn't stay on long enough for you to try this.
  • milemile
    edited September 2009
    Thomas Gale wrote: »
    If it does come down to that, I presume it's a relatively straightforward job?

    yeah its prolly the easiest things to replace. just make sure your pc is upside down when you are unscrewing it. (well i had to do that for mine, cos the screws were the only thing holding it in place.) as for the cables, its pretty much straightforward. plug them into the sockets, they can only fit in the correct ones. :)

    like people have mentioned try a different one, most ones in PC's are all the same so a willing mate might help you out or just take one out of a family members PC. maybe not so good if the machine is older than yours though.
  • merseymalmerseymal
    edited September 2009
    i had to change the one on my SN41G2 as at first it would take thirty seconds between pressing the on button to it starting up, then one minute, three minutes, ten minutes to not at all.

    Been fine since. Though I still have to change the battery as it died while I was in between it failing and the psu replacement :)
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