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Need some advice

 
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{uZa}KENSHIN
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 4:31 pm    Post subject: Need some advice Reply with quote

Hey all I need a little help with my parents computer about half way through start up it automatically turns itself off. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I was leaning towards the cpu or power supply but I want to be sure before I just start spending money. Thanks all.
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{uZa}Lonesome Eagle
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 4:38 pm    Post subject: Re: Need some advice Reply with quote

{uZa}KENSHIN wrote:
Hey all I need a little help with my parents computer about half way through start up it automatically turns itself off. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I was leaning towards the cpu or power supply but I want to be sure before I just start spending money. Thanks all.


First thing I would do is to boot into the BIOS setup program and hit whatever F-Key sets it to "factory defaults". Could be as simple as a hosed bios setting messing you up.

Assuming no joy...

You might try hitting F8 on startup and try "Safe Mode" to see if it gets through then. If not, try hitting F8 and set it to capture a "boot log". Then boot from a Windows CD and see if you can view the log to see what driver it is loading when it shuts off.

If that fails boot from a Windows CD and run the "recover/repair" function and see if that does any good.

At this point you might want to pop their hard drive in your PC (connect it to a spare IDE cable) and get their data off the drive so you can restore it later.

You could try rebooting from a Windows CD and reinstall the OS. Try it WITHOUT formatting first, so you don't lose all your data, then if that fails try formatting and installing the OS.

If none of the above work, then it's time to shop for hardware I suspect. Be sure the fan starts up on the PSU, that can be an issue where the power works but the fan doesn't and the BIOS reacts by shutting down even though it isn't hot yet. Assuming it does, then I would be more suspicious of the Motherboard than the PSU, as most of the time PSU's either work or they don't.

CPU is unlikely unless the computer has a recent history of overheating. (a lot) They are solid state with no moving parts and pretty much only die from overheating or a huge (lightning strike) power spike. One thing to check though it that like the PSU, the fan on the heatsink of the CPU is running when you power on. The BIOS will again detect this if it isn't, and will just go apeshit.

How far into the boot does it get? Does Windows even try to load? If Windows starts loading and then it shuts off, it's most likely a driver and a re-install (probably a destructive one sorry to say) should fix it. If it never gets to Windows then it's hardware of some flavor.

Eagle
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{uZa}KENSHIN
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 12:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think it is the psu considering now, it will not power up at all. No green light on the motherboard. Just to make sure I have an extra motherboard that I am going to hook up and make sure. Thanks Eagle
If anything else pops up let me know.
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{uZa}Double_D
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 7:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

never mess with a powersupply always get a new one but i would also suggest dusting it out
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{uZa}Cyber
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 11:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Check the motherboard real quick for any swelling or leaking capictors. That is a sure sign of a failing motherboard.
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