has my computer died?

virgin_moneysaver

came home from hols, switched on pc, OK, son watching iplayer when screen went blank & the led light on moniter went to the orange standby - tried switching off both at processor & then at main electrics - nothing - disconnected everything, gave it all a good vaccuuming to remove excess dust & set it up with only the neccessary peripherals but processor turns moniter on then switches it back to standby then the fan in the processor runs very, very fast & very loud & a burning smell is apparant - dont know if wires or dust burning - the proceesor must be woking to some degree as I'm typing this on my sons laptop which the router runs thru my processor - can any of you lovely people guide me in the right direction?

crampo_2

Two Things.

1) when you say processor do you mean computer?
2) did you use a vacuum cleaner (to which you clean your house with) to clean the insides on your computer?

fwor

You really need to figure out where the burning smell is coming from.

The most likely candidate is the power supply, which is (obviously) immediately behind where the power cable plugs in. Although PSUs usually go pop and die completely, it is possible for one of the outputs to fail and the others to keep working - hence the fans can sometimes still run.

The fact that you can get on the internet from your son's laptop does not mean that your PC is working to some degree - the router operates independently of your PC!

MJLawson1

When you say processor are you meaning the big fan at the top of the back of the box where the power cables plug in?

When you try and turn it on... are there any lights swich on, if not its the power supply which is what you are calling the processor (If my assumption is correct).

Please dont take offence, but from the sound of it you dont seem to have the know how to replace it yourself so i would recommend taking it to a local computer shop. Use yell.com as their price tend to be cheaper than PC world etc.

If it is the power supply you should expect it cost c£30 to replace and fit.

Always ask for a quote before they do the work even if they want to look at it over night.

If you have more detail of what the computer is doing post up and i'll see if i can figure it out.

Regards,

Matthew

virgin_moneysaver

crampo wrote: »

Two Things.

1) when you say processor do you mean computer?
2) did you use a vacuum cleaner (to which you clean your house with) to clean the insides on your computer?

1) - yeah

2) - I didn't open the processor just hoovered the dust that builds up at the back of the pc where all the cables plug in

virgin_moneysaver

fwor wrote: »

You really need to figure out where the burning smell is coming from.

The most likely candidate is the power supply, which is (obviously) immediately behind where the power cable plugs in. Although PSUs usually go pop and die completely, it is possible for one of the outputs to fail and the others to keep working - hence the fans can sometimes still run.

The fact that you can get on the internet from your son's laptop does not mean that your PC is working to some degree - the router operates independently of your PC!

the power supply to the computer is still working as there are a couple of lights on at the rear of the computer

virgin_moneysaver

MJLawson1 wrote: »

When you say processor are you meaning the big fan at the top of the back of the box where the power cables plug in?

When you try and turn it on... are there any lights swich on, if not its the power supply which is what you are calling the processor (If my assumption is correct).

Please dont take offence, but from the sound of it you dont seem to have the know how to replace it yourself so i would recommend taking it to a local computer shop. Use yell.com as their price tend to be cheaper than PC world etc.

If it is the power supply you should expect it cost c£30 to replace and fit.

Always ask for a quote before they do the work even if they want to look at it over night.

If you have more detail of what the computer is doing post up and i'll see if i can figure it out.

Regards,

Matthew

there is power as there are a couple of lights on at the rear of the computer - when I turn it on there is a succession of audible beeps, about 6, then the fan kicks in big time getting faster & louder, then the burning smell starts which at that point I turn it all off at the mains in case it goes bang!

enigma52

when you say 6 beeps are these all the same length or are some short beeps and some that are longer.
please count again and post results, these are bios codes and can pinpoint you're problem, also if you know what bios you have would help if not still post beep results

neas

Your treating the PC as a black box at the moment by the sounds of it.

You vacuumned excess dust from behind pc... good housekeeping is good i guess. If its a burning smell could be a components fried or dust burning inside the chassis.

As others have said... if i knew you had the computer know how or 'dont care' attitude i'd suggest get a screwdriver pop the case open and see how much dust has collected inside the pc... never had a pc die to dust however.

How old is the PC? Was it brand new etc?

virgin_moneysaver

enigma52 wrote: »

when you say 6 beeps are these all the same length or are some short beeps and some that are longer.
please count again and post results, these are bios codes and can pinpoint you're problem, also if you know what bios you have would help if not still post beep results

as you've probably guessed I haven't got a clue what BIOS means but i checked the beeps, 6 in all & it was long, long, short,short,long, long - if you can tell me where to find out what bios I have I'll have a look

virgin_moneysaver

neas wrote: »

Your treating the PC as a black box at the moment by the sounds of it.

You vacuumned excess dust from behind pc... good housekeeping is good i guess. If its a burning smell could be a components fried or dust burning inside the chassis.

As others have said... if i knew you had the computer know how or 'dont care' attitude i'd suggest get a screwdriver pop the case open and see how much dust has collected inside the pc... never had a pc die to dust however.

How old is the PC? Was it brand new etc?

you'd be surprised how much dust accumulates on the grid of back of computer over a period of time!

anyway the machine is a Dell & I had it new about 5 years ago - I'm not totally green as long as I'm given instruction, unfortunately ringing Dell involves expensive calls to Mumbai & as I am a little hard of hearing I find the whole process embarrassing.

I had replaced a complete hard drive on my last computer with the help of the call centre - it was a Gateway & the call centre was free of charge in the UK - excellent service at all times from them