Help! PC won't switch on

Backbiter

Went into work today after a holiday, switched my standalone PC on, and before I had a chance to entire my password it switched itself off. I thought it might be the fuse but it's not.
Before I hand it over to a local repair man does anyone have any advice as to what might have gone wrong? And assuming it's a dead PC how do I go about retrieving some of my files? Is it possible to hook up the hard drive to another PC and access it that way? The machine is an XP Pentium III - out of warranty, naturally!
The vast majority of my stuff is backed up but not the stuff I was working on before the hols, which is the culmination of weeks if not months of work.

Greensprout

Hi,

It sounds like the power supply could be on the blink..

Your hard drive should be ok. Plug it into another machine as a secondary drive and you'll be able to access all of our files.

woo

If your pc is dead you should be able to plug the hard disk into another machine and recover all you need of it.

It could be the power supply unti in the back - does that have a seperate fuse on it?

Backbiter

Thanks for the reassurance about the hard drive. I simply changed the power lead over from a working PC and it still wouldn't switch on - haven't checked for a separate fuse in the "power supply unti" - what's that and how do I check?

woo

it is the bit at the back where your power lead plugs into. some have a little cap you can unscrew with a fuse in.

normally thay have a fan in that will whirl for a bit too when you plug a power cable in. does this happen?

Backbiter

There's no whirr - I've brought the machine home and it's plugged in next to me. Is the fuse the little pink thing with the number 23 on it just below the socket?

Edit: Number 233!!

woo

don't think so - so assume it has no fuse.
would seem the most obvious bit to go if it is totally dead, if you know any sparkies they should be able to check if there is any power coming out the other end if you want to make sure.
so guess your 2 options are 1) go with that and try replace it yourself (they are from about 5 quid upwards on ebuyer 2) take it to your little man and see what he says.

Zahc

For pity's sake, don't buy a £5 power supply! Cheap ones will cause you (more) heartache. I expect someone will soon recommend a PSU for your PC, whose specs you're about to post!:D

Backbiter

I've left the paper work with the spec on it in work.
To be honest I was thinking about buying a new PC as it's probably past its use-by date (4 years or so) but I really want to rescue the hard drive with my unbacked-up files. I can also retrieve the sound and TV card, which are pretty decent. Once that's done I can jettison the old machine without too many worries.
Any idea what it costs to get that done i.e plugged in as a secondary drive as suggested above?

albertross_2

For pity sake, don't buy a £60 one either. I have bought dirt cheap psu's in the past, and never had a problem. It's a basic piece of electronics, which doesn't cost much to manufacture. If you spend £60 on one, you are paying for the brand name, and the marketing hype employed in overclocking magazines. If you are considering binning the PC anyway, it's worth £5 to try it with a new PSU, they just screw and plug in.

Cue stories about bulging capacitors..

As far as paying other people to do stuff, just do it yourself, and come here for advice, it's free.. If you can use a screwdriver, you can do it yourself. PC's are designed to have components swapped easily, unlike TV's etc..