Power cut & now comp won't turn on - please help!

S0litaire

Most likely the PSU might have blown a Fuse (there's usually a kill-fuse between the transformer and the motherboard)
(PSU's have 2 types of fuses : "Thermal" which reset after an hour or so after overheating or a short & "Kill" fuses which are normal fuses, once blown they are dead.)

Sometimes the fuse is accessible from the outside (look for a round black plastic stopper near the power cord) If not then the PSU is effectively dead.

To be safe I'd replace the PSU it's relatively cheap and easy to do (All the plugs are different for each bit, so it's VERY hard to plug something into the wrong place and make matters worse! ) ^_^ lol

GunJack

New PSU for a machine like that - £12. Fitting it - 10 mins, unless you drop a screw (and then it depends where you've dropped the screw and how easy it is to retrieve ) Vey easy DIY job, you've done a third of it already if you've taken the side panel off

mj12_2

GunJack wrote: »

you've done a third of it already if you've taken the side panel off

Yup - and lol :-)

richard734

2 points, if it was on a surge protector, try plugging straight into the mains, or another socket, as the surge protector might have done its job (commit suicide before teh surge hits the PC)
2nd, what make is the SP? Belkin offer(ed) lifetime guarantee where they would replace the SP and repair any kit that it did not protect. Used that myself for £500 replacement bill for kit that fried while on an SP. Other makers have similar policies.

andy2004

the cost of a reasonable price psu, i bought a 650watt one for £20 via ebay, ordered wednesday arrived thursday, cheaper than going to my local pc shop, actual psu cost was £15, p&p was £5. LINK, this is where i got my PSU from http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/fly768/?_trksid=p4340.l2559

to replace is as simple as it gets. on the pc itself, take the side off the pc. remove the connections to the harddrive, dvd-rw/cdrom and the power to the motherboard. big white block 20 or 24pins, has a plastic hook which needs to be pushed towards the block. now remove the 4 screws holding the PSU inplace, and carefully slide out the old PSU. insert the new PSU, put 2 screws in to hold it in place, attach the motherboard block, it will only fit 1 way. plug in 1 molex power to each of the hdd's and dvd drives. put the remaining 2 screws in and tighten replace side of case. of couse clean inside the case to remove dust, suggest a soft brush, and a hoover.

time to do it, max 20minutes, to remove and replace.

as for cost for doing the job, doing yourself the cost of the PSU, look locally if you dont want to pay for delivery. usually they are a generic fitting. PC PSU nothing fancy, and your looking for a 20+4 pin connection. reason i say that, some motherboard require a 24pin connection, others 20pin, by buying the 20+4 you have both. if you require the 20pin remove the sticky tape holding on the 4 and slid off.
If you take a look at the link i provided it has a picture of the connections including the 20+4 which is the top most picture, so u can see what i'm talking about.
This is the exact one i have. I bought in 2010.

having someone do it for you, erm, alot, last time i paid someone to do something for me on my computer it was PC WORLD and a cdrw drive which i couldnt get to work with my pc, charged me £27 and they couldnt get the drive to work either so refunded me the money not only on the job but also the drive i bought from them.
Link was to show you the motherboard connection the seller does sell smaller watt PSU, but for an around price that is pretty cheap. prices have increased due to the VAT increase of 2.5% from 15% to 17.5% from when i bought mine.

macman

Totally agree with GunJack. Taking the side panel off and cleaning it is the hardest part, which you've done already.
Any ATX PSU of the same or higher wattage rating (it's marked on the casing) will do the job. Just remove the 6 or so connectors (make a little sketch showing what goes where to help you reassemble) and then take out the 4 screws holding the PSU to the case. It can then be detached.
You can't really go wrong putting it back together, as the different leads have different shaped connectors, so you can't plug the wrong one in.
Give it a go, if you get really stuck (which you won't) you can still take it to any independent PC shop, and ask them to fit it.

tankgirl1

mj12 wrote: »

Won't help with cooling, give it a hoover, just be careful not to bash anything in theere :-).

When you've done that here are some directions for resetting the CMOS jumper - they are pretty general but should help.

1. Unplug everything (obviously).
2. Look at the motherboard and find the CMOS battery - round lithium type battery.
3. Somewhere near there (probably) will be a collection of 4 pins, 2 will be covered with a plastic tab and 2 will be exposed, they should be labelled with something like 'CMOS01' or 'JPS1' - something along those lines, come back and ask if your not sure.
4. Using a pair of pliers or tweezers carefully remove the plastic tab and put it back over the other set of pins so the bare ones are now covered and the covered are now uncovered and leave for 30 seconds or so.
5.You've now reset all your motherboard settings.
6. Put everything back how it was and give the machine a try again.


Those are very generic instructions and vary from motherboard to motherboard, if you can find out the exact model you have I can give you specific instructions.

Guess where I am typing this? Yup on my PC!!

Followed your advice mj12 and it worked a treat! My PC is also MUCH quieter now I have cleaned it out :eek:

Thank you all so much for your help :beer:
So with pets and with PC tower being on the floor, how often should I be giving it a clean out?

GunJack

Well done, result Just goes to show you should try all the easy/obvious points first, even easier than replacing the PSU

Especially if on carpet, and with pets, I'd whip the side off every 3-4 weeks and hoover the carp out of it, or you could end up with a screamer like my S-I-Ls was before she called me in - howled like a banshee through the PSU fan due to all the dust'n'dog hairs

andy2004

Glad it wasnt the PSU, probably the build up of dust on the cpu stopping the pc from starting as a safety, or a bug in the CMOS, due to the age of the battery i would think about changing the battery aswell.
I would have said every 2 months max for cleaning. if no pets and off the floor i would have said once every 4-5months.

I completely forgot about dirt and dust build up inside pc's i thought everyone would at least take the side of once in 6months to see the build up.

tankgirl1

andy2004 wrote: »

I completely forgot about dirt and dust build up inside pc's i thought everyone would at least take the side of once in 6months to see the build up.

Lol! Until today I had no idea that I, as a total novice, could even take the side off! Let alone that regular cleaning of the insides was recommended!

5 years of pets and carpet - it was rank!!

Really grateful for all the advice - I'd probably have written it off if it wasn't for all you techies! I couldn't afford a repair place without saving up for months, so I am well chuffed!

:beer: