Dead PC ??

50Twuncle

What is going to cause a PC to stop functioning - after 10 seconds of running ?
It appears - not to kill the power - that stays on
We lose video and power to HDD/DVD

It can't be heat related - since the fans are running
It can't be memory related - the PC boots up OK

What else is there - that could cause a PC to die - after booting up and apparently being fine - but after 10 secs - stopping ?

tooproud

fried HDD?

50Twuncle

NOPE - I have the HDD sitting in MY PC - USB connected - running a virus scan
The problem is that the HDD is from my Dads PC - I am trying to recover his data ....

robmar0se

Are you saying the system freezes, or does the screen just go blank?

Have you tried safe mode (key F8 during boot)?

Helpful if you can give more info on yr system, model etc.

PS How is the USB hdd powered?

Is it okay when you remove the ext hdd?

50Twuncle

robmar0se wrote: »

Are you saying the system freezes, or does the screen just go blank?

Have you tried safe mode (key F8 during boot)?

Helpful if you can give more info on yr system, model etc.

PS How is the USB hdd powered?

Is it okay when you remove the ext hdd?

Screen goes blank - but PC still powered
F8 does not make any difference (PC still dies)
PC is a Novatech Desktop - Intel Celeron powered
HDD is in a USB cradle - plugged in to my PC for checking/recovering etc
I have just found (and dispatched) a Trojan (ABKO dropper) - which may be the cause of the problem ?

GunJack

it's possible...until it's cleaned and you retry you won't know

CoolHotCold

Could be a faulty Graphics card.
Could be a faulty Power Supply
Could be a Faulty Motherboard

Or a short circuit (such as USB pin's touching or MoBo short)


In short, hard to diagnose properly with the info you've supplied.


Does the system stay on in BIOS (usually F2 or Del as soon as you power on the system)

esuhl

21Twinkle wrote: »

It can't be heat related - since the fans are running

It won't matter how many fans you have running if the CPU isn't able to conduct thermal energy to the heatsink. The CPU would instruct the PC to drop the power level to prevent it from being damaged by overheating.

I'm not saying that is the cause, but it's possible...

I'd check everything else first -- i.e. remove all un-necessary hardware to rule out faults with other components. Make sure there aren't any screws or standoffs that are shorting out the motherboard, etc.

But if you can't trace the cause of the problem, it might be worth unseating the processor, cleaning it with solvent to remove any existing thermal interface material (TIM), then re-apply the TIM, reseat and re-connect the heat sink.

robmar0se

You appear to infer that this happens with you Dad's hdd connected via USB - so can we confirm that its okay when detached?????

If so, can we ask why you're doing this? Problems with Dad's PC? If so, what were the problems?

On the same vein, could be an issue with the hdd, the usb caddy, or even (unlikely) with the usb socket.

macman

Failing PSU? It'll spin the case fans, but not power up the rest properly.

50Twuncle

robmar0se wrote: »

You appear to infer that this happens with you Dad's hdd connected via USB - so can we confirm that its okay when detached?????

If so, can we ask why you're doing this? Problems with Dad's PC? If so, what were the problems?

On the same vein, could be an issue with the hdd, the usb caddy, or even (unlikely) with the usb socket.

My Dad has just decided to order a new PC - the old one (single core 2Ghz/1Mb RAM was about 5 years old and had been causing him problems for a few months - the day before the replacement arrived - THIS HAPPENED !!!
Coincidence or Fate ?
Problems were slow boot up and slow webbrowsing (I know that this could have been cured by a rebuild) - but a single core 2Ghz is never going to win any speed records ?
Plus my Dad has started to push the processor more than normal (ie Video and Music - conversion etc) - so I recommended a replacement (dual core - 4Gb etc etc)
I have sucessfully cleared the trojan (Spybot) and have saved his data to USB stick - the only problem being the Outlook address book - I can't figure out where it is saved ???