ID:275959
 Mar 1 2005, 12:27 pm
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It's realy weird, I plugged it in one day and it made the moater run, and some lights flashed on the actual CPU (like the CD drive and stuff) but then the moter like sputtered out and the computer died, it did this EVERYTIME, in EVERYROOM, even with my OTHER powercord I use to run the other computer, is there something I can actually DO About this? (without $$$)
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Mar 1 2005, 5:52 pm
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Wanabe
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If I understand your post correctly it kind of sounds like your hard drive is nearing death.
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<sarcasm>Yes, because a bad hard drive makes a computer power down.</sarcasm>
I've never heard of a hard drive causing a computer to boot out. Second of all, Sage, do you know what a CPU is? CPUs don't have CD drives... The COMPUTER flashed. There aren't usually LED lights on CPUs anyway, the CPU is your PROCESSOR, not visible from outside of the computer. It could be anything. Plus, computers don't technically have motors. They have fans and hard drive platters and disk drives all of which contain motors, but the computer itself doesn't have a motor. If anything, it's probably a bad power box, or something else. Maybe something just got knocked loose or went bad --it happens. You don't sound like you know a whole lot about computers, so I don't think you should even attempt to look inside of it. Talk to your parents/a coworker/whoever, who actually KNOW what they are doing. If it costs money, it might well be worth regaining the use of your computer. | |
Which? Mine? It might not have been quite as nice as is proper, but there's enough helpful advice in there that FlameSage can gain help from it.
The only real statement that was deliberately... Scathing was directed towards the guy who suggested the hard drive was causing the computer to power down. | |
there is usually a 'startup' test that does a quick check (processor, things plugged in, fast ram test) that happens right after you power up the computer (that's why the lights blink for a moment at that time)- sometimes this is called the POST test. it could be possible that a pci card (like the video or modem or lan card) came loose or maybe a cable came loose inside during a recent moving of the machine (say from one room to another). a temperature sensor could be damaged or failing, causing the computer to think it's overheating. that said, an internal fan (like the cpu fan, or powersupply fan) has stopped turning and the machine powers off to protect the system from overheating.
if you want to risk more damange- crack open the case and watch what happens when you try to power it up - do all the fans turn? do you hear the HD spin-up? do you notice any internal cables loose or unplugged? do any of your PCI cards look like they are coming out of thier sockets (*with the power off* you can push down on all of them to make sure they are seated properly in their sockets)? do the RAM chips look properly fixed in their sockets? if all of the above checks out ok, then you probably do need to bring the computer to a repair shop for them to check out- my guess (if none of the above suggestions yields any fix) is either a BIOS failure or powersupply failure (the fan may still turn, but a component inside may have failed). and ter- there *are* setups where a drive failure of somekind (beyond the actual 'no OS found' error) can force the system to shutdown (like drive armature failures for example- you would *want* the machine to shutdown for this problem so that the drive does not spin, causing more damage - certain Alpha-processor-based machines can do this). usually it's a function of the BIOS or a combo of the HD interface and BIOS. though i do agree it is not a common function in all Pentium/AMD-based motherboards (i think my old Athalon board could do it- i recall a reference to such a feature). | |
"I really do not care what is outside of my computer, I don't know how to GB my computer has, all I care about is how I can use it."~ Me.
All I'm really saying is I havn't really took the time to learn whats IN the computer, I just skipped to the actual computer =) Hmm I really dont want to "crack it open" I think im just gona take it to a repair shop, or a friend. But the STRANGEST thing happened a week ago when I tried it, I couldnt get it to work, plugged it in another socket, tryed it again, didnt work, but then my 1 1/2 year old cousin walked in and SOMEHOW turned it on by pressing in the button, I was like "wtf". lol I could go in and check all of my files, the computer was actually stable, I guess it was something he did. But whats weird is, As SOON as I plug it into the wall it does this, Don't you normally have to "turn the computer on" for it first to check all that stuff? o.0 (Sorry if I didn't note that before) | |
Maybe your computer is set to stayoff after a power failure.
It might have still been on when you switched it off at the plug, so switching it back on at the plug would cause it to imediatly power down. Then, when your cousin switched it on, it powered up normally. | |
No, I've grown used to your personality and I don't have a problem with it. Everybody reacts their own way.
It was bad because a drive failure often does cause a machine to power down. | |
for checking to see if things like fans are moving, then yes you need to turn it on, otherwise you can check cables, and pic card connections without turning it on (in fact you should not have it on then).
as a side note, sometimes you have two pwer buttons, one in the back and one in the front. the one in the back is a 'master' of sorts and is normally left on. the front one is normally used to turn it on/off/standby. i'd check the back one (if you got it) to make sure you didn't flip it off by accident. (happened to me on several occasions) | |
Hazman wrote:
Maybe your computer is set to stayoff after a power failure. Could you rephrase that? | |
Maybe the computer was switched on when it was unplugged. When you switched it on, it 'remembered' to stay switched off so powered down.
Then, when it was next started, it started normally. | |
It could be a short in your power button. Really nothing you can do for free without knowllage of the inner workings of a computer.
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