PC probs

[Ade B]

Evening

One of my PCs - Packard Bell UTOW R10 (PC world jobbie) has konked out after several years of reliable service.

On firing up, fan spins, light at front comes on but HD won't spin (although there is a regular chirrup every second or so from something trying to start).

Nothing on screen at all (screen works and is on, I've checked) .

Putting the HD (Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 160GB) in another PC, it boots up happily so hopefully rules out HD failure.

Suspect the Power Supply (FSP250-60GEN) but why does the main fan fire up?

Three possible causes of failure:
a. recent upgrade of RAM from supplied 512MB to 4GB(ish) - it seemed perfectly happy.
b. me jumping from adjacent window cill after installing a blind and causing floor to vibrate
c. age

I've swapped the old RAM back and symptoms the same. The thing was working fine after my cill jumping shenanigans and shut down as normal but now won't fire up.


Any thoughts.

TIA

Ade

 

[wemorgan]

Can you get it to boot in to BIOS? Usually something like holding down F8 or delete key.

If the HD works in the other PC then at least you'll be able to recover your data off it.

 

[Ade B]

Can you get it to boot in to BIOS? Usually something like holding down F8 or delete key.

If the HD works in the other PC then at least you'll be able to recover your data off it.

Nope, tried that - doesn't even fire up the pre boot screen..

Data is all backed up so no worries there thanks.

Ade

 

[wemorgan]

A pain but you could swap the power supplies over to see if that is at fault.

 

[MercFanUk]

Sounds like the motherboard may have given up the ghost, or possibly (If the HD is making noises - it may still be booting, does it sounds like it's being read as if booting?) that the graphics have gone (Is it on board, or does it have a graphics card?).

 

[Geezer255]

Have you tried reseating the memory and any other cards?

 

[Ade B]

HD doesn't make booting noises, just ticks/ chirrups like it's trying to spin but can't, light flashes at the same time. Think graphics card is separate but need to check - back home now & pc is in office..

Don't really want to swap power supplies if poss as it disables another pc stopping someone working.

Thanks for input

Ade

 

[Ade B]

Have you tried reseating the memory and any other cards?

Yep, & all cables, plugs I could get at

Ade

 

[grober]

Afaik there used to be a sort of handshaking routine between the motherboard and the power supply. When the system boots up the timer chip requires a PS_ON signal from the power supply . In absence of this it continues to reset the processor preventing it from executing the ROM bios code. If the power supply is dodgy in any way this PS_ON signal is not generated so the system doesn't run. Don't know if this applies to the newer systems or not but I suspect it does or a similar safety feature exists. Time to try another power supply as has been suggested. Check carefully you get the right one for the computer since some motherboards/power supply connections are non standard

 

[wemorgan]

If you're thinking of replacing it then Dell have £75 off this PC at £299

Dell Desktop Computer Deals | Dell UK

 

[jaylam]

Take out 1 stick of ram, power it up if its the same put it back and remove another stick. Do this for all of them to eliminate the memory being the problem

 

[Geezer255]

TBH what wemorgan says is gonna be one of the best ideas once you've tried all the obvious things with no luck, for what they charge for a workstation with a flat screen in the business range its just not worth the time and effort to try and fix a machine (especially a packard bell ) lol

 

[Ade B]

TBH what wemorgan says is gonna be one of the best ideas once you've tried all the obvious things with no luck, for what they charge for a workstation with a flat screen in the business range its just not worth the time and effort to try and fix a machine (especially a packard bell ) lol

Point taken on time. I've 3 packard bells in the office, they've been fine until current issue. Biggest issue is the embedded Norton in one of them which even the removal tool won't shift.

Power supplies don't cost much so will attempt a fix as we can manage without it in the short term.

Ade

 

[Dieselman]

I suspect the PSU is going down under load, so it tries to boot but then fails.

 

[bolide]

 

[AMGeed]

Biggest issue is the bedded Norton in one of them which even the removal tool won't shift.
Ade

This one was successful in removing my copy of Norton. The uninstall/add & remove progs utility didn't do it.

Download Norton Removal Tool 2010.0.0.98 - A program that can remove some Norton software from your computer - Softpedia

 

[agatward]

Sounds like a dead motherboard or dead PSU.

You could try unplugging the data cable from the hard drive while it's in the Packard Bell machine. The motherboard will send reset signals as part of the initialisation process - if your motherboard is shonked and never completing this process then you would get the symptom you describe.

PSUs are cheap and in Packard Hell machines < 5 years old are usually standard parts rather than being a custom form factor. Motherboards may not be standard form factor in these machines, so the previous post about a new Dell should look promising at that point!