So I have this computer. It worked just fine for a while. But now it starts up, boots up into Windows just fine. After about 2 minutes or so, the computer will just randomly turn off.

The power light will start blinking, constantly, once a second or so. I hit the power button, nothing happens. I unplug the computer, plug it right back in, still the same problem.

If I unplug the power supply for 10+ seconds, then plug it back in, it will turn on, then immediately turn off even before posting. Light will be blinking blue.

If I leave it unplugged for like an hour, it will boot up into Windows... rinse repeat.

I tried chaning power supply, no good. I don't think its a heat issue, because the system ran just fine for... a good few months with exactly the same stuff. Just as a precaution I did dust the whole case out, even though there wasn't much dust. Didn't help. I reapplied the HFS with arctic silver, no good. Not sure what the heck is going on. Any ideas?

Thanks,
shanepez

LTheobald

Well in cases like this I find trial and error is the best way or sorting things. Try to strip the PC down to the minimum, so CPU, 1 stick of RAM and a graphics card. Nothing else - no sound, no network card etc. Just the basics you'll need to get into Windows. Then see if it does the same thing again. If not, well at least you know it's not some of the cards in your PC.

I'm not that great with hardware so hopefully the others peeps here can help.

cajalat

Excellent starting advise from LTheobald. Also if you can post the specs for each of your computer parts that would be helpful:

- Power Supply Make/Model, Power Rating
- Motherboard Make/Model
-- BIOS Rev
- Memory Size, Make, Model
- Video Make/model
- CPU Specs
- OS Patch Level (for XP)


Casey

shanepez

Hey, thanks for replying so quickly. Here are the specs

CPU: AMD 64 3200+ (socket 754)
Motherboard: MSI K8N Neo Platinum (Rev. 1)
Memory: Corsair 1GB PC3200 (1 Stick)
Video: Rosewill Radeon 9600 256MB AGP
Hard Drive: WD800BB - Western Digital 80GB ATA
Power Supplies tried: Powerlink 400W, L&C 350W.
BIOS: 2.1 (the most up to date version)
OS Patch: Hmm, It has the most up to date patches, SP2, etc.

About the bios, I fried the original bios doing an update, since then I have bought another bios chip, with the newest Bios Rev. Installed, and it worked with the new chip just fine. Just only recently has it started to crap out.

As you might know, the MSI board comes with basically everything onboard, so I don't have anything plugged into the PCI Slots, its basically stripped down as much as possible. I guess I could unplug the fans and the front USB ports though.

I hope this helps, and thanks again!

LTheobald

It's an MSI board That means I can help some more - YAY!

Any chance you have the D-Bracket that came with the motherboard? If you don't know what a D-Bracket is, take a look at the motherboard's page. It's on the left under "Product Accessories". Also here is a picture of it.

Basically you plug this into your motherboard. It has 4 LED's on the back that change as the PC boots up. When it gets stuck on a certain pattern for a long time, you look up that pattern in the motherboard instruction manual and it tells you what's going wrong.

So if you have that it could really, really help.

shanepez

Hmm, I will take a look into that. Where does it plug into? Any USB port? Or a specific port?

shanepez

OMG, check it out, it was the KEYBOARD. I plugged it in upstairs, and it worked just fine, and i was trying to make it crash, but i didn't know how to make it crash.... and i was like "hmm, could it be the hardware?" so i went downstairs, grabbed the keyboard, plugged it in, and the computer shut off automatically.

As a precaution, I tried starting up the computer again, and it wouldn't. I unplugged the computer, plugged it back in, still nothing. Plugged in the original keyboard, worked like a charm. WEIRD>.. never had that before.

arcticdj

Just a precaution in the advice given for future reference about stripping your pc to bare minimums. I did this on the advice of a so-called professional and had to re-activate my copy of windows XP because once it senses drastic changes in your hardware, it will assume that you have put said copy of the windows XP (if that is your OS) onto another computer. Microsoft has it set up this way to defeat piracy.

Rdwall

I have a Dell dimension 2400 it appeared one night I was in the process of using the pc and the power in the house blinked off and then on. Once the power came back on my pc will not boot up, only the power light comes on blinking yellow and there is not fan no noise or nothing. Could some please give tell me what could possibly be wrong.

arcticdj

Hello, Rd, there might be something wrong in your power supply to your computer in which case you can take it to a computer tech to check out the power supply, but first you can do this, unplug the computer and then press the power button a few times, this will clear any of the associated capacitors for the power in case it went into a type of hibernation mode and will not come out, now, plug said computer back in and try it. With that said, if this does not work, take it to a computer place to have it checked out. Call the people at Dell first and give them your problem, they normally have good tech service.