Happy Thanksgiving to everyone reading this post

Hey folks,

I have a compaq Presario 5000. I have windows Xp on it. Last week I loaded xp and everything worked OK. I shut it down and moved it to a desk where I thought it will be more suitable, plugged in the power cord. It came on for about 3 seconds (without pressing the power button) and then it went off again. I cannot get it back on to save my life. Can anyone help me out?

It sounds like your power supply has failed and needs to be replaced.

Thanks for you help, but that didn't work...

It is possible something has come unseated. Try reseating your RAM and video card, and remove/unplug any nonessential hardware, including hard drives and floppy drives.

Then see if there is any improvement.

Best of luck,
~psi42

Will a bad video card cause a computer to boot up for 3 sec and then shut off? Just curious.

I did what you said PSI, but to no avail...

I appreciate your words of wisdom.

Will a bad video card cause a computer to boot up for 3 sec and then shut off? just curious.


I doubt it, but it's worth a try to remove it and see what happens :)

Don't lose hope, this kind of thing has happened to me before...

Nope that didn't work either. I took everything out and I don't get the beeps either..

If the issue was not the power supply, then it is either that your computer is overheating, which sounds very likely, or your version of Windows is corrupted or worse case scenario, your motherboard has gone bad.

The spectrum is wide, I know, but your description of the problem is not very clear. I am only speaking from the side of a professional troubleshooter and these are the things that I would look into first.

Try resetting the BIOS. Worth a try.

This is a widespread issue with the Presario 5000 line, as demonstrated:

http://www.complaints.com/july2002/complaintoftheday.july11.35.htm
http://www.shearologist.com/mobo.html
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/1,aid,112915,pg,8,00.asp

I have one on the office right now with the same problem and we've had several of these machines in the past. Compaq wants $240 for a replacement motherboard. I recommend calling them up and demanding a free replacement else you'll spread the word about how terrible their computers are.

Whelkman is right. Those 3 sites he listed will tell you the whole story. Check out the PC brand comparison survey results at botom of

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/1,aid,112915,pg,8,00.asp.

Compaq PC has got to be the mother of all mother worst PC.period. And there customer service is just as bad. Even my friend's friend who's a Compaq sales rep/tech says to stay away from compaq PC. Yours best bet is to ditch your compaq PC, because there will sure to be tons more prob down the road, except the HDD, of course. A crashed HDD can still be saved, for example, put it in as a slave drive in another PC. If you are not able to save the data on the HDD, please ask a good tech friend to do it for you. If you still would like to go with brand names, I recommend DELL (they have some local showrooms), or E-machines. Yes, E-machines are inexpensive, but the high price you pay for a compaq PC does not mean quality one single bit. Or if you like to order online, may I suggests some of the places I go to:

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv

http://www.motherboards.com

Htp://www.pricewatch.com

By the way, try unplugging the IDE cables. Imagine my surprise when the unit powers on only when the hard drive is disconnected.

If your unit exhibits this bizarre behavior, perhaps you can kick start it back to life with a peripheral hard drive controller (but your motherboard is still fried).