PC Hardware help !!!

[tintin]

Got home from work last night and 'er indoors' says "don't know what's the matter with that but it's been doing that for the last couple of hours"

It sounded like the fan was 'cycling' (power up then immediately power down , constantly) And the blue illuminated power switch was going on and off in time with the fan.
As far as i can recall the hard drive light was not on at all!

Tried reset (press and hold power button for about 8 seconds usually) nothing happened!
Had to pull the mains lead from the back to turn it off, left it overnight, plugged back in this morning-----Still the same!!

It is a packard bell tower and was bought in dec 2004!

Any help gratefully received as i have my latest estimates and invoices stored on this (move stuff to my external hard drive at the end of each month!)

Thanks in advance

Alan

[J i m s t e r]

Open it and check all the cables are seated properly.
Blow the dust off it. If that doesn't work...

Sounds like PSU is duff.
If not that, motherboard.

2004? Not worth spending money on these days. Just take the hdd out and buy another working system for £50-60.

[tintin]

I think i have a couple of others in the loft!
Will certainly check cables and hoover the dust out tonight!
Is it likely to be the PSU, may have a look at the ones in the loft to see if they are compatible!!
Meanwhile got to go to work, have to look at it later
(and fix her car which also packed up yesterday)

Thanks Jimster

Alan

[BUSHWHACKER]

Internal battery?

[stormforce]

Mother had something similar on her computer just before xmas and the computer was only 18 months old.The mother board had packed in.£130 later and the computer was running again after having it thoroughly checked over ect and new mother board fitted

[J i m s t e r]

Mother had something similar on her computer just before xmas and the computer was only 18 months old.The mother board had packed in.£130 later and the computer was running again after having it thoroughly checked over ect and new mother board fitted

If it's not the PSU, then yeah, that would do it but I reckon his system isn't worth spending £130 on - even if they can source a 2004 motherboard. For that money, he could get a working system with a better spec than his non-runner.

Or am I a DreamKiller (That-Jeep-Story-R)?

[JUDWAK]

Internal battery?

i would say so

for 50p its worth trying

flip out the battery get the new one
before you put it in
hold the on button for 10 seconds to reset the whole thing
pop battery in
then it well ask you to prees del and sort out the time and date in bios
jobs a good un

[marky]

Sounds to me like the PSU but its a PACKARD BELL which Honestly isnt worth repairing!

[dyte]

psu 90% overheating cpu 10% both easy cheap fixs

[tintin]

Thanks for the help guys, tried the battery--no change

So, got a spare pc out of the loft (even older)
I can't tell if the psu's are compatible but they are different (the newer one has a 5" fan built under it and the other has an external 3" fan at the back of the tower)
So do i take both psu's out and see if the ratings are the same or is that highly unlikely?

I thought i would be able to swap the hard drives over to retrieve much needed data, but the leads are different,

Older pc has ribbon connector


And the dead pc has a smaller connector (about 20mm across)


So looks like that idea is out the window!!

Can i gat a cage (???) to make the internal HD into an External (USB) jobby??

Cheers guys, much appreciated

Alan

[JUDWAK]

thats sata your hard drive
the ide on you old board wont work mate

do you run on xp?
xp and sata can be a pain

[tintin]

thats sata your hard drive
the ide on you old board wont work mate

do you run on xp?
xp and sata can be a pain

Yes George both run XP


Alan

[JUDWAK]

dissconect the cd drive and just keep the hard drive connected
and try it again
my old pc did this every other day
there is a way to fix it if you google it
but it never worked for me
i just dissconected the cd

then on boot up go in to bios
and put the booting up order to hard drive only

do you know how to use bios?

[Pelicanbill]

Yes you can remove your existing hard drive and place it in a dedicated container.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/sata-hard-dr...station-222999


So, go grab something similar .. off to mates house ... use their printer and you back in business

[tintin]

dissconect the cd drive and just keep the hard drive connected
and try it again
my old pc did this every other day
there is a way to fix it if you google it
but it never worked for me
i just dissconected the cd

then on boot up go in to bios
and put the booting up order to hard drive only

do you know how to use bios?

Yes, cheers george i'll give it a try.