Power supply problem?

[Coyote2404]

Hi everyone. I am new at this, so be gentle. Anyway, I came home from work today and my computer was turned off. My roommate said that we had a power outage today. Well, I tried booting my computer, but it said that Windows was unsuccessful. Try starting Windows normally, in safe mode, etc. Anyway, I kept trying to boot normally, but I was not getting anywhere. I also started Windows from an earlier point. I did not get any beeps or anything when my computer started. After a couple of tries, my computer started Windows. I'm not sure if it is the PSU or the motherboard, or something else. Any help here is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Liz

 

[L0tus]

Yeah it's either the motherboard or PSU (I suspect the latter).

Send it to a technitian to figure out which one (it shouldn't be expensive since he/she'll just be diagnosing between the two).

Just note that if it is indeed the motherboard, you'll have to buy a new one which will mean reformatting your hard drive...so back that data up!


...of course I could be wrong and it could just be some temporary software irregularity... but I just thought I should give you the worst-case scenario

 

[Coyote2404]

Thank you very much! I really appreciate it.

 

[jjr120]

It could very well be either, but I've seen those exact symptoms on a lot of systems with bad capacitors on the MB. I'd open the case and take a look just to make sure you don't have any swollen caps or any fluid/dried crust on any of them, especially those closest to the CPU socket and voltage regulator.

If it does turn out that it's the PSU, make sure you get a good quality unit. The sub-$50 models are often more trouble than they're worth. Pretty much anything that you see reviewed on the hardware site should work.