- Mar 26, 2009
- 7
- 0
- 18,510
Hello,
I have a spare computer nearly identical to the one I'm using now (HP pavilion 552W). It's a HP Pavilion 533W. I've used it for about 5 months with no problem until it decides to start shutting down randomly. I thought that maybe there was some weird virus so I formatted and attempted to reinstall Windows. I needed to change the boot order in the BIOS to check the optical drive first.
As soon as I enter the BIOS, 3-4 seconds later the computer shuts itself off. The screen goes black, the fans stop spinning, but the weird thing is the hard drive is still spinning. The computer refuses to restart until I hold the power button down for 2-3 seconds until the hard drive stops spinning. I've tried unplugging the hard drive, and it will sit there with the no OS error idling happily. But it still crashes if I try to make it into the BIOS with no HD connected.
After several agonizing weeks, I've managed to memorize the series of keys to press to get the optical drive in first place before it shuts down on me. It accepts the installation disk, and will get about half way through setup before dying as usual. I'm at a loss. I've tried using a boot disk, and of course it powers down like always. But the odd thing is, that IF I have the hard drive plugged in, it keeps spinning. That, and the PSU fan. Everything else shuts off.
I've tried switching out power supplies, I don't believe it's suffering from an overheating problem, as I don't have any other hardware connected to it other than what came stock inside it, and there's not a spec of dust in it. I've tried re-seating the RAM, I've made sure all connections are tight.
Someone told me that the processor might be overheating, so I put on fresh thermal grease to no avail.
Specs,
I'm trying to install an OS
HP Pavilion 533W
Intel Pentium 4 @ 2000 MHz
RAM 256
Thank you.
I have a spare computer nearly identical to the one I'm using now (HP pavilion 552W). It's a HP Pavilion 533W. I've used it for about 5 months with no problem until it decides to start shutting down randomly. I thought that maybe there was some weird virus so I formatted and attempted to reinstall Windows. I needed to change the boot order in the BIOS to check the optical drive first.
As soon as I enter the BIOS, 3-4 seconds later the computer shuts itself off. The screen goes black, the fans stop spinning, but the weird thing is the hard drive is still spinning. The computer refuses to restart until I hold the power button down for 2-3 seconds until the hard drive stops spinning. I've tried unplugging the hard drive, and it will sit there with the no OS error idling happily. But it still crashes if I try to make it into the BIOS with no HD connected.
After several agonizing weeks, I've managed to memorize the series of keys to press to get the optical drive in first place before it shuts down on me. It accepts the installation disk, and will get about half way through setup before dying as usual. I'm at a loss. I've tried using a boot disk, and of course it powers down like always. But the odd thing is, that IF I have the hard drive plugged in, it keeps spinning. That, and the PSU fan. Everything else shuts off.
I've tried switching out power supplies, I don't believe it's suffering from an overheating problem, as I don't have any other hardware connected to it other than what came stock inside it, and there's not a spec of dust in it. I've tried re-seating the RAM, I've made sure all connections are tight.
Someone told me that the processor might be overheating, so I put on fresh thermal grease to no avail.
Specs,
I'm trying to install an OS
HP Pavilion 533W
Intel Pentium 4 @ 2000 MHz
RAM 256
Thank you.
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