Power Supply issue or more serious?

[Joey Sarks]

So my computer start up has been steadily getting slower and slower this month, sometimes just black screening before log in. Then 2 days ago, i would click the power button and it would flicker amber and then shut back off instantly. Got it working 1 more time and then today I havent been able to get it to turn on at all. I got a steady amber light on the motherboard inside, and the big green light on the backside is on, but absolutely no noise or power when I hit the power button. Anyone know where to start? I've checked the cable and outlet, no luck so far with the basics. Or is this maybe a power supply/motherboard issue?

 

[simon12]

Power supply or motherboard sounds most likely, can you test the power supply with a multimeter?

 

[beanoslim]

Unplug everything that isn't needed to boot and try.

Was the cpu heating up.

Try a different psu or try yours on another machine.

 

[Joey Sarks]

Don't have a multimeter, and I tried unplugging everything that didn't work. Is the next step the multimeter? I looked up dells troubleshooting but its talking bout pulling out the hard drive and memory, which im not too skilled at.

 

[beanoslim]

The simplest and quickest solution is to try your psu on another machine, is that possible?

 

[Joey Sarks]

The simplest and quickest solution is to try your psu on another machine, is that possible?

Yeah ill try it on my friends desktop if he'll let me. That wouldn't mess with his computer at all would it? I'll post again when I get the results.

 

[beanoslim]

Yeah ill try it on my friends desktop if he'll let me. That wouldn't mess with his computer at all would it? I'll post again when I get the results.

I doubt very much if it will cause any problems with your friends rig.
I suppose trying his working psu on yours would basically answer your questions.

If your psu runs his and his doesnt run yours = mobo/cpu
If your psu doesnt run his and his runs yours = psu
If your psu doesnt run his and his doesn't run yours = psu gone an taken out mobo/cpu with it

Check your cpu heatsink paste to make sure it isn't an overheating cpu and re-apply.
http://www.arcticsilver.com/methods.html

 

[Joey Sarks]

Thank you for the replies everyone. A friend's uncle apparently fixes computers in his spare time and said it was the power supply, said its low on watts and he was surprised it even lasted that long. So i'm getting a new power supply, hopefully that'll be the end of it.

 

[beanoslim]

If you list your specs and where you buy from we can rec a few if you like.