Old Pentium 4 PC Working Intermittently

[takuma2004]

Hi everybody

I've got an old Pentium 4 PC as a backup which is working intermittently.

The PC works fine for a couple of minutes and then suddenly turns itself off. When you turn it back on, the screen doesn't come on.

At times it doesn't work at all. There would be nothing on the screen.

All the lights are lit (Power, HDD, DVD/CD Drive). The fans seem to be running fine.

I've tried it with a different monitor so I know it's definitely not that.

I've reseated pretty much everything e.g. Processor, Heatsink, RAM, Hard Drive, and all the cables but it made no difference.

The PC is only using one Memory (RAM) stick so I can't test it to see if it's the RAM that's faulty.

I'm not sure whether it's the Motherboard, RAM, Processor or PSU that's causing it not to work.

Any suggestions?

 

[Unolocogringo]

Probably Bad capicitors.
Check the mothrboard for swollen ,bulged or leaking caps.
Do a google search for "BAD CAPS and click on images to see a pic.

 

[jb6684]

Download SpeedFan and check your CPU temperature....

When you say you "reseated" your CPU & Heatsink, did you:
- remove the heatsink
- clean all the dust off of it (cans of compressed air work great)
- clean the grey silicon paste off the base of the heat sink & top of CPU
- re-apply a pea size drop of new silicon paste
- re-install the heat sink to the top of the processor?

For detail Google for a video ....

I have had older systems die a few times. It's usually the power supply. In most off the shelf systems, Dell, Gateway, HP, Compaq... they use a very small supply, 200watts to 300watts. With age, all supplies get weaker (capacitors age...) Then, after 3--5 years, they just won't power your system reliably....

BUT, I had one that drove me crazy for awhile. I swapped and changed everything....(RAM, power supply, cleaned, reseated...) Turns out, I simply re-installed the operating system and it was fine for several more years.

NOTE: you can try it on your old HD if there's no data you want to keep on the disk. Or, just get a new drive, you can find a nice Western Digital for $30. Then you can move over your old data, AND, drives typically last only 4-5 years so, why re-build the operating system on something so old?

 

[takuma2004]

Probably Bad capicitors.
Check the mothrboard for swollen ,bulged or leaking caps.
Do a google search for "BAD CAPS and click on images to see a pic.

I can't see any swollen ,bulged or leaking caps. All caps seem to be fine.

The motherboard light is always lit even when there's nothing on the screen. Does that mean the motherboard is ok?

Download SpeedFan and check your CPU temperature....

When you say you "reseated" your CPU & Heatsink, did you:
- remove the heatsink
- clean all the dust off of it (cans of compressed air work great)
- clean the grey silicon paste off the base of the heat sink & top of CPU
- re-apply a pea size drop of new silicon paste
- re-install the heat sink to the top of the processor?

For detail Google for a video ....

I have had older systems die a few times. It's usually the power supply. In most off the shelf systems, Dell, Gateway, HP, Compaq... they use a very small supply, 200watts to 300watts. With age, all supplies get weaker (capacitors age...) Then, after 3--5 years, they just won't power your system reliably....

BUT, I had one that drove me crazy for awhile. I swapped and changed everything....(RAM, power supply, cleaned, reseated...) Turns out, I simply re-installed the operating system and it was fine for several more years.

NOTE: you can try it on your old HD if there's no data you want to keep on the disk. Or, just get a new drive, you can find a nice Western Digital for $30. Then you can move over your old data, AND, drives typically last only 4-5 years so, why re-build the operating system on something so old?

It's not even lasting a minute now so it doesn't give me the chance to download Speedfan and check the CPU temperature.

The PC is using a PSU of 250 watts.

I'm not sure which specific component is failing. Is it most likely to be the PSU?

 

[jb6684]

There is usually a GREEN LED on the motherboard, its a Standby power light. If the system is plugged into the wall, and the power switch on the supply is in the ON position it should be lite. The computer does NOT have to be running.

Well, ask I'd mentioned, it is one of the first components to go..... I'd buy a 350 watt supply. Connect it up and try the system. (a cheap one goes for $20...)

 

[jb6684]

Oh, don't worry that it's not "250watts".... a larger supply will not cause any problems. So, anything about 350watts would be my recommendation.....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817822005

 

[takuma2004]

There is usually a GREEN LED on the motherboard, its a Standby power light. If the system is plugged into the wall, and the power switch on the supply is in the ON position it should be lite. The computer does NOT have to be running.

Well, ask I'd mentioned, it is one of the first components to go..... I'd buy a 350 watt supply. Connect it up and try the system. (a cheap one goes for $20...)

The GREEN LED on the Motherboard is lit. Does that mean the Motherboard is OK?

I've reformatted the hard drive on a different machine. The hard drive is working fine however when I tried it on this machine it wouldn't show anything on the screen. It seems like the Hard Drive is OK as it worked fine on a different machine.

I've also tried the Power Supply on a different machine and it works fine.

I guess it's either the RAM, Processor or the Motherboard. Unfortunately I don't have another memory (RAM) stick that I could try.

Which component would you suggest replacing first?

 

[jb6684]

The GREEN LED just means the power supply can supply stand by power.....

Assuming you have two sticks of RAM, you can try to run with just One stick of RAM.. If that does no good, try running with the other stick alone.....

Beyond that I wouldn't recommend investing any money in a older Pentium 4 system. Very hard to find the parts, and, if you can they charge as much or more than faster new parts that replaced them.....

Don't know your budget but you can get a modern CPU/MB/and RAM for $150--$200......

 

[cpatel1987]

Hmm any sort of diagnostic beeps from the motherboard?

If not, buy a stick of RAM and a replacement PSU from your store of choice (with a non-stocking fee return policy) and go from there. Try the RAM first (easiest to take out), then the PSU. Replacing anything else to revive it is not worth the cost. If data is a concern, put the hard drive in an enclosure and transfer your files. As jb6684 stated, you can get bundle deals on motherboards and processors for fairly cheap. ESPECIALLY if you live near a MicroCenter, I think they are still doing that buy a certain AMD processor and get the mobo for free deal: http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.html. OEM Windows 7 is $100, so looking at $200 minimum.

If your not comfortable doing that, good replacement desktops range from $400 up depending on specs. Since it sounds like your backup, you probably might not want to invest too much in it anyway.