Very serious hardware issue; help!

[blyother]

I have a compaq built computer with 1.53 gh amd athlon processor, 1 gig ddr ram.



This all started about a year ago when I first bought this computer. I bought it at circuit city with no support or warrenty (i know im an idiot).

After about a month it began turning off and restarting in the middle of working with it. For no reason at all it would make a click sound and completely shut off and then restart. This happened occaisonally for about a week. After that it would just shut off and not power back up until i continuously turned it on and off a few times. It was like it wasnt giving off any power to the keyboard or monitor, but the computer was on. Eventually it got to the point where it would never turn completely on. The computer comes on but no power goes to monitor or keyboard.

I figured it may be a bad power supply so i went to staples and bought one and installed it, after which it did nothing to help. same results before and after i put in new power supply. I haven't touched the computer in 7-8 months, but would like to get it running again. Can anyone tell me what could possibly be wrong with it? I would like to know what i should buy to get it going again. I appreciate any help given.

Thanks,
-Bryan

 

[Apokalipse]

it could be RAM, the motherboard, the CPU
also, what PSU did you replace it with?

 

[Nubius]

Have you popped it open to see if it's something as simple as you got a dust bowl in there and it just needs to be cleaned? You'd be surprised how many peoples comps do what you described and it's because of that reason.

That newer PSU would have to have a higher wattage and possibly a stronger +12v line rating otherwise you basically got the same PSU and the computer is using too much power for that PSU to handle.

 

[blyother]

I don't remember what the power supply was called, but i do remember it had higher wattage. when that didnt fix it i just hooked the old one back up and took the new back. if it is using too much power, how do i correct it?

 

[Nubius]

if it is using too much power, how do i correct it?

By getting one that has higher wattage and a better rails...more specifically the +12v rail because that's what the CPU runs off of.

I'd suggest for that computer nothing less than 18a as a +12v rating

 

[Samm]

When you said the computer would come on but no power to monitor or keyboard, I am guessing you mean the keyboard lights don't flash just after turning system on.

if you have no display, no keyboard flash, no beep etc but system is powered up, then this suggests that it's not passing the POST test stage.

Check out what Nubius said about the PSU first but if it looks alright, then open up system & check eveything is seated correctly (ie cables/graphics/ram etc) and clear the bios using the jumper on the mobo.

If none of these things make any difference, then it sounds like it could be a dry joint on the montherboard. You will need to remove the mobo from the case & carefully inspect it for any loose components (eg capacitors etc) & cracks. Remember to wear a static strap, do not touch the contacts on the cards/ram/cpu & handle the mobo as little as possible.

 

[blyother]

thanks for all your help, going to try all this after work tonight, thx!