Unplug Everything to Turn On Computer?

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tavilach

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My old HP Pavilion has been freaking out for months. This used to be a minor problem, though, but now it's truly disturbing...

Basically, oftentimes when I turn on my computer, the light on the power button flashes green for one second and then simply goes black again, and the computer never even attempts to start up. After it would flash, the power button would become unusable, and the computer just couldn't be turned on! I randomly tried to fix it, and I soon discovered that if I unplugged a bunch of plugs on my surge protector, and then plugged them back in, the computer would eventually start back up (I sometimes had to do this 3 or 4 times, though)...and I have no idea why. I thought it might just be the power plug, but many times I had to unplug more than just that (telephone plug, monitor plug...you know, all of 'em).

I have to basically do this everyday now (turn on computer, let it flash, then turn off surge, unplug everything, replug everything, turn on surge, then turn on computer), and it's really annoying.

Any ideas?
 
either your surge protector is bad or the power supply, i would plug the computer directly into the wall and see if that helps, if not it could be your PSU
 
I've never seen or used a power supply (well, my computer has, but not me personally)...where do I get one? What exactly does it do?
 
First I would open your case, unplug all the wires that go from your PSU (power supply) to your drives and mobo.

Then you look on the back of your computer, there should be 4 screws holding your psu in place. Unscrew them and pull the psu out from the inside of your computer.

Now, the important part, since you say your HP is old, how old is it? If it's real old you could have an old AT type connector for your mobo. There should be a sticker saying if it's AT or ATX. Then you go get a powersupply. They are all the same size (unless your pulling it from a micro case, if that was the case your tower would be real small).

Just pick up a 300w one. They are cheap and you can use it later if need be.
 
It's a 3 year old HP Pavilion 8390, just for the record.

And I don't understand what you mean by unplugging the wires that go from the PSU to my drives and mobo. I am assuming that a mobo is a motherboard, hehe.

I am an extremely fast learner, but I've never had hardware experience, so I simply know very little about this stuff.
 
You'll have a bunch of wires that come out of your power supply. One will go to your hard drive, one to your floppy drive, one to your cdrom and one to your mobo (yes, motherboard). Unplug all of them. Then unscrew the 4 screws and take out the PSU.
 
did you try plugging it in directly to a wall outlet instead of the surge protector like he asked you?

if his computer is 3 years old its most likely an ATX power supply. if you're not sure whether it is a micro or regular size power supply just bring it to the computer store and the tech will be happy to find you a replacement.
 
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