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Crisis averted. Sort of.
18 years ago
General
So I had a boot disk failure on my main machine. (I have 3 computers and a tablet, for those of you keeping score). At least I thought it was a boot disk failure. That's the message I was getting after the machine posted. So I bought a new drive and stuck it in there, then suddenly the computer wouldn't turn on at all. Checked the power switch, checked the connections to the mobo, couldn't figure out what the problem was. But I have resolved one thing - I got an external SATA enclosure and hooked my main drive to it and it seems to work just fine. Whether or not it's still viable as a boot drive is irrelevant as I have another drive to replace it if I need to, the important thing is that all the data is safe, including a color project I was working on for you all, among other critical and not so critical data. Which is a huge relief in any case.
So it seems that the PSU died? Maybe it couldn't give the boot disk enough juice to spin up. Replacing the PSU seems to be the next troubleshooting step. Once I get that machine back online I'll get that pic up for you guys. Commence holding of breath!
So it seems that the PSU died? Maybe it couldn't give the boot disk enough juice to spin up. Replacing the PSU seems to be the next troubleshooting step. Once I get that machine back online I'll get that pic up for you guys. Commence holding of breath!
Thats what it sounds like to me, but I just hope it's not. =oO=
Look over the MoBo.. see if any of the capacitors are showing "bulge" in the tops. Those damned sub-standard caps are a pain in the ass.
(Also, check the BIOS settings for the IDE system... again, just for S&G)
powersupplies rarely go bad the cooling fan IN them yes but rarely the circuts inside
then try swapping out memeory chips i have had this kind of issue and it be a memory chip that has gone bad it will give read errors as the boot goes into memory but then disapears so the system goes duh uh boot error
worst case a bios virus in the motherboards bios chip
I'm goin' with Shujin. Look over your motherboard for popped caps; some might buldge, others might be leaking.
Usually, sometimes with a power supply goes bad, it surges into your system and could also destroy the motherboard. Kinda sucks. Leave your RAM alone, though, that should be okay. Also, any type of 56k modem ya got, take it off. See if that affects anything. It usually dosen't, but I have seen cases where the modem is bad and the simple removal starts a computer up again.
I'm be honestly with ya, most computer problems are pretty unique. It's hard to say for certian what ya can and can't do. Just... Good luck with whatever, yo.