Computer Problems - PLEASE READ

Let me start a while back. My computer has a difficult time booting up usually.... I'll start it, but nothing happens. The second or third time, usually (more if I have recently moved the computer it seems), I get the "everything is okay" beep, and the computer starts.

Current Problem:
Originated about a week ago.

My computer just shut off... The fans were still spinning, the lights on the hardware was still on, but the monitor was black. The light on the monitor blinked insinuating no input. The fans sounded a bit different I think.

I turned it off (as the power was still running... just no picture or sound), and turned it back on. It stayed on about 5 seconds. I repeated, and it lasted about 10 seconds. I repeated twice, and I got to the logon screen both times.

I took the side panel off the computer... Maybe a heat problem? It booted and stayed on.

The temperature gauge never went about 24C I think, and usually, it was around 20. Because of this, I mentally ruled out temperature problem as the fan previously indicated.

Yesterday, while playing a flash game, my computer did the same thing. The monitor lost signal, the sound went out, and the fans may have sounded a bit different (This may just have been me actually listening to them though...).

I rebooted several times, and I've only gotten about 15 seconds of activity before it goes into hibernation.

Panel on, panel off, blow out dirt, test connections on everything... I don't know what else to do. Anyone have a suggestion, diagnosis, or a guess as to what may be causing the problem? (It's not a virus. Norton and antivirus.com both confirm that.) If you don't know, but you know someone who might, please ask them... This is really important to me...

Thanks.

Heh, well if you've checked all the connections and did everything you said above, I am led to believe it is just an issue with your Monitor. How old is it?

Moved to Help Forum, BTW.

Maybe you should just turn off your entire computer and let your actual monitor cool down for a while. Not sure.

Heh, well if you've checked all the connections and did everything you said above, I am led to believe it is just an issue with your Monitor. How old is it? Moved to Help Forum, BTW. Maybe you should just turn off your entire computer and let your actual monitor cool down for a while. Not sure.

He said that his sound goes out too. So that rules out a monitor problem.

kockblocker1 knows his shit...

Do you have a cable modem pluged onto the same power strip as the rest of the equipment? some modems have been know to cause power problems for PCs suddenly and with no warning.

The fans making a different sound before the system turns off indicate a possible drop in voltage. Could be a power supply that is dieing, or a crappy outlet that has voltage fluctuation. Plug a lamp into the other outlet next to the one that your PC is plugged into. When the pc turns off or the fans start making weird noises see if the light dims. Don’t entirely rule out the heat issue though. You want to constantly monitor your CPU temp (or others too like vid cards or HDs). I use a program called Motherboard monitor. It displays the temp of your CPU in the task bar. You can get it here http://mbm.livewiredev.com/download.html

I had a recent problem with my monitor shutting off and my computer shutting itself down... I checked my connections to find that my power plug was barely in the socket causing the shutdowns and I ran AdAware which fixed the monitor problems.

All the plugs are in fine. I will check the voltage thing...

I cleaned it all out... used an entire can of air, but that didn't help. I'm trying to find somebody in the dorm that will let me borrow their CPU fan to try another fan out. It's spinning a little slow I think, but I'm really just hoping it's something cheap.

Anyway, it's been doing the "hard to turn on" thing for a long time now. You think that may be the power supply too (or possibly the motherboard ) ?

List the specs of your computer including the wattage of the power supply and tell whether or not you overclock or run a lot of stressing stuff on it often.

No overclock. I run Warcraft 3, CS, and recently Lineage 2.

AMD XP 1800 (I think...)
512MB PC3200 DDR (Corsair w/heat spreader)
ATI Radeon 9700 PRO 128
Leadtek nForce 2 Mobo
DVD Drive
CD Burner
80GB Maxtor HD

I think the power supply is 400, but it may be 350. I had a neon light hooked up to it, but the light broke, so...

It's not the outlet, as tested by the lap procedure. I'm going to try to find somebody to let me try their power supply, but no luck yet.

You are prolly right. It is either the Power Supply or the CPU fan. Replace one of them and check it again. I would normally say replace the CPU fan first because its the cheapist part to change, but if you have a spair Power Supply or a CPU fan you can borrow, it doesn't hurt to check both. My bet is that its the Power Supply.

Well, just a quick question. When you said the light broke, do you mean physically or it burned out? If it burned out I think you have your answer there... Power Supply.

If swap CPU fans, be sure to remember to use fresh thermal paste.

I wouldn't recommend swapping a CPU fan because you aren't getting any video...

Smell the vent by your power supply. If it smells like burnt rubber or something similar then it's probably busted.