PC not starting

Hi all, I'm after the wise wisdom of the tech heads on here. Yesterday my son said his PC started turning off, and when he tried to turn it on it would switch off again. Then he said it wont turn on at all. I looked at it and the side case fan was clogged with fluff so I cleaned it out and I also took off the heat sink fan and cleaned that out. Put it all back together and nothing. There is residual current because all the mother board lights etc are on, but when you turn on the side case fan light comes on and it starts to turn then 1 second later it all stops. Could it be the PSU (power unit) that's buggered.
Any ideas?

That's what it sounds like to me...
Do you have another power supply to test with?

No, well only the one in my PC.

definitely sounds like a power supply problem, especially if you aren't getting any beeps from the motherboard telling you something's wrong

Ok a local disc supplier does PSU's and has two types ATX 400w and ATX 500w. Now I've looked in my sons PC and his is an ATX 450w. Which one do I get? Am I ok with a 500w to replace it?

A 500watt is dewfinately okay.
A 400watt is most likely okay, but it depends on the specs of the computer.
What are the specs?

Go for the 500 if there's not much price difference.

Thats a difficult one as I cant turn it on to look lol. I have no Idea from memory. I was bought off ebay with basic spec, onboard video and audio.

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Originally Posted by SilverDales

Thats a difficult one as I cant turn it on to look lol. I have no Idea from memory. I was bought off ebay with basic spec, onboard video and audio.

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You should use a program like Belarc to see the system spec.'s . Clocker suggested one but can't remember the name .

Here's two free one's . After you get the fuker running again that is . ;)

http://www.alexnolan.net/software/sysspec.htm


http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/...-Advisor.shtml

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Originally Posted by SilverDales

Ok a local disc supplier does PSU's and has two types ATX 400w and ATX 500w. Now I've looked in my sons PC and his is an ATX 450w. Which one do I get? Am I ok with a 500w to replace it?

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The problem with PSUs is that there is no uniform way to compare them.
A Sparkle 350w unit will easily outperform a Bestec/Powmax 500w.
What brand are the power supplies your vendor is hawking?

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Originally Posted by peat moss

You should use a program like Belarc to see the system spec.'s . Clocker suggested one but can't remember the name .

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It's SIW (System Information for Windows).

Ok I have replaced the PSU and it all works fine now. Thanks for all your help guys.

Congrats.

yep psu's dont seem to last as long as they should.

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Originally Posted by SilverDales

Ok I have replaced the PSU and it all works fine now. Thanks for all your help guys.

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Welllll hope the cheque's in the mail . :D

Thanks Clocker . :)

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Originally Posted by boomerang

yep psu's dont seem to last as long as they should.

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Good ones do.