Back on the old HP laptop

[Jerry]

Just as I was leaving Xmarks this morning, my monitor popped up a message, saying, "signal lost". A few seconds later, my computer shut down. I unplugged the power cable and turned off the switch on the back of the power supply.Afrer about 5 minutes, I plugged it back in and turned on the power supply switch. The fan on the supply started, and the leds came on. A few seconds later the fan and lights shut off. I cleaned out the computer and power supply. It has been pretty dusty around here with the drought. It had some dust,but not bad since I cleaned everything last month.But that didn't help.I guess the power supply died.(At least I hope it's the supply)

[McMurdo]

Hope you get it figured out, I hate when stuff like this happens, good luck with it.

[Mike1]

Didn't you have trouble with that box a year or so back?

[kennethc]

I had the same problem with a pc a few months back.

A few things you can try.

First unplug the power from the box and the monitor or flat screen, With switch mode power supplys there can be floating voltages.

The ground yourself to discharge static to a water pipe or GND on a electrical device. If you have a wrist strap even better.

Then reseat all cards in system, generally I have seen this problem with the Video card not making proper contact. Also unplug the memory modules ans reseat them. If this fails to work I would suggest to default the Bios, there should be a round battery inside the PC and generally there is a BIOS reset jumper near it, apply this with the power unplugged.

If this does not work I would then suggest to disconect the hard disk (S) from both power and PC, as well as the cd rom and floppy disk drives and all external devices except keyboard and mouse.

If this fails then disconnect the power cable going to the mother board and there is a secondary cable on newer machines. The apply power to the power supply only. Discoonect and reconnect to motherboard and reaply power, try to power up.

If all above fails I have seen where a power switch is stuck or the reset button is stuck you could try disconnecting these headers make sure you know where to reconnect them.

I doubt its power supply as you are getting power up, there is a safty system in the supplies that will not allow them to power up unless there is a voltage back from the mother board.

Are you getting any post beeps when you power up ??

[Jerry]

I had the same problem with a pc a few months back.

A few things you can try.

First unplug the power from the box and the monitor or flat screen, With switch mode power supplys there can be floating voltages.

The ground yourself to discharge static to a water pipe or GND on a electrical device. If you have a wrist strap even better.

Then reseat all cards in system, generally I have seen this problem with the Video card not making proper contact. Also unplug the memory modules ans reseat them. If this fails to work I would suggest to default the Bios, there should be a round battery inside the PC and generally there is a BIOS reset jumper near it, apply this with the power unplugged.

If this does not work I would then suggest to disconect the hard disk (S) from both power and PC, as well as the cd rom and floppy disk drives and all external devices except keyboard and mouse.

If this fails then disconnect the power cable going to the mother board and there is a secondary cable on newer machines. The apply power to the power supply only. Discoonect and reconnect to motherboard and reaply power, try to power up.

If all above fails I have seen where a power switch is stuck or the reset button is stuck you could try disconnecting these headers make sure you know where to reconnect them.

I doubt its power supply as you are getting power up, there is a safty system in the supplies that will not allow them to power up unless there is a voltage back from the mother board.

Are you getting any post beeps when you power up ??

It never gets farenough to post. All that happens is the pwr supfan spins,leds flash and supply shuts down.I will try reseating the boards as well as isolating the supply.

[Jerry]

Didn't you have trouble with that box a year or so back?

Yes, I seemto have pwr supply problems on a regular basis. It could be due to frequent power failures around here. The lights go off two or three times and then stay out. I call Southside Elec CooP and they are back on in less than an hour.

[creativeaccents]

Could be that the leads that provide power to the supply are loose. Could also be that surges have burned out one or more of your ram chips. Last, could be you need to reload some drivers.

[creativeaccents]

Remembered when I went downstairs; check those leads to the fans to assure that they are also tight. Some machines are designed to automatically shut down the power if the fans go out. If the power is hot and the power supply is working then the fans should come on and the boot process begins. Then, unless there is a RAM error or some code has been lost in the boot process, it searches for the drivers. But, from your description, it sounds as though you cannot even get far enough to do a "safe boot" with the F8.

[sorcererdale]

You should purchase a UPS (Universal power Supply) so that if the power goes out the computer still has time to shut down. They also prevent problems from surges or brownouts. Make sure the one you purchase will shut down and restart the computer, and that they will pay if anything happens to your computer from a power problem. I like APC the best.

DALE.

[James MacMillan]

The good news, if there is any, is power supplies have really dropped in price lately. As have hard drives. I now have spairs of each sitting around from old builds.

I'm not sure the cost of a UPS is worth it. However a high quality surge protector sounds mandatory for you. If you are handy with a soldering iron, there are several plans for good ones available that you can make for dirt cheap. I built on out of plans from a Popular Electronics article years ago, and it has weathered many computer upgrades.

Good luck.