Why won't computer power up (1 Viewer)

[mylan]

My sister-in-law calls and says that the keyboard stopped responding on her E-machines Windows XP computer so she did what everybody would do in that situation she blew air through an opening in the tower (not sure where) without opening the case and now the tower will not power up at all.
Now she wants me to come fix it but I am no expert with this type of thing, come on guys, hit me with some ideas.

 

[Harold Wazzu]

When she blew air into the tower maybe some freon blew in there as well and shorted out the motherboard? Check the power supply first though.

 

[mylan]

Good suggestion, I do know if she held the can upside down or sideways it does release more of a liquid. If she did this, however, will it require a new motherboard or power supply?

 

[Mike Fassler]

well the only way to tell which one, is to physically test it. sounds more like the mother board than the psu to me thou. ask her, when she tries to power it on do any of the fans or anything turn on? if so you know its not the power supply.
so that with the case side panel off. if she can supply us with anymore info that would help us help you better! hopefully she didnt do it directly into the power supply then you can definately be sure it is or not the psu.

 

[mylan]

Thanks, I will not be going over until tomorrow late or Saturday but i'll try and ask her over the phone, I asked yesterday and her reply was "I don't know". I'll try to pin her down on the exact location of her air blast and get back to you, much appreciated.

 

[Mike Fassler]

your welcome!

 

[Bryan X]

It's probably not the case, but make her check that the power plug is firmly seated into the back of the tower and also in the wall (or surge protecter).

 

[mylan]

Another good idea! Thanks, by the time I get over there i'll look like a freakin expert!

 

[Mike Fassler]

lol, Good Luck, and if you need any more help just let us know

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I guess just cold-booting the thing was out of the question?

She almost certainly blew air in through the fan at the back of the power-supply. Once upon a time someone probably told her that blowing the dust out of the system from time to time is a good idea, so she got the idea that this is a cure-all.

This would support several of the possiblities mentioned above:

1) I have seen power supplies blow out because of this sort of thing. (I know one user who blew several-year's accumulation of dust back into the power supply, basically packing it in there, and when he turned on the PC there was a pop, a spark, and then flames came out of it as the dust caught fire.

2) Since she was probably futzing around in the area of the power supply, there is a very good chance that she simply bumped the modular power cord. Reseating it will probably fix her problem.

3) Again, whatever she did is more likely to have killed the power supply than the mother board. Where liquids are involved I've seen cases where no permanent damage was done and the device returned to normal once the liquid evaporated.

4) While she's at it (or you are) disconnecting and reconnecting the keyboard would probably be a good idea. Odds are the keyboard cable coming loose is what started the whole change of events in the first place. A USB keyboard or mouse that comes loose will generally be recognized and start working again if you simply plug it back in. But this won't work with PS/2 connections. For those devices you need to turn the PC off, reconnect them, then boot again in order for them to work again.

Good luck.

Regards,

Joe

 

[mylan]

Thanks guys, I asked her yesterday to recheck to see if she had pulled the power cord but she said it was snug, also had her to connect it directly to the wall outlet bypassing the UPS to check to see if that was it to no avail. She still wasn't clear on where she blasted air but I told her that she needed to take it to the Geek Squad because I did not want to be responsible for messing something up and losing six months worth of baby pics. I think this will be a lesson for her to back up or at least make prints and get a CD like I do.

 

[nolesrule]

I'm not so sure I'd take it Best Buy:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...d.php?t=235436

Besides, if it is the power supply, that's a 5 minute fix with an extrememly minimal risk of damage to a computer.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I didn't suggest that she check to see if the a/c cord was "snug" at the computer end. I said that she should reseat it - which means physically unplugging it and plugging it back in as far as it will go. I can't tell you how many times users have told me they "checked" the power cord (meaning they looked at it or touched it to see if it moves) and yet when I get there and reseat the cable the computer powers right up. The user is always amazed and insists he or she already exactly the same thing and nothing worked.

The computer is already dead, and therefore useless to her, so it isn't like you can make it any deader. If the problem is the power supply, you really can't hurt hard drive by swapping in a new one, like Joe K. said. And the hard drive is where the data is. Unless she somehow managed to fry that (and the symptoms don't seem to indicate that she has) the data should still be OK. Worst case scenario she could transplant that drive into a new PC or temporarily as a second drive in someone else's PC so that her data could be backed up to CD.

I don't know about the GeekSquad, but I'm sure there are plenty of other local folks who will come in and charge her $75 to $100 in labor, plus $30 to $50 in parts to install a $25 power supply.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Telalun]

There is a little black switch on some power supplies, have her flip it and see if she gets any fan spin when plugging in the power cord.

 

[nolesrule]

In my experience, if you pay $25 for a power supply, don't expect to last more then 3-4 months.

As for me, I generally charge a 5% markup on parts to cover time/gas to do the shopping, and $30-50 for the labor to change out a power supply (depending on how much work it is to dig out and pry open the box).

Once you get the case open, it shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes to change out the power supply.