Hello all,

I have bought a new computer and moved my old computer up into the loft. Today I went to fire it up and its dead as a door nail. It was working perfectly fine before. The monitor works and printer etc..

I am wondering if it's too cold for it. The loft at the moment is very cold 1-5 degrees. It also is not currently plugged into a socket. Only when i use it.

Any ideas anyone??

Thanks,

Michael

Hello Saphcasmike,

I don't think there is a "too cold" for PCs really. Does your power supply on that computer have a light that shows if it is on? If it does, is the light on, flashing, or constantly on?

If you don't have a power supply light, then the only thing to do is to get a new power supply to test. I would recommend getting one from a local retailer that has a return policy in case putting the new PSU in doesn't help. If putting in a good PSU doesn't help and the computer is still dead, then I would feel pretty certain that your motherboard is bad. Also, if your old PSU does have a light and it stays solid green and you don't get power, then again it is probably a bad motherboard.

You could also try a different power cable and moving the computer to a different outlet. I doubt that will help, but it's worth a shot. Also check all the connections inside the computer. I doubt moving the computer would have unseated any connections inside, but who knows.

Hope that helps!

I used the power cable off my new PC and it's now back down stairs in room temperature. It's still dead.....

When I press the button on the front, nothing happens??

How much do you think I would looking at for a new supply? It's Packard Bell 1.3 Ghz pentium 4 purchased in 2000.

Is there anyway I can cable it up to my new computer to back up the hard drive as there are impotant documents and family photo's on there??

Thanks.....

Michael.

as you have said it is probably the motherboard or the power supply that is broken.

you can test manually if the motherboard is getting any signal when you press the power on button by following the cables from the front panel and locate where the cable named power switch are connected. unplug it and put a paper clip (or something that leads electricity) to connect the two pins, see if the that helps, if not test the next thing.

you can also start the power supply manualy to see if the motherboard is signaling the power suply to start, locate the end of the cable to the motherboard and connect the green cable to a black by putting a paper clip (or something that leads electricity) in the pin-holes

Hi there, using something to connect the 2 pins on the Pwr On lead is a bad idea.

Power switches are momentary normally open switches meaning they're only closed('connected' if you will, basically they only complete the circuit) for a very small amount of time, bridging the 2 pins would be similar to holding the power switch down. And what would it achieve? I'm doubtful the power switch is broken.

As lyxll said though, you can 'hot wire' it by putting a paperclip between the green wire and any black wire on the 20/22 pin ATX power supply connector (the larger one that connects to the motherboard) make sure everything is unplugged before you do this. If you wish to do the job properly you can buy ATX Power Supply Unit testers that really aren't expensive.

As for connecting up to the new PC, there would be two routes you could go with that, opening both cases and ripping the hard drive out and connecting it as a slave on the new PC. Or (which is the easier though slightly more expensive way) you can buy a 3.5" USB enclosure so you can connect the drive up to the new pc via USB.


Hope this helps

-Lebowski

right, I have taken the power supply out and opened it up and it looks like this,

















Please note the yellow arrow showing a failed capacitor, I think now I am 99% sure it has to be the power supply.

My question is are these still available as the computer is 8 years old?, however I have spent some money on upgrades and would like my children to use it for school.

Thanks......