Lost in space
💻 Oldtimer
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2002
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Normally I don't run into a computer problem I can't take care of, but it seems one decided to find one of my computers, and I wasn't there when it happened (that's probably a first).
From the story I got, my sister was playing on the computer, and it suddenly turned off. When I went down to see what was wrong, the computer was on (the lights on the case were, atleast) but I heard no fan and the monitor reported it was receiving no signal.
Now, the thing won't boot, and I'm suspecting the power supply, but the problem is, I don't know if that's all there is to it.
When I try to boot it up, the power supply (fan, I'm assuming) makes a strange, chirping noise, the fan moves a tiny bit (doesn't even make a full rotation), then stops. The computer continues to boot up like normal, going from the scanner starting up, to the floppy drive buzzing, to the single-beep beepcode. However, through all of this, the monitor reports that it is getting no signal, and all cables are connected properly. The processor light sits there blankly, and the back of the case where the power supply is situated heats up very quickly (of course, with no working fan) so I turn it off.
The chirping noise of the fan is the most alarming thing. The computer is one we keep on most of the time, so I don't reboot it much, but I don't recall that ever happening before. At first I hopefully suspected the fan was just clogged with dust, so I opened the case and cleaned it out with a can of compressed air, but that didn't seem to help the situation.
It uses/used a 250-watt power supply, but I don't want to purchase a new one just to find out the entire motherboard is fried. Can anyone throw in some advice?
From the story I got, my sister was playing on the computer, and it suddenly turned off. When I went down to see what was wrong, the computer was on (the lights on the case were, atleast) but I heard no fan and the monitor reported it was receiving no signal.
Now, the thing won't boot, and I'm suspecting the power supply, but the problem is, I don't know if that's all there is to it.
When I try to boot it up, the power supply (fan, I'm assuming) makes a strange, chirping noise, the fan moves a tiny bit (doesn't even make a full rotation), then stops. The computer continues to boot up like normal, going from the scanner starting up, to the floppy drive buzzing, to the single-beep beepcode. However, through all of this, the monitor reports that it is getting no signal, and all cables are connected properly. The processor light sits there blankly, and the back of the case where the power supply is situated heats up very quickly (of course, with no working fan) so I turn it off.
The chirping noise of the fan is the most alarming thing. The computer is one we keep on most of the time, so I don't reboot it much, but I don't recall that ever happening before. At first I hopefully suspected the fan was just clogged with dust, so I opened the case and cleaned it out with a can of compressed air, but that didn't seem to help the situation.
It uses/used a 250-watt power supply, but I don't want to purchase a new one just to find out the entire motherboard is fried. Can anyone throw in some advice?
