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Jan has a HP PC which is only about 14 months old. It's always been eerily quiet, even on boot up. A couple of days ago it's stopped booting and wont boot into widows at all.

The symptoms are when you power up, the fan makes a huge din as though it's in turbo mode and surges quite a lot too. The hard drive light flashes as though it going to boot up and then it suddenly powers down.

I haven't had the cover off yet to investigate, but I'm thinking it's possibly power supply related unless you more knowledgable types have ather ideas what it might be?

Any help/suggestions much appreciated. :)
 
That does sound like a power supply fault. Have you got another PSU you can put in the machine?
 
Ozei said:
That does sound like a power supply fault. Have you got another PSU you can put in the machine?
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Only the one from my own PC. I just recently dumped an old PC which still had the power supply fitted too. :cuckoo:
 
Hmm, you're a bit stuck then. Is there a friendly computer shop nearby? If so, they might be willing to test the HP with a spare PSU.
 
PS. I had a similar thing recently and it was the PSU. Solved it by putting a new one in.
 
I don't have such a friendly shop locally - just the Tech Guys at PC World. :eek:I think No 2 son might have a spare CPU though. Thanks for your help. :thumbs:
 
Ah good, that will prove it one way or the other.

It's easy enough to swap the PSU's - provided the PSU to motherboard connector can be unclipped without taking the CPU and its cooler off (like I had to :bang:).
 
Ozei said:
Ah good, that will prove it one way or the other.

It's easy enough to swap the PSU's - provided the PSU to motherboard connector can be unclipped without taking the CPU and its cooler off (like I had to :bang:).
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Oh dear that sounds like fun! I've changed CPUs before but not had that sort of hassle, although I haven't looked at Jan's machine yet! :gag:
 
CT said:
Oh dear that sounds like fun! I've changed CPUs before but not had that sort of hassle, although I haven't looked at Jan's machine yet! :gag:
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That's good about your experience with CPU's because my humble opinion is that your CPU is knackerred!

I had the same symptoms in a friend's PC and, like others here, thought it was the PSU.

However new PSU and mobo later it was still turboing and nowt else!

Never before heard surging like that from the fans on startup.

A new CPU and all was well.
 
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Before you go replacing stuff, check all connections, reset the bios through removing the battery or check the user manaul, disconnect the hard drive and see if you can get into the bois. Reseat the memory and graphics card (if it's a dedicated one). If all that fails, try removing the power cables for everything other than the essentials (motherboard power connections, graphics card if it needs it). Remove the power cables for CD/DVD/Bluray drives, hard drives, fans etc. and see if it will boot then. Make sure only the mouse, keyboard and display are connected (no usb hds or anything like that)

Does it beep at all?
 
Thanks for the comments folks. No beeps Joe, but I'll check all the points you suggest
 
id also check all vents and the cpu heatsink and see if theyre clogged with dust and that the cpu fan is functioning. it doesnt take long for a cpu to overheat and a thermal shutdown to kick in.
 
if its a power supply issue, your fan will not run, and the hadrd disk lights wont light up. As mentioned previously, open the pc and check all connections, Might just be a power connection issue, then do a bios reset, if that fails, then check the hard drive, then the cpu.
 
Not necessarily Richie. It could be firing up as normal and then due to it being faulty, could be shutting down when under load.

The auto shut off is a classic PSU issue, it kicks in to protect in the event of a short or fault.

I would definitely try the points suggested above. Open it up and give it a clean.
Unplug everything except bare components. Then try it again.
If still a problem, reseat everything if you can.
If it's still falling over, I'd see if I can get hold of a spare PSU.
 
At 14 months old I'd be taking this back to the shop as an HP shouldn't fail this fast. 14 months is pathetic!

Make sure all the vents are clear just in case it is overheating.
 
srichards said:
At 14 months old I'd be taking this back to the shop as an HP shouldn't fail this fast. 14 months is pathetic!
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I tend to agree with those sentiments, but this was bought from PC World and I have got locked into a war with them in the past over statutory rights. They wont budge from their standpoint that they have a 28 day responsibilty to exchange/repair, after which it's down to the manufacturer. We all know that it's wrong, but they wont move on the issue. It's out of manufacturers warranty now in this case anyway,

Thanks for the suggestions folks I'm gonna give it a good clean and check all the connections a little later today as you've suggested. :thumbs:
 
Doesn't matter about the m/f warranty. It still has to be of merchantable quality. I'd still have a word with trading standards. If you go to PC world when it's busy and start talking loudly about how a 14 month old machine failed and they don't want to do anything about it in spite of the law saying they have to it might put others off from buying from them and make you feel better :)
 
srichards said:
Doesn't matter about the m/f warranty. It still has to be of merchantable quality. I'd still have a word with trading standards. If you go to PC world when it's busy and start talking loudly about how a 14 month old machine failed and they don't want to do anything about it in spite of the law saying they have to it might put others off from buying from them and make you feel better :)
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Believe me, I had a stand up row over a similar issue with the manager in a very crowded Currys store (same outfit) on a Saturday. They've obviously got a national policy on this that they're bound to and they're not budging.

I'll see what the actual problem turns out to be first.
 
Could you not claim that it is not fit for purpose. I think those are the words that trading standards use.
 
PPalmer said:
Could you not claim that it is not fit for purpose. I think those are the words that trading standards use.
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I'll see what the fault turns out to be, but you can certainly claim it's not fit for purpose. The fact is though that retailers in this country offer a 12 month manufacturers warranty when they have an obligation which extends far beyond that anyway. Not only that, they get away with pushing extended warranties at you (which I always refuse on principle).

These are huge concerns which wont be short of piles of letters from Trading Standards and solicitors, but they're not changing their stance any time soon.
 
PPalmer said:
Could you not claim that it is not fit for purpose. I think those are the words that trading standards use.
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That's the Sale of Goods Act 1979. It applies only to the retailer - not the manufacturer. The 'sorry mate, it's out of warranty' excuse is irrelevant if the goods are not sufficiently durable - the retailer is still liable to repair or replace (for up to 6 years).

The credit card company (assuming a card was used) can also be held liable under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

Info: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/mobile/magazine/8253915.stm
 
Perhaps a complaint to the Office of Fair Trading might be in order? I think they're the ones with real power to tell a retailer to belt up.

If you paid by credit card you have more power as you could potentially get the cost of any repair refunded from them. That would put pressure on retailers as credit card providers wouldn't stand any nonsense.
 
If it's the PSU (and it probably is) I'd say it's not worth using the Sale of Goods Act since PC World would only put another HP power supply in the machine - and the new one might pack up too. Personally I'd just go and buy a real PSU - something like an OCZ.
 
Ozei said:
If it's the PSU (and it probably is) I'd say it's not worth using the Sale of Goods Act since PC World would only put another HP power supply in the machine - and the new one might pack up too. Personally I'd just go and buy a real PSU - something like an OCZ.
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"At least you didn't say "Get a Mac!" :D

To be fair the other machine is a HP which runs from about 9am till midnight at least (and sometimes much later) every day. It's well over 5 years old and has been bullet proof - I don't think I've had the cover off it since I bought it.
 
Well I'll be blowed1 I just took the cover off with the intention of swapping the power supply from the other PC temporarily, but as soon as the cover was off I could see the problem straight away.

One of the plastic lugs on the heat sync mount (the bit screwed onto the mobo) has broken away with the result that the heat sync and fan were hanging away from the chip! This PC is very rarely moved apart from the occasional dusting underneath it, so I can only assume this has been some weakness in the mount which has finally failed. :shrug:

Looks like I'm gonna get away with a new heat sync - just hope there's no other damage done.
 
Just cheer me up Neil. :D Fair comment though, but I'll take it one step at a time.
 
Darned silly idea to use plastic bits on a hsf mount :bang: - IMO the mounting brackets should be metal, with actual metal screws.
 
Ozei said:
Darned silly idea to use plastic bits on a hsf mount - IMO the mounting brackets should be metal, with actual metal screws.
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first thing i do is throw the standard hsf in the bin and replace it with a bolt through. the last stock inte hsf i tried to use nearly snapped the board it was bending so much.

Mikesphotaes said:
Now, now, it could still be as per my post 9 and that will be 100 points to me;)
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go halves? :D
 
Intel's chief HSF designer:

"I've got this great idea. Let's take the most crucial part of a PC (the HSF mount) and make it out of the weakest material we can find (plastic)".

:cuckoo:
 
I'll count myself lucky - a replacement heat sink bracket and all seems well, Its been up and running for 3 hours now and seems fine. The thermal protection obviously did it's job.

Thanks for the help fellas. :thumbs:
 
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CT said:
I'll count myself lucky - a replacement heat sink bracket and all seems well, Its been up and running for 3 hours now and seems fine. The thermal protection obviously did it's job.

Thanks for the help fellas. :thumbs:
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Very glad it's OK and the whole 20 points to Neil!
 
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