The computer will not power on?
I have an emachine running xp pro. It is on a network and had been working fine. Today I press the power button and nothing happens. Yes it is pluged into a working outlet. I switched out the power supply from a working machine with no luck. Then I tried removing the RAM, still nothing. Hardware is really not my area. Any ideas Experts? Thanks Dale.
try reseating the processor. You probably won't need to remove it, just lay the case on its side (mobo nearest the floor) and push the processor firmly down into the board. Then turn on the PC
When you say nothing, is it proper flat-out, card-carrying nothing? No sounds from the base unit, no display on the screen at all (no change of colour on the power light on the screen - Orange --> Green?)
A bare bones setup of
mobo, cpu, psu all connected
all disks disconnected, ram removed, all PCI/AGP cards removed
should give error beeps on starting up (indicating the missing ram). If so, add the ram one stick at a time, to see if one's bad.
if the barebones above fails, I'd suspect the motherboard. Check the capacitors on the motherboard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Photo-SMDcapacitors.jpg
look for upright cylinders similar to the lower right hand one on the image above.
Are the flat end surfaces of these domed up at all?
We're going through about 2% a WEEK of our Dell Optiplexs with this fault, suffering blown capacitors. Random faults - failure to boot, random crashes in use.
hth,
Danny
When you say nothing, is it proper flat-out, card-carrying nothing? No sounds from the base unit, no display on the screen at all (no change of colour on the power light on the screen - Orange --> Green?)
A bare bones setup of
mobo, cpu, psu all connected
all disks disconnected, ram removed, all PCI/AGP cards removed
should give error beeps on starting up (indicating the missing ram). If so, add the ram one stick at a time, to see if one's bad.
if the barebones above fails, I'd suspect the motherboard. Check the capacitors on the motherboard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Photo-SMDcapacitors.jpg
look for upright cylinders similar to the lower right hand one on the image above.
Are the flat end surfaces of these domed up at all?
We're going through about 2% a WEEK of our Dell Optiplexs with this fault, suffering blown capacitors. Random faults - failure to boot, random crashes in use.
hth,
Danny
All of the above is good advice.
Something else to check for is debris under the m/board, which can cause it to short out to the case. Look for broken standoffs, loose connectors, disengaged screws; etc. And clear any dust buildup.
Something else to check for is debris under the m/board, which can cause it to short out to the case. Look for broken standoffs, loose connectors, disengaged screws; etc. And clear any dust buildup.
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No beeps, no lights, no nothing... can you say dead? Could a bad hard drive cause this? Thanks Dale.
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Ok I have a hd light on the front of the case that was blinking but it has stopped. Have not been able to make it do this again. The capacitors look ok. Removed cards and RAM. Reseated processor, nothing...no beeps or lights. Tried shorting the power terminals on the mb, nothing.
Check the solder points on the motherboard for the component interfaces that stick out of the back. I've now now worked on 2 emachines in the last few weeks where the solder points had snapped there. Both times it was the video interface.
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why thank you kindly.
No LED on the m/board?
Check the power switch: with a known good PSU attached, try shorting the power terminals on the m/board with a small screwdriver. If the cpu fan spins up, the switch is your problem.
If it's still the case that nothing happens, you're probably looking at adead m/board and/or processor.