PC won't boot anymore

[janthrey]

Pls. help.

I've just came from overseas training last July and I arrived here in our country last week. I found out that my 5-year old PC (Intel P4 3Ghz single core) doesn't boot anymore since August of this year. I just pulled out the motherboard last week for cleaning (I use distilled water and alcohol). I dried it already but until now it still cannot start. I already check the cablings if it's loose or not intact and also if it's correctly in-place. I found nothing wrong for it but I can't figure out the cause of the problem. The PC had a 3-yr old PSU.

I appreciate any help/suggestions.
Thanks in advance.

 

[technojunkie180]

Want to give us the names of the parts you have? That'll be the first step in troubleshooting whats wrong.

 

[don256us]

On older hardware like yours, the first thing that I would look at is the capacitors. Look to see if any are bulging or leaking. The tops should be flat and there should be no goo on the top or bottom. If you find that the caps are bulging, then they are bad and need to be replaced. Replacement caps are easy to find on eBay for about $8 shipped for a pack of 5. Make sure you get the same ratings that you need to replace.

*edit* Welcome to the Forums!

 

[janthrey]

Hello technojunkie,
Sorry for the late reply, fyi this is my old PC specs:

Mobo-AsRock P4 combo
CPU- Intel P4 64-bit 3GHz
GPU- ATI Radeon X1650 512Mb (AGP)
RAM1-1Gb Kingston (DDR400/PC3200)
RAM2-512Mb generic (DDR400/PC3200)
PSU- Task 450W
HDD1-Samsung 80Gb (IDE)
HDD2-WD 80Gb (SATA)
OS- Windows XP SP2

Wish you the best for the new year!

 

[janthrey]

Hi don256us,

Thanks for ur reply and sorry for this late reply.

I've check evrything on my mobo while I'm cleaning it. Fortunately, there's
nothing yet of its capacitors that are bulging or leaking. It just can't boot.
The PSU is running when you boot it up, but it last only for 5-10 seconds
then it will turned off automatically. I noticed also that my cooling fan is not
pasted well (loose) on the processor because one of its screws are already
damage.

Thanks for welcoming me. Happy new year!

 

[RollingThunder]

Hi don256us,

Thanks for ur reply and sorry for this late reply.

I've check evrything on my mobo while I'm cleaning it. Fortunately, there's
nothing yet of its capacitors that are bulging or leaking. It just can't boot.
The PSU is running when you boot it up, but it last only for 5-10 seconds
then it will turned off automatically. I noticed also that my cooling fan is not
pasted well (loose) on the processor because one of its screws are already
damage.

Thanks for welcoming me. Happy new year!

Jan,

Bad contact of your CPU cooler/fan will lead to overheating real fast and a shutdown. Remove it, clean, reapply Arctic Silver and reseat it carefully to potentially eliminate it as a problem if the screws permit.

 

[janthrey]

RT,

Thanks for this. I would try it right away after my work is finished.
I would buy a thermal grease and a new heatsink.
I'll keep u posted. Happy new year!

 

[janthrey]

Hi RollingThunder,

You're very right, I changed my heatsink and now my PC is working good.
The only problem is that it produced no sound at all. I already check my
desktop speakers and I tested its working because I tried it to a CD/Mp3 player.
I uninstall my soundcard software and re-install it again... Windows cannot see
any problem at all but it can't produce any sounds.

Maybe u can advise me of what to do again. Thanks for your patience.

 

[RollingThunder]

Hi RollingThunder,

You're very right, I changed my heatsink and now my PC is working good.
The only problem is that it produced no sound at all. I already check my
desktop speakers and I tested its working because I tried it to a CD/Mp3 player.
I uninstall my soundcard software and re-install it again... Windows cannot see
any problem at all but it can't produce any sounds.

Maybe u can advise me of what to do again. Thanks for your patience.

Jan,

Has anyone used it while you were away? Look for the obvious. Is it plugged in correctly? Is the volume turned up? Is there more than one place controlling the volume?

 

[janthrey]

RT,

Thanks 4 ur reply. I've exhausted evrything. I've check my speakers using a CD Player and it's running (good sounds!). I've test it using DirectX, I tried reinstalling/uninstalling different versions of the audio software (C-Media AC97) and hadn't encountered any problems during installations. I also used diff. software to test it, esp. SounChk and it found nothing wrong. I used diff. audio/video player (WinAmp, VLC, RealPlayer, QuickTime, WMP). The soundcard is built-in in the mobo. Maybe it would the socket for the line in and out is the real culprit. It is advisable to remove it from the mobo and change it with a new one (the component where there is a blue, green and pink socket for sounds)? Thanks very much again.