Lost power now computer problem

[Jagger]

Last night, my house lost power and this morning, power back up. I have two computers and both were on surge protection. One came back up fine this morning. The other computer will start powering up but will not boot up on the monitor. The monitor shows no signal and goes to sleep. Fans come on normally but the fan to the power supply is noticeably very loud. Also the green light comes on the motherboard. The computer is not providing me with any beeps or blinking lights. I have attempted to bring up BIOS to see if the power supply is providing proper power but no luck using the F9 or the escape key. I also unplugged the computer, hit and held the power button on for 30 seconds and tried a restart. Same problem. I pulled out all my RAM and tried a restart. Same problem.

I considered using a multi-meter to test the power supply but it is an HP power supply not using the standard 24 pin connector. And I don't have the background info to test it.

I suspect the power supply because the PS fan goes to high within a minute of power up but I also have suspicions of the motherboard. I paid $150 for it last spring as a used computer because it had windows 10. I use it as my internet computer. My other computer is win 7 and I normally will not use it on the internet. So I can replace the power supply used for around $20 and get my internet computer back running if that is the problem. But it is a wasted $20 if it is the motherboard. If it is the motherboard, I should probably start shopping for another used computer.

Any ideas for narrowing down the problem or are there other possibilities which I haven't thought of?

 

[X71200]

These old machines can be a money pit in such cases, if you have the money to build something at least somewhat modern, let's say Ryzen... do that rather than throwing money into those. Maybe get some UPS as well while at it I say.

 

[Caring1]

Last night, my house lost power and this morning, power back up. I have two computers and both were on surge protection. One came back up fine this morning. The other computer will start powering up but will not boot up on the monitor. The monitor shows no signal and goes to sleep. Fans come on normally but the fan to the power supply is noticeably very loud. Also the green light comes on the motherboard. The computer is not providing me with any beeps or blinking lights. I have attempted to bring up BIOS to see if the power supply is providing proper power but no luck using the F9 or the escape key.

Tried the Delete key?

 

[Hyderz]

i would try taking out the cmos battery and reset the motherboard.
put the battery in after 1 minute and see if you get some post.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

I have attempted to bring up BIOS to see if the power supply is providing proper power but no luck using the F9 or the escape key. I also unplugged the computer, hit and held the power button on for 30 seconds and tried a restart. Same problem. I pulled out all my RAM and tried a restart. Same problem.

is this a laptop? I dont recall any desktop (even HP) using f9 or escape, they all normally use F2 F8 or DELETE. Or is thing really that ancient?

 

[Jagger]

Thanks all. Read everything and just tried resetting the CMOS. Still same problem. Also the monitor is showing no signal and if I remember correctly, a bad video card can cause that problem. So I pulled out the video card and hooked up to the inherent computer video but still same problem. Also tried F2, F8 and delete as I have a desktop with no luck.

Unless someone can think of something else to check, I think it is time to get another power supply. The loud power supply fan within a minute of startup suggests to me overheating in the power supply. I strongly suspect it is bad. Maybe a short or something in the power supply. See if another power supply solves the problem. If it doesn't, I would guess the motherboard is bad. Which means pull out the hard drive to put in my other computer and then start looking for another Win10 computer.

PS: On the UPS. I would need two because my two computers are in different rooms. So maybe $180. Not sure it is worth it considering the low cost of my computers. Also I got my first computer in the mid-80s. I have always had computers since then and often multiple computers. So over the last 35 years or so, this is the first time I have had a serious problem after losing power. Makes me wonder just how big is the risk of damage due to power surge. Maybe the newer computers are more vulnerable than older computers were. Plus I did make a mistake by not unplugging my computers from the wall after the power outage. Apparently there is significant risk of power surge when the power comes back on. So next time I lose power, I will unplug from the wall. Maybe reduce my risk of damage by half.

 

[Jagger]

Put in the replacement power supply today and unfortunately, exactly the same problem. The power supply fan ramps up to max within about a minute. Nothing on the monitor at all. All I can guess is something on the motherboard is pulling a lot of power. Capacitors all look good and I don't see anything with burn marks. LED working on the motherboard. Well it was worth a shot.

 

[Jagger]

Well, pulled out the hard drive and put into my other computer. It is dead. Lesson learned. Next time, I lose power, I will turn off the surge protector and unplug from the wall. Now I am wondering if the graphics card is still good or the RAM.

I wonder why hard drives are not designed for easy recovery of data in the event of failure. I would definitely pay extra for that sort of feature.

 

[Hachi_Roku256563]

its called a backup
there is no real way to save the data if the disk dies

 

[R-T-B]

its called a backup
there is no real way to save the data if the disk dies

You can buy data recovery insurance, but it's pricey and still not a promise.

Just backup your important data.

 

[Hachi_Roku256563]

yeah in most cases make sure its off sight
i had a 12tb backup drive in my pc
and then the psu Exploded in powersurge and took all the drives and backup with them

 

[Jagger]

I have backup and only lost a few items of value but if the hard drive had survived, I would have stuck it in my new computer.

Still haven't checked to see if the video card is still good or the RAM. I will find out when the new computer arrives.

 

[Jagger]

I have been looking into this business of power surges. Turns out power surges can destroy or damage a whole variety of electric and electronic devices within the home in addition to a computer. Fortunately if you own your own home, there is whole house surge protection. Dependent on the cost, I may try out the protection added at both the meter and circuit box. For those interested, here is a youtube on various types of whole house surge protection.