/me thinks my PSU is dying. The other day my PC would only power up as far as the HDDs(which went crazy,)no cd rom, keyboard and no signal to monitor. I fiddled around with the HDD connections and it loaded once but then died after I restarted. The next day it loaded fine. Then a few days ago the power tripped and the PC restarted and again failed to load properly but this time the CD Rom, keyboard came to life but no signal on the monitor. Again I checked all the connections etc and nothing. It just started up on it's own after repeated attempts. Then last night I switched the screen off during a game to answer the phone and when I got back and switched the monitor on the PC died . Same story everything reloaded and it even booted up but no signal to the monitor. Then I unplugged a fan and the CD Rom and it loaded properly. Replugged them in and it loaded. Very strange.
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PC problem
- Thread starter Alan
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Shah33m
Expert Member
maybe some specs and OS will help?
Archer
Honorary Master
Flaky PSU or motherboard. Both can exhibit 'working one day, broken the next' behaviour. Its a sign of how close it is to being completely dead. Although, it may just be the PSU being too old, and not being able to crank out enough juice. But thats really only if you leave your PC on 24/7 and its 3-4 years old in your case.
davemc
Executive Member
My two identical machines, both bought in 2005 started doing this finicky boot carp 3 months ago.
Then the USB ports on the one stopped corking completely, switched to other keyboard and mouse plugs.
Then the screen card started failing to initialise on the other machine.
Then the sound card stopped working on the one with USB port failure.
I am now the proud owner of 2 new machines, which co-incidentally consume 50% of the electricity that the other two used, freeing up a UPS for other stuff, as both can now run on one UPS easily.
i.e. It's just a matter of time before the whole lot gives up, don't spend money trying to troubleshoot this.
Also, I am no longer using the old drives, they really are too damn noisy.
Then the USB ports on the one stopped corking completely, switched to other keyboard and mouse plugs.
Then the screen card started failing to initialise on the other machine.
Then the sound card stopped working on the one with USB port failure.
I am now the proud owner of 2 new machines, which co-incidentally consume 50% of the electricity that the other two used, freeing up a UPS for other stuff, as both can now run on one UPS easily.
i.e. It's just a matter of time before the whole lot gives up, don't spend money trying to troubleshoot this.
Also, I am no longer using the old drives, they really are too damn noisy.
Well the graphics cars is only a year old. I'd like to sell some of the components so obviously I want to rout out the trouble maker
Something else you can check.
Examine the capacitors on the GigaByte motherboard, especially around the CPU area.
If they are swollen or leaking, they could be causing the problem. Take the motherboard to Rectron and they should be able to replace the faulty capacitors. (At least in Cape Town they can ... don't know where you are situated)
I have found once they blow, the IDE/SATA circuitry gets fried and then you can chuck the motherboard away. Before then, it can be repaired.
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unskinnybob
Expert Member
Install a freeware app to monitor voltages on your motherboard and be on the lookout for big dips and spikes. Some tools write lowest and highest values to a log, so after a crash you can investigate. My money would be on the PSU.
ben dover
Senior Member
IMO that 450PSU is probably been drained by that 4850...
Take out the GPU and see if it boots...
Take out the GPU and see if it boots...
cerebus
Honorary Master
I'm almost certain it is the psu. You're pulling near its limit as is, and Aopen isn't like a great brand name to begin with. It's actually quite dangerous to keep running on a faulty power supply. You run the risk of blowing your system.