PC Won't Turn On

R

raZer

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I'm trying to revive my old PC so that I can use it as a server.
When I turn on the PC the PSU fan starts spinning and then about a second later it just stops and the computer appears to be turned off, but the green power light at the front is still on.

When I insert the external power supply cable [thick black one with 3 holes] it makes a slight crackling sound.
I would have thought that the power supply is blown, except that after removing all the components except RAM and graphics card, the PC boots up fine and says that it can't find the master drive [since the HDD is disconnected].
Connecting the hard drive or CD-Rom causes the computer to crackle and turn off.

I'm using a 350W power supply and it used to work fine with a lot more components connected to it, so I really don't know what to do.

Any suggestions?
 
Try another power supply... it sounds like its turning off cause it's overloaded... maybe its bust.
 
Thanks for the advice.
My problem is that I don't have a spare power supply, so I'd have to buy one, and it might not work.
Is there any place that I could get a cheap second hand power supply or something? I'm in Jhb.
 
I would test the RAM, graphics card and HDD in another PC just to be sure. A plain old AOpen 350W power supply shouldn't be much more than R300. If it turns out to be the motherboard then at least you'll have everything else and a new PSU that you can trust a bit more than the old one.
 
You could try www.starsun.co.za (011-791-6668 or 011-791-2468) for a secondhand power supply. They are in Randburg. Otherwise www.frontier-electronics.co.za in Linbro Park. Starsun often has some cheap secondhand Chinese ones. I bought a new case from them recently including a (250 or 300W ATX - I can't remember) PSU for R150. Just phone first to see what they have.
 
Unfortunately I can't afford the time to disconnect my current power supply and reconnect it in the other computer.
Does it make sense that the power supply could be causing the problem even though the computer starts up sometimes??
I can't imagine that it's the RAM because it does startup when the RAM is all connected, just not when the CD-Rom or HDD is connected
 
it could be your mobo could be a faulty hdd cd rom

u need to start with one thing at a time though

no point wondering what it could be if its turn out to be power supply :)

changing power supplies will take 5 minutes im sure you can spare the time, its better than paying 200 bucks for a new one only to find the old one is fine but something else is busted
 
Thanks for the link.
I swapped the CD-Rom with an old one and the same thing happened, so I'm pretty sure it's not the hdd or cdrom.
I'll swap the power supplies tomorrow and hopefully then it will work.
Thanks for the help!
 
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