So I got a computer today from a collegue and he told me next: I was working on the computer, just some reports, when all of a sudden computer shut down, and it wasn’t possible anymore to start it up.
So I thought of a harddrive crash.
When you startup the computer, you can see the startupscreen for selecting BIOS, but just when he wants to start Windows, computer shuts down.
So I detached the harddrive from the computer and I could access all the files and everything seemed to work fine.
Now I tried to use the computer and attached the power supply of the harddrive onto the computer, and attached the harddrive as slave to my laptop, to see if that works.
So I powered on the computer, got power supply on the harddrive. But then after half a minute (same time-interval as when the drive is attached to the computer normally) computer shuts down again…
Any idea what this could cause and what the solution is for that??
This doesn’t make sense. If you disconnected the hard drive from the computer, how did you boot the computer and what/where are the files you say you could access?
Are you sure the harddrive is a slave to your master drive? Better check again the connections. And the booting sequence in order that your master drive will be the first boot drive?
This doesn’t make sense. If you disconnected the hard drive from the computer, how did you boot the computer and what/where are the files you say you could access?
I attached him as USB-drive onto my laptop, sorry forgot to mention that… I have a device that transforms hard drives into USB-drives. But I lost the IDE to Sata cable which had to give power to the harddrive before attaching it to my laptop. So I used the cable that is built in in the computer for the powersupply. So actually I onlyu used the computer as power supply to attach it to my laptop
Are you sure the harddrive is a slave to your master drive? Better check again the connections. And the booting sequence in order that your master drive will be the first boot drive?
The harddrive wasn’t attached to the computer when testing it. It was attached to my laptop, and then I could access all the files.So there couldn’t be a master or slave on the computer itself, because I tested it on my laptop…
After 30 seconds or so, the power supply(thus the computer itself) shut down as I said before. All this makes me think that there isn’t really a problem with the harddrive, but I don’t know where/when/how…
If you have another PC, attach the hard drive to the power supply of that one. If it also shuts down there’s a problem with the hard drive. If it doesn’t shut down there is a problem with the PSU of the PC.
I’d agree with that as the first thing to check. Our old PC took to suddenly shutting down for no obvious reason, and over-heating turned out to be the cause.
Just got confirmation that it isn’t the harddrive.
Attached it as master on my other computer and Vista starts up with no problem!
So there has to be a problem with the powersupply.
Both of the fans are cleaned and work.
Tried to boot from cd, and same problem: shutting down after couple of seconds… BTW: he shut down aswell after ten seconds, so doesn’t matter when, AND when he shut down both of the fans were spinning. It’s like allof a sudden, computer doesn’t get any power anymore…
No loose connections on first sight… Tested with 2 different powercables, I find it strange that he does startup, and after a while (I noticed that the longer you don’t touch the computer he stays powered on for a few seconds longer then when you start him up 3 times in a row…
It gives the impression he gets to hot or something like that, but the fans work…
I did hear a small “tick” just before he shuts down.
When we had that problem, the fans were working but the processor was covered in dust which was effectively insulating it and preventing cooling. If you do still think the problem is overheating, you could check by waiting until the power cuts out, then opening the box straight away to feel the temperature and see if anything seems too hot. That might help narrow down the problem.
Well I think it’s the powersupply that needs to be replaced…
Attached motherbord and harddrive to the powersupply of my own computer. And it worked, I didn’t get image because I didn’t attach the graphics card, but at least computer stayed powered on…
So no motherboard problem, nor harddrive, so it has to be the powersupply .
Have any upgrades been made to the computer around the time the trouble started? If so it’s possible that the current set-up is trying to draw more power then the PSU can supply so possibly triggering it to cut out.
