Strange PC behaviour...

[rajpoot]

The other day I was playing Fallout 3 when all of a sudden my system switched itself off.....not shutting down mind you....it was as if someone pulled the power cable from behind it, one moment I'm blasting away with guns, the next moment all I have is a blank black moniter in front of me.
I checked the power, the plugs, the points everything.
My CPU is certainly getting power, but somehow I cannot seem to switch it on....the on/off button in front does nothing, I even checked the wiring inside to see if the HDD is getting power or not, but I couldn't find anything wrong (though I have to admit I'm far from astute when it comes to the inside of the cabinate)...so far I've refrained from opening a little box inside the cabinate from where all the bunches of wires are coming out because it gives a high voltage caution, and well like I said I'm not very good at it....it just isn't switching on. I'm absolutly stumped.
Any suggestions would be most welcome.
Thank you.

[LeftEyeNine]

After reading the symptoms, I'd be sure to check GPU heat first, then would really be concerned aboutCPU overheating.

Does this happen when your PC is idle ? (e.g. when you're not playing games, encoding a video, anything which pushes your PC to its limits)

[rajpoot]

It has never happened before.....and if it's related to heating, it ought to start once cooled down, no? Unless there is some permanent damage? Oh boy....
Well, anyhow, it's been this way since two days now. Been using a PC at a cyber cafe since.

[Fragony]

Had the same, try a new graphic card worked for me.

[Marius Dynamite]

I had a similar but slightly different problem once. My computer kept switching off as though the power cable was being pulled out. Monitor, Printer, CPU. Every now and again it just went.

As it turned out what was happening was I was pushing the desk back onto the multi-socket adaptor which has a switch on it which cuts the power when flicked. I don't think that helps you though.

I dont know much about this stuff, but if your video card blew then I think your computer would use its very basic card and would still switch on in safety mode. Could it be the Power Supply? I had to get a new one when I got a new Video card because the power rating on my old one was too low.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_power_supply

I think they are pretty cheap so it could be worth buying one and seeing if it works.

[Ramses II CP]

Okay, step one, pretty much every tower ever made has a light that comes on when you push the power button. Does yours still come on? What color is it now (And what color is it normally, green is typical)?

Oh, while we're still at stage one make sure it's not just the monitor. Will the monitor's onboard settings menu come up? When you boot the machine up does it beep, start the fans and HDs, and/or make the Windows startup noise? If you give it enough time to complete a normal boot cycle and then press the Windows key and 's' will it shut down?

[Aemilius Paulus]

Funny, I had the exact same thing happen to me just two hours ago, while I was playing Barbarian Invasion (which I know to be unstable, much unlike RTW). The screen would refuse to turn on but the computer itself, the tower was working as if nothing happen. What I did was simply turn off the power supply and then turn it back on, along with the computer. This is what Windows Error Reporting said:

You received this message because a device driver installed on your computer caused Windows to stop unexpectedly. This type of error is referred to as a "stop error." A stop error requires you to restart your computer.

The solution to this is installing/updating a new device driver.

[TevashSzat]

If above suggestions don't work, your motherboard may be broken, which unless you're fairly competent with computers, is a pain to replace by yourself.

This happened to me once before maybe 2/3 years ago. I would press the power button and saw a green light, but nothing occurred and I could just only hear the fan (I think). Later, I got a friend to check it out for me and yepp, the motherboard was dead. Luckily it was an old one for me since I just got my HD out and bought a new desktop.

[rajpoot]

The light does not come on, there are no beeps, and the monitor is fine, so basically, I'm sure we can narrow down the problem to the tower.
I'll be go to check for a new PSU today. Hopefully that'll be it, because if the graphics card or the motherboard are broken or anything.....well it'll be tough two months for me then.
By the way, I've been working with the this setup since over two months now, that was when I upgraded my graphic card, and it's been working fine.....and one more thing when anything inside the cabinate, like the graphic card, blows off, then it has to make some sound or something....? I mean not even a pop? I would have heard it.....

[Fragony]

Got an old Geforce 4 256 MB lying around, you can have it.

[rajpoot]

Riiight got the thing checked. The PSU is....err...'broken'. So I am ofcourse buying new one. Now the internet suggests going for a Corsair something unit, which would cost around Rs 3000, that'll be say, 60 dollars. Waay out of my budget.....I was thinking something along the lines of 12 dollars, so that when converted into my currency, it's still a affordable sum.....suggestions please.

[Mikeus Caesar]

Riiight got the thing checked. The PSU is....err...'broken'. So I am ofcourse buying new one. Now the internet suggests going for a Corsair something unit, which would cost around Rs 3000, that'll be say, 60 dollars. Waay out of my budget.....I was thinking something along the lines of 12 dollars, so that when converted into my currency, it's still a affordable sum.....suggestions please.

I'm afraid the going price for a PSU is around 60 dollars. You can get them for about $20-25 at the cheapest, but they are not very powerful and of a dubious quality. They are quite likely to break if put under any strain, which would mean buying another one, and spending more money.

If you can wait, i'd recommend saving your money until you can afford a decent one that will last you a long time.

[Ramses II CP]

Yeah, if your tower light doesn't come on that's a fairly reliable sign the PSU is dead. PSUs are not a difficult part to replace, even if you're a tech novice. The first thing to do is figure out what your current PSU is rated; no matter how appealing a cheap PSU is do not buy something that won't provide the power your box needs. As a general rule of thumb I wouldn't spend under $35 on a PSU even if I was on a strict budget. For a standard, modern 500w PSU expect to spend about $55-65 dollars. An unreliable power supply can significantly shorten the lifespan of all your components.

When it comes to actually unplugging the old one and installing the new one, check and double check that your box is unplugged first. And check again.

Then, if you're concerned about keeping track of the connections (And it's really much simpler than it looks) plug the new connectors in as you remove each of the old ones. Make sure none of the cables or unused connectors is brushing against a fan or heatsink before you close the case back up, and then start 'er up. Most PSUs have their own onboard switch to turn them on and off, but IMHO it's preferrable to leave that on and just unplug the thing from the wall as necessary.

[TevashSzat]

Yeah, like Mikeus said above, avoid really cheap PSUs because the odds are that they'll break in a month or two and then you'll have to buy another one again

[LeftEyeNine]

Thermaltake ftw

[Whacker]

india, do NOT skimp on a new power supply. Spend the money and get a good one, getting a cheap one can be disastrous. They make unclean power, are unreliable, and worst they can damage your other expensive components. I'd say $100 is "cheap" for getting a good PSU. PC Power and Cooling is the Lexus. Enermax and Thermaltake are both great also, I have a Thermaltake and it works like a champ.

[rajpoot]

Thanks to everyone who replied. I finally got a new PSU, a Corsair 450 VX. they had to get one shipped specially for me, wasn't even available here. Cost me a hand and a leg, but it's worth it right..........and best of all, I'm finally out of that infernal cyber cafe.

[rajpoot]

A little hitch has come up again, so I would be grateful if the memebers could help a little more, my system is working fine, but for some reason, the clock seems to have resetted itself overnight......and I've had to reconfigure the BIOS setup, which I had done yesterday......can anyone suggest what is happening here?

[Whacker]

A little hitch has come up again, so I would be grateful if the memebers could help a little more, my system is working fine, but for some reason, the clock seems to have resetted itself overnight......and I've had to reconfigure the BIOS setup, which I had done yesterday......can anyone suggest what is happening here?

Did it just happen once? If so then I wouldn't worry about it. If it's repeatedly happening, then you might try to replace the battery on your motherboard, or check to ensure that you don't have the jumper set to clear BIOS.

[rajpoot]

I'll be very grateful if you could explain it a bit more.
It is happening repeatedly. I get a message 'CMOS checksum bad. Date and Time not set.' Then I have the choice to run BIOS and set it or load the default values. I first thought there was something amiss with the system clock in the PSU itself (that oscillating crystal or whatever it's supposed to be), but I'm sure your diagnosis is better.
I'll get the battery checked, but err.....what exactly do you mean when you say 'check to ensure that you don't have the jumper set to clear BIOS.' ?

[LeftEyeNine]

I'm concerned about an erroneusly-written BIOS. I wonder if updating your BIOS would help. Nothing sure here. Consider this as a loud thinking baloon.

[Geezer57]

I'll be very grateful if you could explain it a bit more.
It is happening repeatedly. I get a message 'CMOS checksum bad. Date and Time not set.' Then I have the choice to run BIOS and set it or load the default values. I first thought there was something amiss with the system clock in the PSU itself (that oscillating crystal or whatever it's supposed to be), but I'm sure your diagnosis is better.
I'll get the battery checked, but err.....what exactly do you mean when you say 'check to ensure that you don't have the jumper set to clear BIOS.' ?

I'm concerned about an erroneusly-written BIOS. I wonder if updating your BIOS would help. Nothing sure here. Consider this as a loud thinking baloon.

As long as your machine is running O.K. after you restore the BIOS settings, I wouldn't think you had a bad BIOS flash - those usually screw everything up and the computer won't boot at all. <ask me how I know>

Sounds very much like a motherboard battery gone dead - your symptoms match perfectly. Not expensive or difficult to replace, and can be done by novices, but it would help if you had someone familiar with the work to help.

As far as the jumper set to clear the BIOS, that's pretty straightforward. Almost all motherboards have a 3-pin header on them, with two of the pins covered by a shunt cap (plastic thingy). Normal operation has the cap usually on pins 1 & 2 of the header, with the cap on pins 2 & 3 the BIOS is shorted out (clears it) and the machine won't run. If you haven't been messing around inside, that's probably not the problem, O.K.?