Dying PC

My son's computer is dying.

It locked up suddenly yesterday while he was browsing the PBS Kids website, which he has done countless number of times. Nothing would revive the computer from its frozen state, so my wife had to do a cold boot.

It took a long time before booting, but it never booted up to even the BIOS screen. The power would come on, with the fans whirling and the lights coming on in the case, but only for 3-5 seconds. Then it would power off on its own, and a few seconds later, the power would cycle on again on its own.

It would keep cycling like this forever until I kept the power button on the case depressed to manually power down the computer.

I thought for sure it's a problem with a dying PSU, so I got a new PSU. I built this system in 2008, so it's been many years after all. I replaced the PSU this evening, and the problem persisted.

Does it mean that I have a dying motherboard?

I am buying a new CPU, motherboard, and memory for this computer.



What do you think of the parts? It's not meant to be a top-of-the-line gaming PC, but a respectable one.

I am keeping the GTX 460, the new PSU, the HDD and DVD drive, and the case.

The power would come on, with the fans whirling and the lights coming on in the case, but only for 3-5 seconds. Then it would power off on its own, and a few seconds later, the power would cycle on again on its own.

The CPU has a temperature sensor, if it detects the temp exceeding the limit, it will shutdown the PC to prevent further damage. Double check if the CPU heatsink somehow got loose.

Thanks for the advice.

But if it were a heating issue, wouldn't it take a while before the CPU heats up? The computer shuts down after 2-3 seconds of powering up, even before POST.

satchmo said:

Thanks for the advice.

But if it were a heating issue, wouldn't it take a while before the CPU heats up? The computer shuts down after 2-3 seconds of powering up, even before POST.

No, the temp of the CPU spike up at boot time and that's why you hear the whirling sound from the fan speed increased.

topgundcp said:

No, the temp of the CPU spike up at boot time and that's why you hear the whirling sound from the fan speed increased.

Thank you again. I learn something new every day. :)

I got it working again!

I pushed down on the CPU heat sink to ensure that it's making good contact with the CPU. I checked all the power connectors again, especially the 4-pin connector to the CPU. I pressed down firmly on all the memory modules. I turned on the computer while the case was open, checking all the fans.

And it just worked! I was so surprised that I couldn't believe it at first.

Thank you!

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to topgundcp again.

Darn!

Question, if this heatsink was in fact possibly loose wouldn't there be then an issue with thermal paste also or it may need to be reapplied now again too?

That's what I thought, so I monitored the CPU temp throughout the day today, and it never exceeded 40 Celsius.

My suspicion is that the PSU was the culprit all along. What I can't explain is why didn't the computer boot normally the first time after I replaced the PSU.

Whatever the cause, the boogeyman is gone. :)