PC problems after power surge

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  • garymce
    Newbie
    • Jun 2009
    • 11
    #1

    PC problems after power surge

    My friend's PC is having some major problems after a power surge on Wednesday. The PC refused to start at all after the surge. We firstly checked the power socket to make sure it wasn't just that, everything else we connected was working fine. The fuse in the power cable was fine also, and we tried a couple other power cables to be sure.

    I took it home with me and tried swapping the power supply with two spare ones I had, they're all providing 400W of power to the PC.

    When I swapped the original power supply out, the computer started up for about two seconds before abruptly powering off again, so we've at least determined his power supply was broke. After the abrupt shutdown, the computer wouldn't start again until the power cord was unplugged from the PSU for about ten seconds.

    Next we tried removing the power cable from his DVD drive, and this allowed the computer to very slowly load Windows XP. However, the user profile has apparently been corrupted, and in System Properties the memory is only showing 192MB which isn't right either.

    I'm assuming that his motherboard's been damaged by the power surge but I was hoping to get some other opinions in case I'm wrong or anyone has any advice.

    Thanks
    -Gary
    Tags: None
    • cunny
      V.I.P. Member
      • Jan 2009
      • 4915
      #2
      Originally posted by garymce
      My friend's PC is having some major problems after a power surge on Wednesday. The PC refused to start at all after the surge. We firstly checked the power socket to make sure it wasn't just that, everything else we connected was working fine. The fuse in the power cable was fine also, and we tried a couple other power cables to be sure.

      I took it home with me and tried swapping the power supply with two spare ones I had, they're all providing 400W of power to the PC.

      When I swapped the original power supply out, the computer started up for about two seconds before abruptly powering off again, so we've at least determined his power supply was broke. After the abrupt shutdown, the computer wouldn't start again until the power cord was unplugged from the PSU for about ten seconds.

      Next we tried removing the power cable from his DVD drive, and this allowed the computer to very slowly load Windows XP. However, the user profile has apparently been corrupted, and in System Properties the memory is only showing 192MB which isn't right either.

      I'm assuming that his motherboard's been damaged by the power surge but I was hoping to get some other opinions in case I'm wrong or anyone has any advice.

      Thanks
      -Gary
      Disconnect everything but the RAM/CPU/Graphics adapter. If 2+ dimms of ram, remove all but 1 dimm.
      Remove Battery from board for 10 mins. Replace and retry.

      Hopefully you will be able to get into the bios from there and see the BIOS POST messages.
      If no fans kick in/no power led on board, try other PSU. If that PSU was fiine, no power LED on board then chances are the board is fried.

      If psu was dead when the system got to you, chances are that the motherboard went too.
      sigpic

      "Make it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot."

        Comment

        • sattboy
          Member
          • Mar 2009
          • 84
          #3
          Originally posted by garymce
          My friend's PC is having some major problems after a power surge on Wednesday. The PC refused to start at all after the surge. We firstly checked the power socket to make sure it wasn't just that, everything else we connected was working fine. The fuse in the power cable was fine also, and we tried a couple other power cables to be sure.

          I took it home with me and tried swapping the power supply with two spare ones I had, they're all providing 400W of power to the PC.

          When I swapped the original power supply out, the computer started up for about two seconds before abruptly powering off again, so we've at least determined his power supply was broke. After the abrupt shutdown, the computer wouldn't start again until the power cord was unplugged from the PSU for about ten seconds.

          Next we tried removing the power cable from his DVD drive, and this allowed the computer to very slowly load Windows XP. However, the user profile has apparently been corrupted, and in System Properties the memory is only showing 192MB which isn't right either.

          I'm assuming that his motherboard's been damaged by the power surge but I was hoping to get some other opinions in case I'm wrong or anyone has any advice.

          Thanks
          -Gary
          you should always juice ya pc up with an anti surge protection plug train

            Comment

            • garymce
              Newbie
              • Jun 2009
              • 11
              #4
              Originally posted by sattboy
              you should always juice ya pc up with an anti surge protection plug train
              Yeah, I've told him to get one of those next time :-p It was just a standard power strip he was using but it seems only his PC was affected by the surge, his router/monitor/speakers all work fine when I tried them.

              I'll try the things you've suggested, thanks for the advice

                Comment

                • cactikid
                  V.I.P. Member
                  • Sep 2008
                  • 12017
                  #5
                  not just the pc needing protection,every body forgets the tv system also need protection.

                    Comment

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