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Question

PC will not power up

Jan 22, 2014 4:47PM PST

Hi there, I have an Advent T9304 which is a few years old, not used very regularly. My daughter wanted to play a new Sims game on it so installed that and it ran like a dog. Realised this was probably due to only having 1gb RAM whereas the minimum spec on the cover of the game said 2gb required. Therefore I ordered a 1gb memory from Crucial and installed, this improved things and my daughter was a happy bunny for a few days. Everything was ok for a few days of use and then all of a sudden whilst she was playing it, the computer just switched itself off, and won't come back on. My father has taken a look as he's good at these sort of things and has told me that it's not the PSU as he has tried replacing that, and feels it likely to be the motherboard or CPU. The only other clue is that with the side off the PC, when the power switch is pressed you can see the fan move ever so slightly, it's almost like it's trying to start but failing. Does anything I've described here give any clue as to what the likely cause is, or what best to try next to determine the cause? Thanks in advance for any advice.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Some checks
Jan 22, 2014 9:33PM PST

I tend to swap out the PSU regardless of prior other PSU installed with greater wattage using a good proven PSU. It really resolves most problems. If that fails then the mtrbd. or some component of the setup is kaput. A broken item will take down the PC and/or cause further damage to yet another PSU if power related. If mtrbd. then suspect the case of the "bad caps" scenario, these have blown or gone bad. Google for examples and inspect closely and if found are you capable or willing to repair. In most cases its more practical to replace mtrbd. with similar one or totally upgrade. You can also reduce or make a minimum system and try to boot then. Of couse, if you haven't yet clean out the PC case, WELL

tada -----Willy Happy

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Answer
I'd still suspect PSU
Jan 22, 2014 11:53PM PST

Your father may be mistaken. One can check voltages on a PSU and all test out OK, but when a load test is done, suddenly the PSU drops out at low wattage, showing it's bad.

http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/advent/pc/t9304.htm
http://server88-208-237-25.live-servers.net/iso/Advent-T9304/
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=hrlwzn&s=5#.UuE6UsUo5kg

Still, if not the PSU, my next suspect would be the CPU. Possible it overheated. Maybe if you remove the heatsink you might find a burn mark, but even if one isn't there doesn't mean it isn't.