HUGE Problem! Please help!

[LardOfKings]

A few days ago, my PC gave me a shutting down prompt and it turns itself
off.

Now, as long as the PC is plugged into the wall, my PC will boot up by
itself, starts up for 3 seconds and then shuts itself off. I was unable
to start the PC back up manually.

Then after 15 seconds, and it starts booting up by itself for a few
seconds and shuts off again. This keeps happening as long as it's
plugged in. I unplugged it for a few hours, but as soon as I plugged it
back in, it started booting up by itself again and shutting back down
continuously.

I replaced the power supply today, but nothing has changed. It is still
giving me the same symptoms.

Can anyone help me?

 

[Malke]

A few days ago, my PC gave me a shutting down prompt and it turns itself
off.

Now, as long as the PC is plugged into the wall, my PC will boot up by
itself, starts up for 3 seconds and then shuts itself off. I was unable
to start the PC back up manually.

Then after 15 seconds, and it starts booting up by itself for a few
seconds and shuts off again. This keeps happening as long as it's
plugged in. I unplugged it for a few hours, but as soon as I plugged it
back in, it started booting up by itself again and shutting back down
continuously.

I replaced the power supply today, but nothing has changed. It is still
giving me the same symptoms.

Can anyone help me?

Since you replaced the power supply, you know that some other hardware
component has failed. Do you get any beeps? If not, then there is a good
chance your processor and/or motherboard has failed.

General hardware troubleshooting
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Tshoot

Standard caveat: Testing hardware failures often involves swapping out
suspected parts with known-good parts. If you can't do the testing
yourself and/or are uncomfortable opening your computer, take the
machine to a professional computer repair shop (not your local
equivalent of BigComputerStore/GeekSquad). Have all your data backed up
before you take the machine into a shop.*

*In your case where the machine will not boot, pull the hard drive and
slave it in another working machine or put it in an external usb drive
enclosure to retrieve data if necessary.


Malke

 

[peter]

I would check the following before taking it for repair
Is the CPU Heatsink functioning...is it clean or choked with dust...is the
fan on the heatsink working??
Is the on/off switch on the case stuck in on mode??
peter

 

[w_tom]

Now, as long as the PC is plugged into the wall, my PC will boot up by
itself, starts up for 3 seconds and then shuts itself off. I was unable
to start the PC back up manually.

Then after 15 seconds, and it starts booting up by itself for a few
seconds and shuts off again. This keeps happening as long as it's
plugged in. I unplugged it for a few hours, but as soon as I plugged it
back in, it started booting up by itself again and shutting back down
continuously.

I replaced thepower supplytoday, but nothing has changed. It is still
giving me the same symptoms.

Get important voltage numbers before replacing parts? A multimeter
in but two minutes would have identified the problem OR provided
numbers so that others reply with useful and definitive answers.
Currently you are told to keep replacing parts until something works.
But in two minutes, we would have numbers so that the next post
immediately targets he suspect. That procedure is "When your computer
dies without warning....." starting 6 Feb 2007 in the newsgroup
alt.windows-xp at:
http://tinyurl.com/yvf9vh

In your case, those voltages before and when the computer cycles on
are important from any one of red, orange, purple, yellow, and green
wires.