mustangman said:
When I plug-in the power cord I look in the front of the computer. I see
no
power light, which is green. All i see is the loading light, which is
supposed to be red but all I see is an orange light, plus I see the CD and
DVD lights go on, which is a good indication but the computer runs for
only
8-12 seconds before shutting down.
PS: I don't get it, I think the computer is shutting down before any
programs run. The main program that is running on my computer is Windows
XP
Home Edition.The system is compaq presario 4410us and the processor is a
DELL
PENTIUM 4.
Were YOU the one that built the computer? If so, go inside and check the
fans are spinning, especially the CPU fan (it is isn't spinning then the
BIOS is probably configured to power down).
Is the heatsink securely fastened to the CPU, and did you remember to peel
off the protective tape from the thermal tape on the heatsink or apply
thermal paste? If not, the BIOS is probably configured to power down when
the CPU gets too hot which could be caused by a loose heatsink, no thermal
paste/tape, or blocked airflow.
Do you have deuling fans? That is, do you have a CPU fan blow one way and a
nearby case fan blowing in the opposite direction?
Checked for loose cables?
Get a cheapo power supply thinking its claim of 400W was true? It probably
cannot sustain more than 270W of constant and concurrent draw across its
rails. Reconsider removing some hardware (i.e., you overloaded the power
supply) or getting a bigger one (or simply a good one that displays a
legitimate wattage output).
Is the power supply's fan spinning? Is it a constant-speed fan or a
thermal-controlled one? Is there a lead from the power supply to a 3-pin
"fan" header on the motherboard to let the BIOS monitor the power supply's
fan speed? If not but if the motherboard has that option, did you disable
monitoring that fan input in the BIOS? Could be, like with the CPU fan,
that the BIOS checks the PSU fan speed and will power down if it is too low
or stopped (and not connecting anything would be equivalent to stopped).
Do you hear the hard drive startup when you power up? It should make a
jet-like whine noise that you can hear as it starts spinning it platters.
Did you forget to put in memory? Did you start with slot 1 when sliding in
memory sticks? Is a video card installed? If it is an AGP video card, did
you make sure it was pushed ALL the way down into the AGP slot? The speaker
usually beeps if there are memory or video problems but the speaker can't
work if you didn't plug it into the motherboard headers (and the speaker
itself must be working).
