PC Does not Boot Up, Power Problems
Every computer experiences this situation at least once in its lifetime.
When you press the power button on a computer, you expect the operating system to appear on-screen, but when the expectation is not done you freeze or panic. Some of you rise and prepare to fix the problem. The best computer is perfect one while it is working till it does not give you problems. When it won’t boot up, you have a big problem in hand.
Every problem has a solution behind it. Since modern computers are extremely complex, the problems are of varying nature and need different solutions. The first step is to see exactly what’s going on when you press the power button. Luckily, it is not difficult to make the estimation.
Get closer to the PC, press the Power button and listen! If there is no sound whatsoever or absolutely nothing happens you need to check or replace the following:
Power Cable
Ensure proper power supply to the PC. Check the cable, the plug, the switch on the Power Supply. Sometimes a loose power cord happens to be the main culprit. If you have a volt meter or tester you can unplug the power cable and check the voltage appropriate to your country or at least check if there is any power at all. If there is no power replace the cord or check if your wall outlet has power in it.
Power Supply
Sometimes PC boots up initially but due to faulty or stuck fan power supply gets heated up inside and ultimately stops the working of the PC. This due to the inactive fan or any other reason. In our case it can be that the Power Supply died for good and needs replacement. You can check whether it works or not by doing following:
- Unplug the power cord and any other Power Supply’s plugs from your mother board
- Now take the main Power Supply’s plug (20 pin) and short circuit circled in red out lets with some wire:
- Turn on the power by plugging in the power cord
- Now check some other plug whether or not it has +5 and +12 volts
This quick and easy way you can find out whether the fault is in the Power Supply or the Mother Board or the PC’s power switch. If you find there are +5 and +12 volts after short circuiting the problem lies probably in the mother board that electronically should short circuit these out lets when you press power switch on your PC. Or you can check the PC’s power switch itself whether or not it connects wires when you press it using Ohmmeter. From my experience a switch almost never has been the problem. Usually it was a Power Supply that caused trouble.
Note that it is possible this test will mislead you in believing that your motherboard is at fault when it is actually the Power Supply! Because you unplugged all cables from your mother board the Power Supply didn’t have any load and it will show you the correct voltage but the moment you plug it back into the mother board the smallest amount of a load will cause it to immediately die. You will need to take this possibility into the account when you do such tests, it can happen. It means the Power Supply is dying and can work only with very small load.
Other Devices
The problem can lie in one of the devices that are connected to the Power Supply. When there is some kind of power trouble in one of them or it is just short circuiting the Power Supply will be shut down immediately by the built-in protection. Disconnect all other drives, fans and any other devices leaving connected only motherboard. Switch it on and see if there are any signs of life.
Finally, all computer power problems are solvable. Yours too will be O.K. Your PC will be up and running again. Happy computing.