After power surge, monitor gets power but PC won't boot up

peteypete · Joined: Nov 13, 2008 Posts: 4 Location: scotland

I had a power surge while my PC was turned on. Everything died. At first I thought nothing worked because when I pressed the On button, nothing happened at all with the PC or the monitor. I went through some forums and found that I should check the power supply. I changed the 5Amp fuse in the power supply. As soon as I did this and plugged it back in, the monitor which is powered by the PC clicked on and showed the test screen. But still, when I press the On button on the PC nothing happens at all. As you can tell from this email I have minimal expertise with PCs. Can anyone advise?

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 2240 Location: Central FL, USA

That must be a very old system......because monitors have not been plugged into the PC's PSU for many years.
You're still going to have to replace that supply, at the least.
Connecting a power supply tester to that supply would show you exactly which voltage is missing.
My first guess would be the -5vdc supply......it's a very tiny supply and is easily damaged.

New PSU! That's my best guess, working from your description.

Just curious though.....how did you determine that there was a power surge?
Don't you have your computer plugged into a Surge Suppressor?

Cheers Mate!
The Doctor Cool

peteypete · Joined: Nov 13, 2008 Posts: 4 Location: scotland

Hi
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. It IS a very old computer. Its a cast off from my grandkids for me to learn on - a Windows 98. As for how I knew it was a power surge, well this might have you despairing, but we had aletter from the electricity company telling us our supply was being interrupted, and we didnt unplug the computer. In fact I think it may even still have been turned on when the electricity was cut. And no, I don't have a Surge Suppressor, which I'd never heard of till you mentioned it but its pretty self-explanatory even to me!
It sounds as though I would be better off investing in a computer a few years younger and starting again, rather than paying to get this one fixed.
Thank you very much for your advise. Its just good to have confirmation that its not just a tiny thing thats easily and inexpensively sorted out.

(Its taken me an hour to work out how to use this forum but its been worth it! bye for now.)

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 2240 Location: Central FL, USA

Pete,

It's too bad you're not close by......I have several computers that you could learn on.
I might even have a power supply that would work in that old PC.

Well, good luck to you!

The Doctor

PS: If you have unstabile power and you use a computer, you should invest in an "Uninterruptable Power Supply". It's a battery backup supply with Surge Protection Built in. I have six of them in my house. Better safe than sorry.

grum · Joined: Nov 25, 2003 Posts: 11

Something to try before getting a replacement power supply.
it may sound silly but trust me i got caught out once.
It was little bit embarrassing when i rolled up to the pc tech shop and they plugged in my pc and nothing was wrong with it.

they told me to try this first..... before contacting them next time.
unplug both power leads from the back of the PSU the one from the wall plug and the one going to the monitor from the back of your PSU.
Whilst these leads are unplugged
press the power on button on the front of your pc ,this will get rid of any residual current left in any of the capacitors.also press the on off switch on your monitor as well

ok now plug the power lead that runs between the back of the PSU and your monitor in first
then plug in the power lead that runs from your wall switch to your PSU
turn the power on at the wall switch.
next press the power on button on the front of your pc
if you are lucky the pc will boot up.

every now and again after there is a power blackout I have found occasions where my monitor is on but the pc wont boot up when i try pressing the power on switch on the front of my pc.
But after I go through the steps above all is fine.

If not ,then a replacement power supply should be relatively cheap .(for your older pc) Most local pc technicians can do the job in less than 5 minutes and usually only charge for the PSU .
try shopping around i'm sure you could have the task completed for under $50.

if you require a more modern power supply that is heavy duty then the price may be substantially more .

BTW all the PSU's on my 3 pc's have power cables that run from the back of them to power my monitors. (crt and lcd)
all PC's are under 12 months old .
I find this usefull as less spots are used on my power board that runs from the wall outlet..

best of luck

Graham

peteypete · Joined: Nov 13, 2008 Posts: 4 Location: scotland

Hi Graham
Thanks very much for your suggestion. I tried it but alas to no avail.

So, I've given up on that old Windows 98 thing and gone out and bought myself a Windows XP computer - a mere 6 years old - for the princely sum of £35. And also a surgemaster plug strip which cost nearly as much.
Now I'll have to figure out how this one works, and how to re-load all my thingies from the 98. And I'll have to buy a new printer and learn how to fit that on.... Ah! No doubt I'll be asking for more help very soon.

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 2240 Location: Central FL, USA

Just for information's sake....to anyone thinking about getting surge protection.....
(and of course, everyone with a computer SHOULD think about it.)

For the price of a really good Surge Protector, you can buy a really good UPS.
Every UPS that I know of, comes with good surge protection built in.

A surge protector can only absorb power spikes and can do nothing for drops in power, brownouts or just plain old power failures. A UPS takes all these anomalies in stride, providing your PC with constant voltage.

Two brands of UPS's that I like and find very reliable are "APC"
http://www.apc.com/products/category.cfm?id=13

and "Cyber Power"
http://www.cyberpowersystems.com

To this old tech, who lives in the lightning capital of the Americas, buying just a Surge Suppressor is a gross waste of money, when you can get a UPS for just a few dollars more.

I have UPS's ranging from 200 to 600 watts.
The cheapest one cost me only $29usd.
The most expensive one cost me only $69usd.
The 600 watt UPS cost me nothing....it was given to me by one of my customers who didn't want to replace the batteries in it.

That was several years ago and the UPS now backs up my 27" TV, Satellite TV Receiver, DVD Recorder and one small table lamp.
I replaced the dead Gel-Cells with two large car batteries for many hours of continuous use.

My latest UPS, shown below, has one more very valuable feature. It comes with power monitoring software that can shut down programs on my PC when during a full power outage, the battery voltage drops below safe operating levels.

The UPS connects to the computer via a USB cable so the software on the PC can monitor the battery condition and will close programs and shut down the computer when the UPS can no longer sustain the input power to the PC.

Power spikes, brownouts and power failures can be very detrimental to the home PC. All that hate and discontent can be totally eliminated by a UPS.

Just a word to the wise.

The Doctor Cool

Here's my latest acquisition:

CP485SL

* 485VA / 260Watts
* Full-time lightning protection & Battery Backup
* Compact rugged design, 8 Outlets, EMI/RFI line noise filters
* Telephone-line (RJ11) protection, USB Plug-N-Play Installation
* Applications: Entry-level PCs, Personal Electronics (Audio/Video/Stereo, Ipods, Cameras, Fax, etc.)

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Image URL: http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g90/DrWho1943/CP-UPS.jpg