Computer has power but not video or internet connection

[tommiwan]

I have a Powerspec B670 which was a prebuilt system that has worked well since the day I purchased it. The computer serves as a media server so I don't access it directly very often. I normally remote in to the computer if I need to use it.

Lately it has been going in to a state where it loses internet connectivity. I say this because I won't be able to remote in to the computer any longer. When I hook up a monitor to it, there is no video, but the PC has power (lights and fans are on). When this happens, I pull the power from the PC, plug the power back in, and turn it back on. After this it will work fine for a day or two, then revert back to this no internet/no video state.

I've looked through the windows event manager, but I didn't find much. I'm at a loss for how to troubleshoot this issue. So far I have removed the side cover and blown out the case with compressed air in case it was a heat issue. That did not fix the problem. Where do I start with troubleshooting this issue? Any help is appreciated!

 

[logainofhades]

I would place blame on PSU, or motherboard. Most prebuilts use junk PSU's, so I would lean more towards that.

 

[Barty1884]

Is it still running Windows 7, or have you upgraded to 10?

Sounds like there's an issue with "sleep", where it's failing to return to the prior state - connected to the internet & displaying video. This was a common problem after upgrading to Windows 10 - so a clean install of the Os would be recommended to fix that issue.

If you're still on Windows 7, then I'm really not too sure. Sounds like the problem would be the same (failing to recover from "sleep" properly) and, while I'm not aware of it being a known issue, disabling sleep would probably be the best option.

The PSU is a possibility too - but it came with a 300W PSU and powers an i5-2310 + usual components. Should be more than enough "juice" to complete the expected tasks. But if this has been running 24/7 for an extended period of time, the PSU may have simply degraded too much to be considered fully functional.

 

[tommiwan]

Is it still running Windows 7, or have you upgraded to 10?

Sounds like there's an issue with "sleep", where it's failing to return to the prior state - connected to the internet & displaying video. This was a common problem after upgrading to Windows 10 - so a clean install of the Os would be recommended to fix that issue.

If you're still on Windows 7, then I'm really not too sure. Sounds like the problem would be the same (failing to recover from "sleep" properly) and, while I'm not aware of it being a known issue, disabling sleep would probably be the best option.

I did upgrade to windows 10. It worked on windows 10 without having this issue for a while, but I did consider that it might be windows 10 related.

I can restore the computer to factory defaults, which would revert it to windows 7. When you say a "clean install of the OS" do you mean restore to factory defaults (windows 7) or reinstall windows 10 from scratch? I noticed on the manufacturers website that there are no drivers for windows 10, so I'm not sure if this machine is supported on 10.

 

[Barty1884]

That's quite possibly it then.

When I said "clean install", I mean reinstall Windows 10, including formatting your HDD/SSD (you don't need a product key, as the configuration is stored on MS servers & will reactivate when connected to the 'net). You can create bootable USB media to reinstall.

Windows 10 will "find" appropriate drivers, so not an "officially supported" system isn't always a bad thing.....but sometimes systems are simply do not have driver support - either by the system manufacturer, or by individual component manufacturers.

As an FYI, a lot of people report success using the Windows 8 drivers (where available) if Windows 10 drivers are not provided. The B670 does appear to have W8 driver support:
http://powerspec.com/support/support_archive.phtml?selection=B670

Driverscape also purports to have Windows 10 drivers for this model - although they would not be "official, manufacturer supported":
http://www.driverscape.com/manufacturers/powerspec/laptops-desktops/b670/115952

 

[tommiwan]

That's quite possibly it then.

When I said "clean install", I mean reinstall Windows 10, including formatting your HDD/SSD (you don't need a product key, as the configuration is stored on MS servers & will reactivate when connected to the 'net). You can create bootable USB media to reinstall.

Windows 10 will "find" appropriate drivers, so not an "officially supported" system isn't always a bad thing.....but sometimes systems are simply do not have driver support - either by the system manufacturer, or by individual component manufacturers.

As an FYI, a lot of people report success using the Windows 8 drivers (where available) if Windows 10 drivers are not provided. The B670 does appear to have W8 driver support:
http://powerspec.com/support/support_archive.phtml?selection=B670

Driverscape also purports to have Windows 10 drivers for this model - although they would not be "official, manufacturer supported":
http://www.driverscape.com/manufacturers/powerspec/laptops-desktops/b670/115952

Thanks for your help! I will give this a try

 

[tommiwan]

That's quite possibly it then.

When I said "clean install", I mean reinstall Windows 10, including formatting your HDD/SSD (you don't need a product key, as the configuration is stored on MS servers & will reactivate when connected to the 'net). You can create bootable USB media to reinstall.

Windows 10 will "find" appropriate drivers, so not an "officially supported" system isn't always a bad thing.....but sometimes systems are simply do not have driver support - either by the system manufacturer, or by individual component manufacturers.

As an FYI, a lot of people report success using the Windows 8 drivers (where available) if Windows 10 drivers are not provided. The B670 does appear to have W8 driver support:
http://powerspec.com/support/support_archive.phtml?selection=B670

Driverscape also purports to have Windows 10 drivers for this model - although they would not be "official, manufacturer supported":
http://www.driverscape.com/manufacturers/powerspec/laptops-desktops/b670/115952

I wanted to provide an update. It's been about a month since I followed the instructions to do a clean install of windows 10 including formatting the C drive. The installation worked seemlessly and I was back up and running quickly.

I do still experience the same problem with the PC having power, but no video output. It seems like there is a pattern. It happens almost exactly one week after I power up the PC. I think that is a bit odd, and may tell us something about what's happening (although I'm not sure what). So I'm back to the original state with a fresh install of windows 10 and a machine that will stop responding to me almost exactly one week after I power it on. It's not preventing me from doing anything, and I've considered just restarting the machine more often, but I'd love to actually resolve this.