Question pc wont boot for about 6 month

[Ramiro.Giorgi]

Hey guys,

so my friend has a pc that hasnt boot for about 6 month now. i decided to give him a hand and try to figure out what the problem is. The error basically is that when pressing the power btn the fans of the cpu, and system fan spins A LITTLE and then it stops and the pc wont start. the first thing i did was clean up the system, becouse it was really really dirty. I clean it up really well but nothing. Same error. I was wondering if u guys, that clearly are more knowledgeable than me, could help me know were to start troubleshooting.

The pc system specs are out of my knowledge its a really old pc . He may have it since 2012. But the pc always booted fine. Like i said the error started like 6 month ago and he wanted my help. All i know by cleaning it, is that it has a i5 4000 procesor and what appears to be an rx 550 gpu. it has one stick of ddr3 ram that i think its 4 gb.

Thx in advance, and sorry i cant give you more details about the pc specs.

 

[Lutfij]

The pc system specs are out of my knowledge its a really old pc .
When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model.

He may have it since 2012.
It's possible that the PSU might've conked out. Try and source(borrow, not buy) a PSU that you can use to power the entire system. If your processor has an iGPU, then breadboard without the discrete GPU.

and sorry i cant give you more details about the pc specs.
The saying goes, help us, help you. We can't give you much info besides generic suggestions if we don't know what you're working with.

 

[LinuxDevice]

I will add, in addition to what @Lutfij mentions, that a lot of electrolytic capacitors can fail over a long time period. Power supplies are suspect. However, it sounds like the power supply is at least trying to start. You might see what happens if you unplug all hard drives or NVMe or SSD, and maybe even the RAM. You should be able to get to the BIOS if it is related to those components. If you can get it to work, then put the RAM back in and try again. Also remove anything other than mouse or keyboard on USB. You're looking for change, e.g., the fans now go on longer, so even if you don't get video, this is a clue.

You might also need to worry about BIOS settings, although I doubt they'd result in that kind of fast shutdown. There is a small button battery on the motherboard, and if that drops low enough over time, then the BIOS can corrupt. For that case you could replace the battery and hit the CMOS BIOS reset (usually a couple of pins to short together for a moment while power is off). Note that even if the battery is bad, that while power remains on the battery is not needed; thus, you could use the reset of BIOS feature and keep it plugged in and try it out just to see if anything changes without actually replacing the battery (but I'd advise replacing the battery on one that old). Check for corrosion around the button battery.

 

[punkncat]

@LinuxDevice It is almost hard to believe that 4th gen IS that old now.


If the system was full of a great deal of dust and cobweb it is possible that the system was overheated or that something actually shorted out. It will almost certainly not be worthwhile to spend ANY money and not much by way of effort to try and fix this PC. You can purchase something far newer and more capable used in the US for ~$100 used/refurbished or even build a more modern system for sub $400 that would be a far cry more powerful than the current rig is.

Also, keep in mind that rigs older than 8th gen Intel and 2xxx Ryzen will not be supported for W11 and W10 support ends in Oct. That won't be an issue straight away but puts a timer on it for many users in relation to safe browsing and internet use. Could go with Linux based OS but wouldn't even consider that unless the fix is something simple and nearly free.

 

[TerryLaze]

The error basically is that when pressing the power btn the fans of the cpu, and system fan spins A LITTLE and then it stops and the pc wont start.

That an issue with the mobo, it doesn't signal power on to the PSU so the PSU shuts off immediately.
You can do the paper clip test on the PSU, shorting pin 16 and 17 ,if the PSU runs like that it means that the mobo is broken.
(The mobo being broken doesn't mean that everything else isn't broken)
https://help.corsair.com/hc/en-us/articles/360025085372-PSU-How-to-test-a-PSU-Power-Supply-Unit

 

[Ramiro.Giorgi]

as all you guys said, it was indeed the power supply. I changed it and it booted. Thx you all for answering me.

 

[LinuxDevice]

@LinuxDevice It is almost hard to believe that 4th gen IS that old now.


If the system was full of a great deal of dust and cobweb it is possible that the system was overheated or that something actually shorted out. It will almost certainly not be worthwhile to spend ANY money and not much by way of effort to try and fix this PC. You can purchase something far newer and more capable used in the US for ~$100 used/refurbished or even build a more modern system for sub $400 that would be a far cry more powerful than the current rig is.

Also, keep in mind that rigs older than 8th gen Intel and 2xxx Ryzen will not be supported for W11 and W10 support ends in Oct. That won't be an issue straight away but puts a timer on it for many users in relation to safe browsing and internet use. Could go with Linux based OS but wouldn't even consider that unless the fix is something simple and nearly free.

I'm not saying he should replace anything. I'm suggesting steps which are "free" to try. Unplugging drives and RAM and trying to boot costs nothing. Resetting CMOS BIOS costs nothing.

Personally I will resist W11 to the end. I will buy a W11 key and use it with W10 if I have to. I don't use Windows for much these days anyhow, I'm a Linux guy, and a lot of that is for embedded systems, and more recently, CNC control. That's a different story though. Perhaps the owner of the system the original poster is talking about has legacy items on it which are important (even if it is just a game, if the computer handles it, then keep using it). Being forced to upgrade hardware for an upgrade which isn't helping matters a lot to people without plenty of money. This is especially true when W11 is trying so hard to force subscriptions.