[SOLVED] PC wont turn on

Jun 7, 2020
8
1
15
Hi
I noticed that my power supply fan was very dusty, so I vacummed the dust from the outside of my PC.
Now it wont turn on. There is a green light on the motherboard though.
Please help.
 
Solution
Its set to 230, I have switched it to 115, and back again. No change.
I'm wondering if something didn't come lose when you moved it/ vacuumed it. Have you tried reseat the power cables inside the computer?
Have you tried reseating the RAM?
If its a module PSU, you may have to check the cables are fully seated into the PSU.
If all that fails, I would lean towards a bad PSU. Its possible that the vacuum loosened up something in the PSU.

Cere

Great
Jun 6, 2020
107
25
95
Hi
I noticed that my power supply fan was very dusty, so I vacummed the dust from the outside of my PC.
Now it wont turn on. There is a green light on the motherboard though.
Please help.
Was the system off when you vacuumed?
Does it make any beeps when you turn it on?
Try unplugging cord from wall and PSU let sit for 45 seconds, and then plug PSU in, then wall. Then try turning back on.
Also, is there a switch on the PSU itself? Not talking a power switch, but usually its a little red push up or down switch.

Just as future reference, never use a vacuum on a PC. Vacuums create static change and can ruin components.
 
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Jun 7, 2020
8
1
15
The system was off, I was moving it anyway.
There is no sound at all. Just the green light coming on.
the PC has now been unplugged for 8 hours. I tried it again. No life in it.
There isnt a switch on the PSU, just a red tab for voltage.
Noted on vacumming.
 

Cere

Great
Jun 6, 2020
107
25
95
The system was off, I was moving it anyway.
There is no sound at all. Just the green light coming on.
the PC has now been unplugged for 8 hours. I tried it again. No life in it.
There isnt a switch on the PSU, just a red tab for voltage.
Noted on vacumming.
What is the voltage tab set to? are you sure you didn't change that or hit it when cleaning the PSU?
 

Cere

Great
Jun 6, 2020
107
25
95
Its set to 230, I have switched it to 115, and back again. No change.
I'm wondering if something didn't come lose when you moved it/ vacuumed it. Have you tried reseat the power cables inside the computer?
Have you tried reseating the RAM?
If its a module PSU, you may have to check the cables are fully seated into the PSU.
If all that fails, I would lean towards a bad PSU. Its possible that the vacuum loosened up something in the PSU.
 
Solution

Cere

Great
Jun 6, 2020
107
25
95
Unless you know exactly why you're doing that, don't ever change a voltage switch.

And, in truth, if your power supply has a voltage switch and it's not 1997, that power supply was almost certainly extremely low quality in any case.
Many companies do that still to this day. It's in order to save money. Companies like Dell, Compaq, etc. do this as a common practice. Acer computers are widely well known to do this. The 115/230 switch is intended so that users in the US and other Countries that use 115A power can use the same PSU as those in Europe who use 230A power. As I was saying, in the US it should always be set to 115, not 230.

https://us.answers.acer.com/app/ans...-on-the-power-supply-for-my-desktop-computer?
 
Jun 7, 2020
8
1
15
I am in the UK, that’s why it is at 230.
It wasn’t plugged in when I moved it to 115 and back.
I have reseated the power cables and ram. The PSU is not modular.
It’s an ASUS computer.
 
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Cere

Great
Jun 6, 2020
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I am in the UK, that’s why it is at 230.
It wasn’t plugged in when I moved it to 115 and back.
I have reseated the power cables and ram. The PSU is not modular.
Ok, so being in the UK you said you already tried switching to 115 and powered the computer on?

This is actually very important. Because in the UK you send 230V down one line, where as in the US we send 115V down 2 lines. What that means is if you switched that to 115 and plugged it in and turn on the system, you tried sending 230V down 2 lines in the power supply. It's why I specifically said 115 for the US and 230 for other Countries. Do you have a reset button on the PSU probably will be small, or you might even have a fuse (if you have the old style fuse id be very surprised). This can be inside on the back of the PSU or it could be on the back near the 115/230 switch.
 

DSzymborski

Titan
Moderator
Many companies do that still to this day. It's in order to save money. Companies like Dell, Compaq, etc. do this as a common practice. Acer computers are widely well known to do this. The 115/230 switch is intended so that users in the US and other Countries that use 115A power can use the same PSU as those in Europe who use 230A power. As I was saying, in the US it should always be set to 115, not 230.

https://us.answers.acer.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1323/~/what-should-the-voltage-setting-be-on-the-power-supply-for-my-desktop-computer?

Yes, I know what power factor correction is. Most quality and even non-quality prebuilts have moved long past these; even cheap junk manufactured these days tends to have active PFC.
 
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Cere

Great
Jun 6, 2020
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I didn’t turn it on with the switch on 115.
I can’t see a reset button.
It is an ACBEL. HBA005-ZA2GT 350.
As @DSzymborski pointed out, that is a very old PSU. It would be hard for me to not say the PSU is bad at this point. The green light does suggest that a limited amount of power is getting through. However that could happen and the PSU still be bad. Smell the around the PSU and see if you get an odor of something burnt or burning. It will be a very distinct odor.
 

Cere

Great
Jun 6, 2020
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Yes, I know what power factor correction is. Most quality and even non-quality prebuilts have moved long past these; even cheap junk manufactured these days tends to have active PFC.
I was more using the time to inform @grahalex about the switch and what its meant for. Not so much to say you didn't know it what it was for. But there are still several manufactures that use these, I consider them garbage, but they do it to save on money. I still see them a lot when dealing with severs and server towers.
 
Jun 7, 2020
8
1
15
There is no odour coming from the PSU. I have a newer, modular, PSU somewhere Maybe I should try that one ?
The current PSU is a 350, can I put a bigger one in ?
 

Cere

Great
Jun 6, 2020
107
25
95
There is no odour coming from the PSU. I have a newer, modular, PSU somewhere Maybe I should try that one ?
The current PSU is a 350, can I put a bigger one in ?
Absolutely you could. The system will only pull what thee components need. so bigger PSUs don't effect anything. I'd say try the other PSU if you have one and see if that fixes the issue.
 

Cere

Great
Jun 6, 2020
107
25
95
There is no odour coming from the PSU. I have a newer, modular, PSU somewhere Maybe I should try that one ?
The current PSU is a 350, can I put a bigger one in ?
If swapping the PSU doesn't work, then look at the CMOS Battery. You shouldn't miss it as it is a round silver battery on your Mother Board. You could try replacing that and see if that solves the issue. But as I said, I think its something to do with thee PSU.
 
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