Powersupply or hardrive problem?

[Jstones]

I ran into a problem today when I bought a computer from some guy for a fairly cheap price. IT had a 680w power supply and a decent processor older board and 4gb of ram. No my problem is when I turn on my computer my monitor will sometimes not turn on which would be caused by a no signal from the computer. Now when it does happen to turn on it happens to freeze at random times. Now the POWER SUPPLY is making a quite loud HISSING noise. Which everything turns on motherboard graphics card cpu etc etc. I was wondering if this could still be the problem for the no signal to occur. Also when I actually get all the way to windows I installed my wireless adapter and it would tell me to restart. When I restarted it, it would get stuck at the shutdown screen. When I reset the computer I would go see if the wireless is working and when I would click on the wirless bars in the bottom right it would instantly say not responding and freeze and not connect. Something fishy is going on. Not sure what.

 

[X79]

If someone told you the following:

"I ran into a problem today when I bought a computer from some guy for a fairly cheap price."

How likely would you be to suspect that the deal perhaps wasn't entirely in the buyers favor?


680W should be plenty for that system; depending on the graphics card too. But considering how suspicious

Things sound, any number of things could be wrong with that system.

Besides checking the cables, you can try watch this video, as it sounds like your computer won't "POST" (boot).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKhCQmKAmEM

 

[Jstones]

I knew there would be problems with it. I only paid 50$ which the case alone was worth more. I can get it to boot fine. All the way to windows start up. I can do everything normal, but sometimes when I restart the computer I get a no signal from the GPU to the monitor. Like I said it has worked fine but the PSU is making a loud hissing noise and I was wondering if that could potentially be the main cause of all the problems (obviously it could be more than one thing)

 

[manofchalk]

Somethings fishy about a computer you bought for cheap from "some guy"? Who would have thought, especially when it seems you don't even know whats in it.

Does the PSU have a brand name on it? Just if its a generic supply, I wouldnt trust the sticker on it to be accurate, especially if the units old. The hissing noise could either indicate a failing fan, or it just outright dying.

 

[Unolocogringo]

Change the power supply before it fries the rest of the system.
A loud hissing noise is normally a capacitor going out.

 

[Jstones]

I don't know the power supply right off the top of my head. But I am assuming the power supply wattage is not an accurate description and I assume it is failing, but it still doesn't make sense with the issue with the wireless adapter unless the power to it could be affected as well..

Also thank you for all your quick replies!

 

[X79]

Well from where you bought this setup, anything could potentially be wrong with any number

of components. It's low-cost and pretty obvious, but have you checked there's no dust clogging the fans?

 

[Jstones]

The system was fairly clean I took a look into it and it lacked dust surprisingly. If this helps not sure if it will but it was an older version of an IBUYPOWER build.

 

[Unolocogringo]

Most likely the power supply needs changed.
They use cheap-o power supplies in their systems.

 

[TenPc]

Hissing noise in the PSU is a good sign that the PSU is failing badly, you need to replace the PSU and not use the Pc until the PSU has been replaced otherwise you could damage other hardware, the PSU is not providing its proper output.

 

[Jstones]

Thanks guys! I replaced the power supply and everything worked great. I put in a 300w and it ran decent. Now when I changed graphics cards to hd7770 I installed it and realized I didnt have the 6 way power adapter for it. Now when I reinstalled the other nvidia 620 everything starts up again but I receive no signal from the monitor. I've checked connections. I've made sure the graphics card is seated properly but still no dice.

 

[TenPc]

300 watt is not good enough, that's barely 240 watts on the 12v rail, you need about 600 watts (about 480 watts on the 12v rail) especially if you use a second video card. Also, you can't mix brands or even some models of the same brand with two video cards.