wizer
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« on: October 13, 2008, 05:48:36 pm » |
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A member asked me this in a pm, and it's a good topic for a thread because it's a common problem.
The question:
When I turned my computer on last week the moniter was black...the moniter power button was flashing. I then tried to hook up my husbands laptop using my home internet provider....same thing...it wouldn't work.
So I called my internet provider tech support....they told me it probably was the surge protector....to unplug it and plug the laptop directly into the wall electrical outlet....which I did....the laptop works fine....Anyway, I then tried my home computer....doing the same thing....plugging it into the wall outlet....still nothing....does that mean my computer is fried?" Or is it something that can be fixed?
99% chance its the power supply..happens quite often..you get a power surge, it blows the power supply..more often than not replacing the power supply does the trick, unless something else blew at the same time, if so, it could be the hard drive which means your data is gone but the pc is fixable, or the mainboard, which means your data is ok but the pc is probably not worth fixing; in the latter case the data could be retrieved off of your hard drive by temporarily hooking it to a cable on another pc.
There is a fan on the back of the computer that belongs to the power supply, not to be confused with a case fan...this one is on the back and usually has a switch that turns it on or off, as well as a little voltage changing switch (but those two switches are not always present). Either way its a square metal box held in with 4 screws. If the fan doesnt spin when the pc is powered on, there's your answer. Take a good sniff at the power supply, if its fried you will smell that "electronics burnt" smell...a replacement power supply is $25-30.
Replacing the power supply is simple enough in most computers if you arent afraid to open the "hood". Its held in by 4 screws, and connects by power cables to the mainboard, the hard drive, the DVD player, and maybe a floppy drive and other components. Pull the cables off, noting what is connected. They are often difficult to remove without really pulling hard..on the plastic connectors, don't pull by the wires! Use labels if you aren't sure if you will remember where everything goes.
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