I've got a barebones kit PC that is 2 1/2 years old. running XP home (w/SP2). I turned it on last night and it was slow, so I turned it off to do a restart.

After everything shut down, I hit the power button and.....nothing. Not a whimper. Stone cold dead. I check all of the wires/plugs and everything is plugged in. I am typing this on my MAC, which is hooked up on my netwrok in the same room and it is working fine.

SInce I don't even get a hum or a fan noise when I hit the power button, I am guessing the (probably cheap) power supply went.

I would certainly appreciate any input. I can find my way around a PC, but I won't be instructing any classes soon.

Ray

Sounds like a power supply. Fortunately, those are (relatively) easy to replace--it's not like you need new drivers or anything. But get a decent one--if it costs $20, it's probably a POS.

I second or third the PS, theory.. 2 years is usually all you will get out of a cheap PS.. If you grab another, As KC said buy a good one.. Depending on your system you might need an adaptor for the MB, but they are cheap and easy to find at a comp parts store..

It might be the power supply. But I don't think the power switch is hard-wired to the power supply. It could also be the power switch.

Also, plug it in to a known good receptacle. It could be your power bar.

Here's a trouble-shooting flowchart that may be able to help you.

Thanks for the suggestions. I just got back from CompUSA and the tech there pretty much gave me a headache. I was thinking power supply as well and he came up with 11 other things it could be.

He suggested I bring it in for a $129 diagnosis, which escalates with parts and labor once the problem is found. I'd normally be OK with that, but the whole kit only cost around $350 3 years ago.

I'm thinking I will just get a new PC, but all of my info is locked up in the hard drive, which I beleive is IDE. Looks like the new PCs deal with SATA - is there any way to use both a SATA and IDE hard drive with the PC?

Would I be better off getting an external enclosure and attaching it to a PC via USB (I have one at work) and transfer the data I need to CDs?

Any thoughts on Dell equipment? We have an employee discount program with them?

Not sure about your problem, but it does sound similar to mine a year ago. One day the power button did nothing. Actually, I think the fan on the motherboard would spin slightly, but that was it...

A $35 dollar power supply fixed it and I'm using it right now.

I replaced a ps unit on the computer I have. Same thing, press the power button and nothing. I went to TigerDirect bought a ps and it's been up and running ever since. I think I would give that a try.

Worst case you can plug a cheap card into one of the slots to add an IDE or EIDE interface to a new computer.

$129 diagnosis. sheesh. talk about easy money :P

You can test the power supply by taking it out, unplug the mother board connector and with the power supply plugged in short the green wire to one of the black wires. If the power supply still works fine it should fire right up as long as you keep those two wires shorted.

If somehow something else in the computer went haywire and is showing the PS a short or something it will also sense this and not turn on.

I had the PS in my desktop die a few months ago, it worked fine then i shutdown the computer and went to turn it back on and it was dead.

It's just god telling you it's time to buy an Mac that will dual-boot Windows (Vista or XP) and MacOS.

You can use an IDE drive w/ SATA, you just need a dongle like this:

http://sewelldirect.com/SerialATAtoIDECo...FRs_ggodMQE1oQ.

They're cheap, I just googled that one.

However, if this is a boot drive, not sure how that drive would show up if you just connected to a different computer.

many motherboards have both SATA and IDE interfaces on the motherboard, unless that has changed.

Most, I'd guess. I doubt that budget PCs are coming with SATA optical drives just yet.

Yes many motherboards now have both IDE/ATA and SATA interfaces and most budget still use IDE/ATA. As was also pointed out a card or adapter can also connect an IDE/ATA drive to a motherboard with only SATA interfaces.

Being a boot drive will not matter unless you tell the computer to boot from it in the BIOS or using a boot loader. The new computer’s operating system will boot normally from it’s own HD and read the old HD as just another drive as long as it can read the file system FAT16/32 or NTFS on the old drive.

As for Dell I owned one which had problems right out of the box. They replaced it without question but from what I’ve read they still have some quality control problems. Generally if you are buying a low to low/middle end system you will get more for your money buying a brand name especially if you find something on sale.

If you want a higher end system you generally do better building your own. One advantage is you get exactly what you want. You will know how your system works making upgrades easier. Also you will avoid compatibility issues that sometimes plague brand name systems such as Dell that use proprietary parts.

As others said your best bet for a quick fix is to just get an inexpensive power supply and try that. If it doesn’t work just return it and plug your HD into another computer and burn the data to CD/DVDs. No need for an external HD adapter unless no one will let you get inside their computer.

Thanks to all -- great feedback.

I need to talk to my friend (he puts the kits together for me).

I believe that it is probably time (after 3 years) to upgrade the PC. The current box was not very powerful. For $500-$700 I can get an outstanding DYI upgrade.

I will likely get a PS locally as suggested and see if that solves the immeduiate problem. Id so, I can get at my information and tie the old/new PCs together, transferring the info that way. Then I can use the old PC as a server or to store pictures/music.

I'm glad to see that there is a simple solution to the IDE/SATA thing.

BTW - any better choices than Tiger Direct for barebones kits? New Egg doesn't have much.

I'll report back.

Ah dead and cheap PCs.
My father continues to buy them and they chug along for a short while, then get 'slow'.
I don't trouble shoot them anymore. It is not worth the effort.

Two computers just came across my desk a few months ago. Both had failing motherboards. It was a good thing i had enough components from two other units to swap out stuff and figure out all the faulty parts. It can be a lengthy process otherwise.

I promised to report back.

Keeping the above in mind, I wanted to come up with a robust PC that is capable of handling Vista (doing XP Home for now) when they get an SP or two under their belt. Got one of my buddies at work (major geek) involved and we went to work on Newegg putting the pieces together. The new PC:

- BIOSTAR TForce TF570SLI Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce AMD Motherboard (IDE and SATA)

- AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Windsor 2.8GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor

- MSI NX8500GT-TD256E OC GeForce 8500GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card

- Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3500641AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

- LITE-ON 20X IDE DVD Burner

- MSI TurboStream MS-4500-020 ATX12V V2.2 500W Power Supply 115/230 V UL

- 4 GB = CORSAIR XMS2 DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Memory

- COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC ATX Computer Case

(Also installed a Pioneer DVR-108 DVD Burner from the previous PC)

My buddy put it together last night and is letting it burn in today. I’ll get it tomorrow. He tells me that I’ll have the fastest "old guy" computer on the block.

The good news is that the whole thing (with rebates and some free shipping) came in at about $675. I saw a similar PC (many of the same components) advertised in PCWorld for $1700.

Let me know what you think.

I think you shopped very well, Ray!

Well, I hate the route you went (look at where I'm from, hint hint) , but you appeared to have gotten an outstanding system at a very good price.

Rich

Thanks Rich (and Tom)!

Spent the weekend in Lake Placid (my daughter did the Ironman Triathlon - I'm REALLY proud of her) and am in the process of getting everything set up.

So far it is fabulous. Fastest old guy computer on the block.