Power supply?

[Grimey]

I'm trying to fix a computer for a lady at work and first she was having issues w/windows not loading. I tried doing a windows repair w/no luck. I hooked up her HDD to my to salvage what I could. She gave me some specific things to look for that I really couldn't find. I ran a HDD disk diag and got all kinds of fails. Chalked it up as HDD failure and she bought another one.

Fast forward to tonight and I was installing windows on the new HDD and right at the beginning as it was finished w/the initial loading of drivers and was about to start the initial installation process the sys just powered off. The pwr light stayed dimly lit and would not respond. Turned off the button to the pwr supply then tried again and it powerd right up and off again. I pulled everything from the MB except the CPU and tried again, and it powered right up and stayed running. Pwr cycled the sys again but it powered itself off as soon as the CPU fan really got going.

Does this sound like a power supply or MB issue? Anything else I could try?

I guess I could pull the power supply from my sys but I hate to go through all the trouble for nothing.

[venom_5]

whats the wattage on the PSU?

is this a custom-built compy or what? whats the setup?

it could be a MB issue if all sorts of peripherals are going haywire ... but it could also be the PSU ... its unclear at this point without more details

[davidj]

Is this a specific computer? If so, what model?

You can check the motherboard and look at the capacitors (cylindrical things) to see if any of them are bulging or seeping from the top; they should just be flat on top otherwise they could be failing.

Also check to make sure dust isn't caked on the heatsink because that can cause the system to shut itself down when it's not cooling good.

The power supply could definitely be failing, though. You can probably get one anywhere for $20 or less but that may also depend on the manufacturer of the computer. If it's a name brand the fit might be different but if it's a custom machine anything will probably go.

May need specs and model number to provide more detailed information.

[Grimey]

It's a (HP)Compaq Presario 5410US.

Her house caught on fire about a year ago and they inspected the computer (In other words, turned it on and put an OK sticker on it...:rolleyes:). The inside of the computer is coated. I sprayed off the cpu, etc. best I could. The wierd thing is everything seemed to be fine until windows started loading.

I feel bad because the lady doesn't have a lot of money and she went and bought the HDD and turns out that is not her only issue...:( She spent $100, a little bit more and she could have had a new sys.

[davidj]

Well that sucks. That's a really old computer so finding parts might be difficult.

[venom_5]

have you tried changing anything on the BIOS? or just simply resetting them ...

also, have you tried running in Safe Mode and seeing if that is stable?