Dead hard drive?

[roccenstein]

I turned on my desktop earlier and everything was fine.  I was at my desk on the other side of the room when it suddenly shut off on it's own.  When I tried to turn it back on, it would power on, but the monitor/display won't start up.  The HD light is solid (not blinking) and I don't hear the HD winding up.  At first I thought it might have been an issue with my video card so I switched it out with a spare I had but that didn't help.  I've had HDs go out in the past, but at least with W95/98 I seem to remember getting a message that the HD was about to fail, I didn't see any such message this time (using W7).  Any suggestions or does it sound like my HD is toast?  Luckily I'm not too concerned, other than the expense of buying a new HD all my important info (pics, etc) are on an external HD.

Update:  I saw something online where someone was describing a similar problem and was told to remove the power cord and then hold the power button for 30 seconds, then plug the cord back in.  Tried that and when I hit power, only two of the lighted fans I have lit up and then it shut off.  I hit power again and this time it stayed on, but again only those two fans were lit and it wouldn't boot.  Now I'm wondering if it could be the power supply which I've never replaced (had the PC for 8 years or so).

[roccenstein]

No suggestions? 

[Scruff]

The fan issue provides a clue here. I assume that you have multiple fans and they plug into different areas of the motherboard, or some directly into the power supply?

This indicates that power is not reaching all areas of the computer. The cause is likely to be the power supply itself (most likely) or possibly the motherboard (particularly if it has onboard regulator circuitry).

My advice is to try a new power supply first. They are cheap and usually don't last as long as yours has. 8 years is actually a very good life.

If the power supply has failed, then it's possible that the hard drive is not getting power either (like some of the fans), thus you don't hear it starting up.

The good news is that this certainly does not sound like a failed drive - as a failed drive would not affect the fans in any way.

[roccenstein]

That's more or less what I figured (and am hoping).  I just ordered a new PSU, hopefully that does the trick.

[roccenstein]

Turns out it was the PSU.  Changed it last night which was a little difficult due to the fact that my 9 year old PC used mostly the older 4 (or is it 5?) pin connectors and the new PSU had only a few of those, the others being the newer, slimmer style.

[Geek-9pm]

had the PC for 8 years or so

It is time to get a new PC.