Computer switches off during startup

[haydenb]

Hi Guys,

I just shipped over my desktop PC from Australia to England (not sure exactly what brand it is, it was custom built for audio, it has an intel processer and is running Windows XP home edition).

When I got it, I heard a rattle and opened up the case and the large heatsink/fan that sits on top of the processor had come loose (despite packing with lots of protective padding!). I pushed it back in and it works fine along with the fan on the power source, and the fan on the back of the case. But everytime I boot up the computer just loses power all of a sudden around the 30 second mark. It passes its bootup sequence and progresses to the loading Windows XP screen. Thats what happened the first time I turned it on and subsequently it has just got to the 'Safe Mode' Startup screen and it cuts out there instead, but always around the same time.

I checked that the mains voltage is virtually the same (240v 50htz in Australia, 230 volts 50htz in England) and my search for similar problems on this forum suggested that often the the fan on the power source doesn't work but mine seems to be running so I'm not sure what the issue is here? The only other relevant piece of information that I can think of is that my computer has silent fans as its designed to be in a studio.

Any suggestions or insight? Could the loose heatsink/fan have damaged some of the circuitry or is it an obvious power source issue?

Regards,
Hayden

[patio]

Travel to Arctic Silver's site for instructions on cleaning the heatsink properly and applying thermal paste.
I'm assuming the CPU fan is running correct ? ?
Also while in there make sure to re-seat all add on cards and RAM sticks just to be sure they are seated properly.
Hopefully it's just the unit shutting down from heat which the thermal compound should help.
Other than that if all else fails then borrow a known good PSU of the same or greater wattage and swap it in there to see if that's the trouble...

[Doug Vitale]

Hi Guys,

I just shipped over my desktop PC from Australia to England (not sure exactly what brand it is, it was custom built for audio, it has an intel processer and is running Windows XP home edition).

When I got it, I heard a rattle and opened up the case and the large heatsink/fan that sits on top of the processor had come loose (despite packing with lots of protective padding!). I pushed it back in and it works fine along with the fan on the power source, and the fan on the back of the case. But everytime I boot up the computer just loses power all of a sudden around the 30 second mark. It passes its bootup sequence and progresses to the loading Windows XP screen. Thats what happened the first time I turned it on and subsequently it has just got to the 'Safe Mode' Startup screen and it cuts out there instead, but always around the same time.

I checked that the mains voltage is virtually the same (240v 50htz in Australia, 230 volts 50htz in England) and my search for similar problems on this forum suggested that often the the fan on the power source doesn't work but mine seems to be running so I'm not sure what the issue is here? The only other relevant piece of information that I can think of is that my computer has silent fans as its designed to be in a studio.

Any suggestions or insight? Could the loose heatsink/fan have damaged some of the circuitry or is it an obvious power source issue?

Regards,
Hayden

If you packed your PC up with "lots of protective padding", and the CPU fan was loose when it arrived at the destination, that suggests to me that something happened while it was en route. Maybe somebody fiddled around with your PC? In my experience, the fan that sits on top of the CPU is pretty securely fastened down.

Did you try booting the PC with the case open to observe first-hand if the fans are spinning when boot up? If they are, it sounds like maybe your power supply is bad, which can be dangerous and I wouldn't recommend playinging around with that. Then again, maybe the "240v 50htz in Australia, 230 volts 50htz in England" difference is not such a trivial detail as you imply. Try calling a computer shop and asking someone there about it. If it's not an issue, then I really think that something bad happened to your PC between Australia and England. Good luck.