Computer Help!

[d3efan]

Hi guys, well, the new cpu came in and i put it in (correctly I guess, lined up right etc.). Now, the computer wont stay on more than a few seconds without shutting itself off. What's funny is I can put power to it and it tries to come on even without pushing the power button on the tower. Nothing showing up on the screen either. I have a homebuilt computer so I will see all the boot up processes (memory check, bios, etc.)...nothing. just shuts down? any ideas? Thanks, D3

[DaveO]

Hi guys, well, the new cpu came in and i put it in (correctly I guess, lined up right etc.). Now, the computer wont stay on more than a few seconds without shutting itself off. What's funny is I can put power to it and it tries to come on even without pushing the power button on the tower. Nothing showing up on the screen either. I have a homebuilt computer so I will see all the boot up processes (memory check, bios, etc.)...nothing. just shuts down? any ideas? Thanks, D3

Hi Dan,

I'm taking a shot in the dark with answering this question. But any chance you could have a bad power supply that came with your computer?
Does the fan kick on when you try turning it on?

[SpeedyExiter]

Without any other info , I would have to go with Dave on this.
BUT there are a few questions I can ask ,that may help you.
1.What did your computer do that, caused , or make you think, your Cpu went out in the first place?
2.Did you get a faster Cpu than the one you had? Some computers need the Bios flashed (upgraded)when jumping to a faster Cpu.

Does the fan kick on when you try turning it on?

Some computers will shut off if they detect that a particular fan did not kick on.Also ,if you did upgrade your Cpu to a faster model, your old power supply may not be powerful enough. Mostly I am curious as to what the actual circumstances are that lead up to the failure of your old Cpu, and if that was the only issue.
Here's a suggestion: Put your old Cpu back in, and see what it does. Does it do exactly the same thing...Shutoff ?If you unplug and plug in your powercord with the old cpu in it, does it fire up also without the on/off button being pushed?
Without more info its hard to say.There are multiple scenarios that can occur to Motherboards that unfortunately are initially blamed on the Cpu.

[DaveO]

Well done on the tech support Speedy.

Dan you have to chime in and give us more feedback so we can try to diagnose your problem better...

[Petty43]

Yeah common sense would tell me..power off/on= power supply. Also some processors have little fans on them. Make sure your fans are spinning. My processor fan went out a year back and brand new are only 10 American greenbacks. Off the subject, but along the same lines. Back when i had dialup and had a regular phone line. After i took the baby in for a tune up and brought her home, if i picked up the phone and my computer was shut down. It would turn on and boot up. After i replaced the power supply, and processor fan, and another tune up, it never happened again. So my guess is 3 things.
1- Power Supply
2- Processor Fan
3- Tune up, thru Bios. A lot of times some people get a little crazy when their computer messes up and they change some bios, or change back to default etc. So call your local authorized computer repair shop and see what they have to say. If the remedy of this situation can't be figured out by the NHRL Certified Computer Technicians!

[DusterLag]

Definitely need more info...

But for many computers it is "normal" for the computer to turn on when the power source is plugged into it & same with if you have a phone line plugged into it & you make noise on the phone line... In the bios of many computers, especially custom built ones, there are options for "Resume on power", "Resume on phone line" & "Resume on lan" many business use these functions & I actually use the resume on power function on my servers that way if I loose power, when it comes back on they boot right back up like they were never off...

[bover907]

It may be auto shutting off due to cpu overheat. Why Did you buy a new cpu anyway, dan? did the old one just die? If you don't have good thermal interface, your cpu can overheat due to the cooling action of the fan/heatsink not working.

Like all the other's said. we need more info.

[d3efan]

OK, sorry about the late reply too...Let me see, initially my problems occured when I took it apart and cleaned the fans as I've done many times in the past. When I powered it up...nothing (on screen) and no boot up. But it wouldn't just shut down either. I hit the reset button and ONE TIME it began to boot up but stopped with a: "CPU has overspeed!" message. Tried reset a few more times and nothing. Just checked again and all 3 fans ARE coming on (case fan, cpu fan, power supply fan). I wish it were that simple. I will put the old cpu back in and see if, like Bov said, it does anything different and get back to you. The cpu I put back into the computer is exactly the same as the one I took out. Was hell trying to find one too. Thanks guys.

BTW...I use a vacum to clean the heat sink area (as I've done many times before too). did it create a static charge and fry something in that area? ops:

[Rookiesrock]

Usually ESD (electro static discharge) isn't a problem but it is always possible. Man it sounds like a cpu fan possibly not workinhg or the cpu heat sink might be skewed/off kilter if you will, lol. But usually it will boot and shut down after a few minutes not immediately. Keep in touch so we can get you up to speed by saturday night.

[bover907]

CPU overspeed...... That's interesting.... You could try entering the bios and seeing if your settings are right. You could look for "Load Failsafe defaults" and see if it boots up. Then we could go from there.

As far as cleaning with a vacuum.... One thing I learned recently, and I guess I've been lucky about not taking this precaution in the past and making out ok, is that you should hold your fan still when cleaning it with a vacuum. Don't let the vacuum cleaner cause the fan to spin up. Or, unplug the fan first. The fan spinning up causes the fan motor to act as a generator. (an electric motor and a generator are essentially the same thing. put electric to it, it spins; spin it, and it makes electric current) This electric current that is generated could damage a system.

So, in the future guys, unplug your fans before cleaning them, or hold them still with a screw driver or something.

As far as cleaning heatsinks, I like to remove the fan, and get the dust out of the fins. If you remove that fan, you'll be shocked to see how much dust is in there. They make a special kind of not static generating brush for this. I've used a regular paint brush for years, and haven't had problems, but the potential is there for ESD, if you use the wrong type brush, or brush the wrong stuff with it.

I like to clean my computers once a year, usually right before summer time.

Dan, let us know how you make out.

Also, Instead of just getting the same type CPU, you could simply get a new Mobo/Cpu combo pretty cheap. It doesn't have to be the same kind of cpu, just basically the same form factor Mobo. But that's getting ahead of ourselves here.... I'd keep trying to fix your current maching first, without spending too much $ of course.

Let us know the make/model of your computer, or if it's home built, give us some specs.

[DusterLag]

Not sure if you can get to your bios but resetting to default would be a good step as bov said, you could reset your CMOS by unplugging the computer, pulling the coin battery & moving the jumper correctly as it says in your motherboard's manual. Doing this will allow you to be sure that there are no simple incorrect bios settings.

[d3efan]

Gonna take it to the original builder of the computer. He looked at it some awhile back and reset the CMOS with the batt removal technique. Thanks for all the good suggestions too guys. It seems that the case lights dim somewhat just prior to the shutdown which could indicate a short/power draw. I do know the fans are older than dirt and gonna try different ones too. Get back with yas...

[tjwild]

im have truble with my computer going to the cable net it works on a router but when i hook it straght up ti cable net it dont work
and my route went out last night can some one help me please to get to work on cable net with out router

[DusterLag]

A good first step would be to reset (unplug, replug) your cable modem...

[tjwild]

k what next step that didnt work

[DaveO]

k what next step that didnt work

To get on the internet with cable with out a router.. Simply connect your computer directly into the modem.. Depending on what kind of a cable modem you have you might need a USB cable. Which you would use to connect your PC directly to your modem.. It's a quick and easy fix.

FYI: Some newer Cable modems this trick won't work. It all depends on what kind of Cable modem you have.

[DusterLag]

Because you already had your router connected to the cable modem there is a chance that your isp has not released the "mac" for your router so that you could use your pc (which has its own mac) directly connected to the modem... Most isp's will only allow you one mac connected at a time...

What exactly does it do when you connect your pc to your cable modem? Nothing at all or does it say "limited or no connectivity"?

[SpeedyExiter]

Duster is correct. Once a pc has been connected to a cable modem your provider issues an I.p address to that particular Pc sort of like locking it into the modem. So you have to sort of what you might say is reinstall your Pc's I.P address by doing this .............
If you are connecting more than one device (PC / Apple Mac / Xbox / Router etc) to the cable modem or...........If you are disconnecting one computer and connecting to another (like say sharing a line with your neighbor etc.Only one of you online at a time) Follow this procedure everytime you do it......

1. Shutdown the PC connected to the modem
2. Remove the cable connecting the modem to the PC (USB or Ethernet) from the PC
3. Unplug the power from the modem and wait at least 30 seconds
4. Plug the power lead only back into the modem - do not connect the lead to the 2nd PC yet. The modem will take a few seconds to 'lock-on' to the network. When the modem is ready you will see the SYNC and RDY lights are fully on.
5. Connect the 2nd PC to the modem using the USB or Ethernet cable. (If you are using USB please ensure you have installed the USB drivers prior to connecting the cable).
6. This PC will then be allocated an IP address and you should be able to connect to the internet.
Please note: the USB and Ethernet ports on the modem cannot both be used at the same time. If you do require that both computers have access to the internet at the same time then setting up a LAN (local area network) using a router is required. Hope this helps.

[tjwild]

yes that helped a lot now i got wrap problem in CTS i put in a ghost carfile but still doing it

[tjwild]

wuold a sysem restore make it wrap with out replacing the games ?