Computer Question

Last night my wife noticed her computer was running really slow so decided to shut it down and restart it. When she pushed the power button, nothing happened. I opened it up, cleaned out the dust which to my surprise wasn’t that bad. Removed the button and messed with it but still no power and the fan doesn’t run. Any ideas????? Could it be the switch or somethinig more serious like a mother board. I don’t want to put allot of money in it………………it is going on 11 years old. Just would like to get some things off it like my itunes (which I have backed up to disc) and our taxes which we just did. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

What kind of computer? Desk or laptop.

Desk top. Wife gave me wrong info. The computer is 5 years old. It is a Dell Dimension 4600.

Could be the power supply…see if your getting power out.
Do you have a multimeter?

We just had a big nasty virus that the anti virus did not pick up. It is called “Spyware Protect 2009”. It looks like a genuine program, puts itself on the start menu, little icon in the lower right that looks like a sheild, very deceiving. It comes in and blocks any web site that can help, erases all passwords hoping you will type them back in, and messes with the processor to slow down the computer, it even gets in and starts dis-abling hardware (like the power button).
I had to load an operating system on a new harddrive on another computer. Plug that in and wipe the original harddrive clean. I guess there are places you can go “geek squad” and they can pick away at it for like $150! And no gaurantee they got it all. I really hope this is not your problem!! I would not wish this pain in the on my worst enemy. Best of luck.

power supply. i just replaced mine, did the same thing yours did. order a new one for $29.00 and mark the cords as you unplug them. easy fix. power supply

Had same thing happen to my lab top and it was fried. Just a thought it was a real pain but when i restarted it it would not start back up.

it could be the switch, power supply or motherboard. if any of those did fail, your data will still be on the hard drive. easiest fix, and most likely would be a power supply, and walmart or ebay will be the cheapest for that for. if it is a full size tower, it should just take a standard ATX power supply, it will take you 5 minutes to put it in. 4 screws and a few plugs.

if the machine will not work after installing a power supply, and you can afford a new one, i would just go and get a new pc before you start dumping a bunch of money into an old one. you can get a brand new dell online for like 300-500 bucks. and a new motherboard alone in your pc will be 100+ just check this site, they update deals from dell everyday
http://www.gotapex.com/

if you end up having to retrieve data, you can take it some where and pay a few bucks. or if you’re comfortable doing it, ship me the hard drive and i’ll pull everything off of it for free and put it on cd’s for you.

I had about the same issue,,, computer was real slow, tried to re-boot it but it would not power back up. power supply had fried! I was able to find the same model for around $40 online.

Thanks for the info……think I will go to Wally World and see if they have a power supply. If not…..Best Buy. I looked at the old one and it looks easy to replace.

Thanks for the advise guys. Went to Best Buy and picked up a power supply. Pushed button… …works… …wife is happy!!!!!

Glad you got it going. Reminds me, I have to do this on the kids computer.

Anyone recommend what size to get for an older AMD machine?

There are several different types. Best thing to do is take out the old and bring it with you to the computer shop so they can get you the best match. Take pictures or make diagrams if necessary so you will remember how to hook it back up.

200 Watts should do the trick….Unless he has a mondo video card etc.

I think the smallest one Best Buy had was 400 watt which is what I put in. They said the bigger ones are if you are a gamer, run big video programs, etc. As far as installing it, I unplugged one of the old and then plugged in one from the new. Went very smooth. There were also two lines and plugs that I didn’t need so used zip ties to keep them out of the way.

Thanks, I had a parts computer so my son and I just swapped them out. I think it was 300 or 350 watts. Good to go now.

I let him do most of the work so he could learn. It was a fun little project for us.