So I had recently been having problems with my computer. At first, the computer would restart at random times. It would still be 'on' but not functioning.

I completely turned it off and checked the inside. Looking at my mess of cords, I assumed that one of them was rubbing up on the CPU fan (heatsink was unusually hot). I moved the cords, blew out the dust, and set it back up. I verified the CPU fan was running. It worked fine.

About a day later, I had the same problem occur. When I looked back in there, it looked like a cord had once again gotten in the way. This time, I did a better job of moving it out of the way. I started the computer again, and it ran fine. I used it for about 2 days (constantly running) with no problems.

After that, I went away for the weekend so I decided to turn off the computer in case something happened while I was gone. When I came back, I tried to turn on the computer. The light turned on, and things started running inside the computer (fans, for instance), but I received no beeps and no video signal (it responded enough to flicker the screen when turned on, but nothing else).

My roommate and I then decided to hook it up to his power supply to see what happened. We kept everything to a minimum: only had the main power connector connected to the motherboard, and only connected a keyboard and monitor to the computer. The computer started up, received a single beep, but held on the "Checking VRAM" message (I think that it was "VRAM" that it listed).

So I think that the power supply is bad. Any suggestions on a new one? I may be interested in getting something nicer for the long term since I will probably upgrade my computer fully soon (AGP video ftl).

Also, any thoughts as to what it might have taken with it?

1/22/2007 4:29:46 PM

Have you ruled out RAM and motherboard problems?

Is your powersupply an el'cheapo one?

Have you tried using your roommate's power supply with everything plugged in to see if your computer runs normally?

1/22/2007 7:29:46 PM