Bad HD or motherboard?

[mgwb]

Hello,

I have a system running windows XP that is refusing to turn on. The only signs of power i see are the green light on the motherboard and a clock on the front panel. Pressing the power button does nothing. No lights and no activity. That is until I disconnect and reconnect the main power cable, motherboard power connector, and IDE cables from the motherboard. After doing that, the system will start up again but may stay on for weeks or may only stay on for a few minutes. Power supply tests good. Event log shows that the disk has bad blocks. Could a bad HD cause this or is it more likely the motherboard? Any info would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[BadBigBen]

How did you test the PSU? Have you tried another PSU with equal or more wattage?

if it is not the PSU, then yes it could be either the mainboard or the HDD, but have you tried to power on the mainboard without the HDD plugged in (sata - remove the cable from the mainboard)...

if the drives in the PC are all IDE, then remove the ODD (CD-ROM DVD etc.) from the chain and power, see if that changes things... I've seen problems like this from a bad CD-ROM...


Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[kjv1611]

Easy test to rule out the hard drive? Unplug it. If the system runs fine without it, that was likely your culprit. So to test, you could wait for this to occur again (since it could be weeks at times), then when it happens, unplug the hard drive (power and IDE), and see if the system will attempt to boot.

And if you have reason to believe it is the hard drive, those are dirt cheap nowadays. You can get a large fast SATA drive for $50 to $60.

 

[rclarke250]

I have also seen blown caps on the system board or in the power supply cause this issue. If you are not familiar with electronics, do not attempt to open the power supply.

 

[KellieDobbie]

There's a great possibility it's a system board issue. I had a system once with the same problem. How old is your motherboard?

 

[FredWagner]

There have been occasional issues with capacitors on the motherboard failing - see if any are looking 'bulgy' - if so, the simplest solution is a new motherboard.

Fred Wagner

 

[kjv1611]

Here's one good reference (there are others as well) on bulging/leaking capacitors, in case you are unsure about it:

http://www.capacitorlab.com/visible-failures/