Posted: 7/21/2014 5:37:27 AM EDT
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We had a power failure after a storm. I forgot to unplug one of my desk top computers. When power was restored my desk top won't power on. I just makes a repetitive power clicking sound.
Is my computer toast or do I just need a component? |
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A few things can make clicking noises.
I'd start with the obvious - Power Supply Second, if your computer powers but doesn't boot up and you hear a clicking noise, it's your hard drive. If your computer makes more of a electronic clicking noise, might be your memory |
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Quoted:
Does the power LED on the front turn on? Do you see anything at all on the monitor? The power LED blinks in time with the clicking. The clicking is more of an electronic click (almost like a sound of a faint spark) I had to unplug the speakers as it was making the woffer thump, thump, thump in time with the led power light. |
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Quoted:
We had a power failure after a storm. I forgot to unplug one of my desk top computers. When power was restored my desk top won't power on. I just makes a repetitive power clicking sound. Is my computer toast or do I just need a component? Replace the power supply. Fixed. |
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Probably the power supply. They do click under normal operation, but usually just once. Other items in there will click too, un-parking the arms on a hard drive will cause a click to occur. Some motherboards have a little LED indicating "getting power" when the unit is plugged in, but turned off. Open the case, with it plugged in, and look inside. Then, turn on the power supply using the switch ON THE POWER SUPPLY. (Skip that step if none exists.) You could look up your motherboard and see if there is an LED light that indicates power. I agree with everybody else, if you can't figure out what got blown, replacing the power supply is a good bet. Get one with higher wattage this time as that is helpful for future upgrades if you decide to go that route.
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If you see the BIOS come up, it is probably the hard drive. Replace it or buy a new PC.
If you don't see the BIOS come up, it is one of these: 1. If nothing comes up, pull out any PCI cards and try starting it up. A bad card can prevent a system from turning on at all. I've seen it twice with network cards. If it starts up after removing a card, figure out what it is and replace it. 2. If that doesn't work, remove all but one RAM stick. If it still doesn't come up, swap that stick with another one to make sure you didn't pick the bad one to leave in. If it starts up, figure out what RAM you need and replace it. 3. Reset the CMOS. If that doesn't work, move on to #4. 4. If that doesn't work, it is probably the power supply. In fact, it was probably the power supply to begin with, but 1, 2, & 3 are free and easy to try so they might as well be checked first. Should be able to get one for <$50 assuming you are running a vanilla <insert bulk PC manufacturer here> setup. 5. If that doesn't work, it is either the motherboard, CPU, or multiple failures. You are probably better off buying a new PC unless you have some high-end monster that isn't already obsolete. Hopefully your hard drive isn't toast so you can recover all of the uber important family photos and other irreplaceable files that you probably don't have backed up. You can probably claim it under homeowners insurance, but if you are like 80% of PC users you are probably better off buying a new $300 cheapie and calling it a day. ETA and buy a quality power strip for heaven's sake. People spend thousands of dollars on fancy electronic gizmos (that are usually built with extremely cheap and sensitive power supplies). Then they go out and buy a cheap $5 Wally World power strip with "Such wow!" surge protection - that is assuming they buy any surge protection at all - to protect it. |
If yours has a standard ATX power supply connector for the motherboard, then try shorting the green wire to black (ground). This should turn on the power supply. It's a quick way to tell if the power supply is shot, or if the motherboard isn't sending the turn on signal (shorting green to ground) to the power supply. |