BleepingComputer.com: power supply ? or mother

Anyone familiar with echo star? Is it a good brand. It was replaced a little over two years ago along with the motherboard under warranty (Best Buy)-thank God. Never had any problems before that or until now. I posted a question on the XP site, with no response-maybe the wrong forum. Any way my '04 Gateway 504GR was working fine when I hooked it up after our move. Note I placed it along with the monitor on the floor board of the car we towed behind our U-haul. When I hooked it up everything seemed fine. Downloaded a typing program in a drive that could not find a certain file to work, then tried a different drive and it downloaded fine. As I continued to now use the program, about 45 minutes in - the computer shut itself off and went into a power saving mode. After unplugging and checking to see if everything was connected correctly it finally booted up. Thought it was a one time incident, everything seemed fine and later in the evening I defragged (I believe that's what it's called) with the assistance of a friend. Walked away so it could finish and came back to a computer on power saving mode and now wont boot up. There is a yellow light on the monitor as well as underneath the power button when I press it, but the only thing that happens is the fan turns on for a second and that's it. If I try to keep pressing it sounds like it wants to start, but Oh wait tried again and now the fan is on so scratch that (maybe it's going bad). The light is still green on the motherboard (scratch that the green light is where the power supply is connected. I see another light on the motherboard in the top right hand corner that is not lit. )and there is now a blue light on the start button. The monitor is still yellow and still wont boot up - monitor says still on power saving mode. Any suggestions?

Monique

This post has been edited by seahawk12: 19 February 2009 - 12:10 PM

Am I still in the wrong forum?

Monique

Echo Star what?

The only connection I draw is in relation to satellite services.

In any case...many computer components are made by well-known companies to specs of a particular reseller, so I don't think I can really tell much by a name.

Re your situation, I would try a (temporary) different power supply first (because it's easiest). If you don't have one, you can try to borrow one from a friend (removing/inserting a power supply in a system normally involves removing a few screws and connecting cables properly).

System manufacturer and model?

Do you have an owner's manual? These normally provide guidance for troubleshooting routine issues that come up.

Abrupt/unpredictable system shutdowns are often due to overheating of the system, due to dust, etc. buildup and improper circulation of air.

Cleaning the Interior of your PC - http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/cleaning-the-inside-of-your-pc/

Louis

Well that's the name on the power supply box. Guess it's not so popular. Thanks for the advice it is much appreciated. I will try it and see what happpens.

Monique

Echo Star made pretty decent power supplies.
HP/Compaq/Gateway used to use a lot of them until they discovered the cheap,junk, Bestec PSU's.

I'm not sure echo star still makes power supplies as I've not seen any advertised for awhile.

Even though it is a good brand they are like any other component, subject to deterioration & failure.

The suggestion of trying a different PSU first was a very good idea.

You might also check to make sure the CPU heatsink is still attached properly [not loose] & that the heatsink/fan aren't full of dirt .

You can find a great deal of info...by using Google.

http://www.bizrate.com/powersupplies/produ...r__sort--5.html

http://www.pricewatch.com/brands/power_sup...echo_star-1.htm

Louis

I have used echo star PSUs in the past, I had a 600 watt one in my primary computer originally. It is good for low end computing-CPU, motherboard, couple sticks of ram, HD and low end video-like say, integrated. Their not what I would call particularly hardy though. and far from a performance PSU. when I added my ati 3870 x2 it completly fried it in a matter of days (it was a 600 watt PSU and the minimum wattage for the card was supposed to be 500w low and behold, it didnt have the amperage to be able to handle the card) so, I would not buy this brand of power supply if you want to do anything performance wise with it, and in your case, my guess is the PSU took a hit during the move and something broke. I would recomend replacing it with a good antec, coolermaster or corsair power supply.