BleepingComputer.com: Powering on issues

Hi everyone,

For those of you who remember the dinosaurs, I have one. It's a Gateway (thanks to my wife) "310X H" and the manufacturing date is from 03. Yes, a 9 year old dinosaur. Anyway, the past few days, I have noticed that I cannot turn the computer on. I usually keep it on standby but noticed recently that I've had to manually power it on. This could be in part due to my 2 year old son who loves to repeatedly push the power button on the computer when I am not home. Now when I try to turn it on, it powers on for about 3 to 5 seconds and immediately shuts down. I have tried other outlets in the house with the same result. Several minutes ago, I plugged it into the usual outlet and it powered on and off repeatedly on its own for about 30 seconds, each cycle only lasting about 3 to 5 seconds.

While I do have quite a bit of data (photos, music, etc.) on this computer, it would not be a significant loss if I had to replace it. My wife is much happier with her laptop anyway. I am the primary user and my music files are the only things that would be missed as I don't have backups for all of them. I know it's a longshot since this computer is nearly 12 years old, but I thought I would give it a shot and ask someone first.

Thanks in advance for your help.

with it unplugged hold the power button in for about 40-60 seconds and try turning it on again .
shutting down with the power button can corrupt windows ,but usually you get a error message about corrupt or missing file

Check the motherboard for leaking or bulging capacitors.

Your files should be fine if you remove the hard drive and use another PC to copy the files off.

caperjac,

Thanks for the reply. Come to think of it, I did see an error message pop up a few days ago mentioning something about a registry issue that was resolved, but it very well could have included the corrupt or missing file message. I'm at work right now but I'll try your suggestion when I get home. Thanks for the help.

There is also a possibility of a drained CMOS battery that needs replacement.

You could also reseat connections. Plugs, cables, molex power connector, mobo 20 pin connector, hard drive and make sure they are firmly seated.
The power supply could also be the cause of the problem as additional suggestion.

dif,

Thanks for the reply. I didn't notice anything when I removed the cover yesterday but I didn't know to look for those issues. A coworker suggested that it might need a good air-dusting if that had not been done in a while and that could prevent the unit from turning on if it was overheating. It was definitely due for a good cleaning since I added RAM a few years ago but of course that wasn't the issue. That would be too easy.

I'll check it again when I get home from work and see if anything looks suspicious. Thanks for the suggestion.

jhayz,

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, I have no idea what a "CMOS battery, molex power connector, and mobo 20 pin connector" are, but like most lab monkeys I can be coached through it. If all else fails with the other suggestions, I would guess the options you mentioned are the next likely steps to take.

Thanks for the help.

The connectors are those that fits the hard drive and optical drives which are usually 4 pin(molex) coming from the power supply. The 20 pin is for the motherboard. Sometimes you have to count certain pins to understand what these are. I won't provide an image for a learning experience on your part. See image on CMOS battery on previous reply.

This post has been edited by jhayz: 17 January 2012 - 10:22 PM

Hello again,

I changed the CMOS battery. It was much easier to find than I thought, but I could not download the image at work. After about 10 or more tries, it finally booted up and gave me the "Windows did not start successfully" message. The light on my D drive is flashing and clicking loudly each time it starts up. I have the options to start in safe mode, safe mode with networking, safe mode with command prompt, and start using the most recent successful configuration (I think). Was finally able to choose "start normally" and made it to the login screen, but it informed me that Windows is shutting down. It keeps trying to power up on its own. May be time to call an exorcist.

Are the prompts for Bios Settings (F10) or Boot Menu (F2) of any importance? Those pop up as normal but wasn't sure if I should aim for one of them. I've made it to the "Windows is starting up" screen (just before I login) 3 times now, but each time it shuts down.

Check on the date and time first when on BIOS settings. Load default settings, check hard drive is recognized.

Quote

Usually when you changed or removed the battery. Two more things that need attention based on your post. Another working power supply and a faulty hard drive. You must look first on salvaging important documents as that click does not sound good. What is a D drive flashing?

The D drive is just a CD drive. The light on it flashes in sync with the clicking noise. There really aren't any important documents to save from this computer. The most I have of any value are music files and pictures, but I have nearly all of those on CDs or a laptop. The bad news is that I don't have another working power supply (as far as I know). Just a desktop (the problem) and the laptop are my only 2 computers.

After a number of tries, it finally cut on and made it to the Windows login screen, and then this message popped up.

Limited virtual memory.

Your system has no paging file, or the paging file is too small.

To fix this problem, go to System in Control Panel, click the Advanced tab, and under Performance, click Settings. On the Advanced tab, click Change. Click "Custom size," and then type an initial or maximum paging file size.

Any ideas?

power1up, on 18 January 2012 - 05:18 PM, said:

follow it ,but don't customize it make sure its set to let windows manage the swap file .
also open my computer and right click on your hard drive icon and go to properties and see how much free space is on the drive ,it may be clos to full and need some cleaning of files and programs you no longer need or use