Desktops: PC power cycling on & off
PC power cycling on & off
by Romcc - 2/20/09 7:04 AMHi everyone,
I need some info & I hope you all can guide me in the right direction.
I have a ThinkCentre PC MT-M running XP Pro w/SP2. It stays on constantly. I've never had an issue of any kind with it. No new software or devices have been installed recently & no changes have been made to its power saving settings in any way.
I came down yesterday & noticed it making a boot noise & then, in about 2 seconds would cycle off. I took off the side cover & noticed the fans would kick on, I could hear my screen get signal & then down it would go. This repeats continuously. It has a LiteOn PS.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks much
Thats and older pc
by darkzenlord - 2/20/09 12:30 PM In reply to: PC power cycling on & off by RomccIt is more likely with the age, you would experience an issue such as this. If this constantly reboots and fails to POST, (before windows) sounds like a hardware issue. (maybe you proc overheated, something like that). If it is getting to windows boot screen, then restarts, your windows is bluescreening and the startup and recovery option is to automatically restart on those types of errors.
So let us know, if it only stays on for like 4-6 seconds before it reboots, that would be failing to post and is most likely a hardware issue.
Let us know!
PC cycles on & off
by Romcc - 2/20/09 1:25 PM In reply to: Thats and older pc by darkzenlordI've just had it about a year but who knows how long since its been made right?
Anyway- the on & off cycles are about 1-2 second increments. For 1-2 seconds the fans come on & then 1-2 seconds- they go off. I've had it off since this morning & I just plugged it back in & it does the same thing-continuously.
thanks much- any ideas?
RMc
PC power cycles on & off
by Romcc - 2/22/09 8:02 AM In reply to: Thats and older pc by darkzenlordDarkzenlord- no- never hear any beeps & the screen remains dark. The yellow LED on the back of the PSU blinks when it tries to boot but its just a blink & nothing more- Thankx to all for the input.
RoMcc
Sounds like heat to me . . .
by Coryphaeus - 2/20/09 1:11 PM In reply to: PC power cycling on & off by RomccBlown the dust out of it lately? Especially around the cooling vanes on the processor.
PC cycling on & off
by Romcc - 2/20/09 1:22 PM In reply to: Sounds like heat to me . . . by CoryphaeusThanks for the reply but it does it immediately when its plugged in after its been off for hours.The processors have had plenty of time to cool & its about a 2 second on & off cycle. It boots for 2 secs & goes off for two seconds- & this repeats continuously.
Rmc
Start unplugging things . . .
by Coryphaeus - 2/20/09 3:03 PM In reply to: PC cycling on & off by RomccUnplug:
RAM
hard drive
optical drive, all
anything plugged into an expansion port, except video card if one is present
Power up. If you get a boot that shows no operating system found, good. Power off. Plug back in in this order, one at a time and power up to test. After each device passes, add another:
RAM
hard drive
optical drive
expansion cards
This will be time intensive but you need to find a possible defective device.
Clean it
by Dango517 - 2/20/09 8:29 PM In reply to: PC power cycling on & off by RomccReplace thermal paste/grease. Check your fan connections. (Touch a metal object before you do anything inside your PC tower. Also unplug it.) A faulty CPU
fan can cause an immediate shut down but usually with a warning message. Yours might be shorting out on boot.
same problem, I think.
by Bruno Carvajal - 2/20/09 9:05 PM In reply to: PC power cycling on & off by Romcctry to do without the back-up battery,if it resolves, change the back up battery inside the back up, if continues go to the power unit, did both, but ended installing a new motherboard. In my case, an old pc. Hope it helps.
pc power cycles on & off
by Romcc - 2/22/09 7:54 AM In reply to: same problem, I think. by Bruno CarvajalTried that but the problem remains Bruno- thankx- according to an IBM site Wanderlust sent me to- it looks like a board problem.
get a new motherboard.
by Bruno Carvajal - 2/23/09 3:55 PM In reply to: same problem, I think. by Bruno Carvajaltold you, it was the motherboard, prepare to call microsoft because the hard drive will not get along with the new motherboard, at least that was what happened to me and everything was save on windows old but had to reinstall windows again. If it works for you and don't have to reinstall windows again let me know how you did it so that I can learn. Thanks, Bruno
PC power cycles on & off
by Romcc - 2/23/09 4:46 PM In reply to: get a new motherboard. by Bruno CarvajalYes you did Bruno. I don't know which way I'm going yet as I've been told to buy an original OEM for the MB or throw my money to the ponies.
The ones I've seen are pricey so maybe a new PC & somehow figure out how to transfer the HD to a new barebones------------------but I understand that's a pain in itself as well. I'll let you know how things turn out & thanks again.
RoMcc
Constant re-boot
by wanderlustfl - 2/21/09 7:10 AM In reply to: PC power cycling on & off by RomccYou still haven't said whether you are getting 'post'.
If you are not getting post then follow the options above re the RAM, HDD, etc., although there is a good chance it's either the Hard Drive failed, or a failure somewhere on your motherboard or processor.
Are you getting any 'beeps' ? - If so, how many and in what sort of frequency ?
If you ARE getting post, does it get as far as the Windows screen before recycling ?
If not, then it is still likely to be a hard drive problem.
If you ARE getting the Windows screen, it is most likely damage to the boot sector. In this case, if you've nothing you need to keep, then re-install Windows. If you do need to keep stuff, then at this stage you can decide whether to take it to a repair shop or not. In a repair shop, they can check your hard drive and whether the data on it is accessible. If it is, they can back it up and either re-install, or repair your boot manager.
Have you tried Safe Mode (press F8 during startup) ? You probably have, but it is worth asking. You can use Safe mode to find a restore point to work from.
If you want to try a repair yourself, then there is a way you can repair the boot manager using the Windows CD to boot into the Windows Repair Console. I have done several tutorials for this, but they are for PHP boards. However, I can either provide a link, or attempt to post it here. It goes a bit deeper than the usual 'fixmbr' and rebuilds the master boot record from scratch, using the recovery console. (A short series of DOS commands).
If the Windows CD can't find an installtion to repair then you are back to a possibly broken hard drive.
Did you get recovery CDs with the PC ? If so, have you tried doing a partial recovery ? Or if it has an on-board recovery partition, have you tried using that ? Be careful, though, because if it does not allow a partial recovery/repair option, then you will most likely wipe all your data and installed programmes.
I'll go and look this up and look back later to see how you got on.
Constant Re-Boot
by wanderlustfl - 2/21/09 7:36 AM In reply to: Constant re-boot by wanderlustflI see you have subscribed to the Lenovo forums but had no reply posted as yet.
Have you tried following the steps in this page :
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-4XVQAL
(Copy and paste the link into your browser)
PC power cycles on & off
by Romcc - 2/22/09 7:51 AM In reply to: Constant Re-Boot by wanderlustflAha- Wanderlustfl- the yellow light on my PSU blinks momentarily when the system tries to boot. According to the chart on the IBM iste- this indicates systme board which is?????????? Mother board?
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