Free PC Support

CazDac · Joined: 12 Nov 2008 Posts: 1

I am a technophobe - let's get that bit straight! Very Happy

OK - so turn pc on and it starts to boot up, but will then suddenly freeze and then switch off.

As far as I am aware nothing unusual occurred (no upgrades/additions) before this started happening.

Has my pc died? Will I need to by a new box? If so, can I get at any of the files from the old hard drive?

Many, many thanks for answering!

Caz

Markb · Joined: 29 Nov 2007 Posts: 166 Location: UK

Hi Caz, Welcome to the forum.
It would appear that something in your PC has died. Whether it can be resurrected is another question. From your brief description it sounds like the data on the hard drive may be safe, it very much depends on what part of the boot sequence it fails at though.

When a PC first boots up, it runs through the Power On Self Test (POST) if there is a failure during this, it is usually accompanied by a sequence of beeps. Any signs of this?

Any further information you can give would be appreciated though. The following would be needed.

Also a close look at the screen at what is happening at the moment the machine freezes.

Does it turn off or just keep rebooting?

Regards.

Mark.

paktc · Joined: 20 Nov 2008 Posts: 1

One of the most common issues I have run into with your symptom is a faulty power supply. It is possible that the -5v line to the motherboard connector has no voltage being fed to it. The system will try to run without it but during the POST the BIOS will test for the condition and shut down the power supply through the control line switch if no voltage is found.