Woke up to find my PC completely dead...nothing - no life at all. I assumed power supply so a mate brought round a spare one .... plugged in all in - still nothing (we did not connect floopy as leads were to short - would that make a difference?). As soon as you plug in a power supply (connected up to mother board etc or not) would you expect to see live in power supply unit ie fan would immediately work or could my mates be broken aswell?

If the the other power supply has not blown (conincidence !!) what else could it be ?? (I have tested plugs, power supply cables & all OK)

Cheers as always

Saint

The cpu fan could have quit and caused the cpu to burn up…Or the main board..

It’ll be a process of elimination. You’ll have to replace items till you find the culprit.

You can get an ATX power supply tester at COMPUSA for $10. If you don't want to do that, you can use a voltmeter and test for voltages out of the power supply. I think red wire is 5 Volts and Yellow wire is 12 Volts. I will see if I can get pin-outs for the ATX power supply and post them here.

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Other than that you need to see how the computer's power switch is connected to the Power supply, or the motherboard. See if you can find some motherboard information such as make and model and we might be able to see a layout of the motherboard. We might then be able to tell you what you might to do on the motherboard to make the computer start. If you are not comfortable working with this approach, then we might be limited in how much help we can be.

How old is the computer and can you provide some specs?

Yep. Please what motherboard make/model is it ?

Some have a surface mount fuse that may be blown. Also, check the power cord continuity.

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(we did not connect floopy as leads were to short - would that make a difference?). As soon as you plug in a power supply (connected up to mother board etc or not) would you expect to see live in power supply unit ie fan would immediately work or could my mates be broken aswell

Floppy will make no difference. If the power supply is not connected to the board, it will not start. Although it's rare, the power button may also be dead, or the electronic circuit that powers the mainboard (soft button) may be dead.

Chris

If the CPU had blown, then would the power supply show no life at all ie...ie as soon as I plug it in the power supply, would the power supply fan would not even spin ??

The power supply will never start unless it's properly connected to the motherboard and triggered by the case power button, which is also connected to the motherboard. Hard buttons can be checked with a continuity meter, soft buttons are wired to an electronic circuit that triggers the PSU/mobo.

Just a dumb question, have you tried another wall outlet ?

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If the CPU had blown, then would the power supply show no life at all

CPU (Central Processing Unit) blown is abstract. Some people call the computer itself the CPU. Other's refer to the CPU as the component that plugs into the motherboard. The power supply fan as well as the CPU fan get there power from the power supply. Because of this, we first have to determine if the power supply is powering up. If the power supply does not turn on (power up) the CPU fan will not spin.

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ie...ie as soon as I plug it in the power supply, would the power supply fan would not even spin ??

The power supply fan depends on the power supply itself for its Voltage and current. In a fully functional computer, as soon as the computer is turned on, the power supply powers up and the fans start immediately.

We will answer any question you have, based on information you provide us from this point on. At this time, to help get up and running, we need information about your computer.

The computer make and model
The motherboard make and model. You might be able to find this written on the motherboard.
The age of the computer. This might give us a clue about the type of power supply (AT or ATX) that you have.
Any computer specifications you can provide.

zap

If your on/off button on the front of the case broke, your power supply may not turn on even if plugged into the mainboard. If you have a plug-in power supply tester, you plug it into the PS main cable and only then will the PS start (don't forget to turn on the PS switch on the PS itself). If you do not have a tester, the way to check this is to remove the computer case cover. Trace the wire coming from the front panel on/off switch to where it plugs into the mainboard. Unplug it at the mainboard. You will see two tiny contacts. Make sure everything is plugged in as normal and the power supply switch on the rear of the case is on, then take a small screwdriver and short the two contacts. If the computer suddenly starts up, you have a bad on/off switch. If it still does not start, you have a bad power supply or a bad mainboard. Another test is to take the questionable PS off your computer and mount it on your mate's, and see if his computer powers up or not.

My PC has risen from the dead..power supply after all

Thanks for all your help as always

Saint

Good.