yup, agreed w/ that... 
There are two sets of rules. One set for the rulers and another for the rest of us. —Richard Yancey, former IRS tax collector
Posted on 02/17/2009 4:21:46 AM PST by Perdogg
I download some music this morning and when I removed my USB connector to my Sony MP3 player my computer went dead. I tried a hard boot, but the computer is not booting up.
I am assuming that "she's dead, jim", right? The fan won't start and my zip drive has conniption fits when I start try to start her up. My CD rom won't open either.
Is there any way I can recover the contents of my hard drive? How do I dispose of the computer and get rid of the personal information.
Is this a good computer?
Depending upon the PC Manufacturer, this is not indicative that the power is fine, it may merely be saying that the AC Power is on. The fact that you do not hear the power supply fan, integral to all PCs except for the Mac Cube types, makes it likely to be Power Supply death, especially given the suddenness of the problem.
yup, agreed w/ that...
It sounds like your power supply blew. It happens. You have a few choices. Get a new PS and install (it's not that hard) in your existing system; buy a new system, (I don't know anything about the brand you inquired about, but the specs look good enough.) and put your old harddrive in there as a second drive; refurbish old system as suggested, but put it into use as a separate data store, or auxiliary system, or give it to your kid (if you have one) to play around on.
Can you hear the fan running when you turn on the PC? When you say the green light comes on then goes off, is that instantly?
The power supply may be fine, but the power cable may be bad. Or, there may be a loose cable within the box itself. To check for a loose cable, unplug the box from the outlet, then open the box. Be careful as you don't want static to discharge, ruining components within the box. As for a power cable, they're inexpensive and any computer store should have them available. That's the first thing I'd try.
Assuming that you do back ups.
Most people don't, until they get burned.
==
It would be the power supply. It could also be a problem with the motherboard.
If it were the drive that was bad, the machine would still try to start, and you would hear a low grinding type sound as the BIOS tries to communicate with the hard drive.
Can you boot from a CD/DVD drive or 3.5 floppy drive? If so, try putting a bootable disk in and see if the computer boots from the disk. If it won't, then the problem sounds to be the power supply or motherboard.
If that is the case, you (or your technician) can probably reclaim the data on the hard drive to a new computer.
==
Computers are relatively cheap. Local tech charges $99 minimum to even open a case. New computers from Tigerdirect.com, for example, are as cheap as $299.
I bought my last system without keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc., to save a few $$$$.
Weigh the cost of repair against the cost of a new one.
Did you remove the USB drive from the back or the front of the computer?
Yes, there is a difference. The back one is on the motherboard and the front one is connected to the motherboard. It may be a short.
I run both XP Pro and Vista 64-bit Business. No problems with XP; Vista crashes at least once a day (although it recovers automatically without data loss) and I basically run Office 97 and Open Office on both, nothing too stressful. My Latitude D630 has the innards to supposedly be able to handle 64-bit Vista including 4 G RAM. Never should have ‘upgraded’ from 32-bit Business. I’m very disappointed w/ 64-bit Vista; glad it works OK for you, though.
How do I get a computer without Vista?? Macs are too expensive.
From the front.
Ask for XP. Seriously. I bought 14 HP boxes last week with XP on them. I'll be buying another 50 or so in the next month. All will come pre-loaded with xP.
Join the computer talk!
Will XP support Office 2007?
Open the computer and find where the USB port connects to the motherboard. If it is loose, push it in. If it isn’t, disconnect it.
Make sure you follow the right wire.
Yes. I am running it now.
I prefer Vista 64 though.
If you look closely at the motherboard, it should tell you which connection is the USB. It’s usually in little writing on the board.
thanks, I will probably buy a new computer. I got a ding on my windshield last week and tried to fix it myself. LOL!
I just bought a computer last night on line for my mother. I wanted to get something with limited stuff packed onto the hard drive and ended up going with a model at
Tigerdirect.com
I purchased this item: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3403941&CatId=4036
100% made in the USA and their support is excellent. I could spend less and get more stuff but I get to start out with a pretty empty hard drive and put MY stuff on it and it will be plenty fast.
Clear fingernail polish.
If you can get the computer to come up, you can get your files into a USB drive.
Your computer needs several different levels of power. It’s quite possible to have one or more of those levels just right but another be really off. Power supplies are notoriously fickle.
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