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Please help my plotter wont work when i switch on pc
I came in this morning to discover that the PC that drives my plotter wasn’t working. It’s as if the power supply is dead. Nothing happens when I try to switch on.
I’ve noticed recently that it didn’t always switch on straight away in the mornings (I switch everything off at night) and I often had to press the on switch again to make it start up. Also there was an occasion last week when it re-booted itself for no apparent reason. I’m guessing that either the "on" switch or the power supply is at fault.
What do I need to do to fix it?:(
I’ve managed to get by by bringing in another PC from home to drive the plotter – but Ideally I’d like this one working again as it is all configured the way I want it.
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15 Replies
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Hi
What make PC is it?
Try taking the power lead out of the PC for a few seconds and then try again.
Keith
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Phill try removing the power supply from the pc, take it out at the back. Leave it off for around 10 seconds then put it back in and try. Sounds daft but that’s how I got mine to switch on when it did the same thing.
If that fails, go to your toolbox, remove a big hammer and wallop it until it crumbles, then go to PC World and buy a new one. 😀 -
It’s a mongrel – put together for me by another small business. I’ve tried unplugging it and I have checked inside for loose connections – everything seems ok apart from loads of dust (which I cleaned out).
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Try swapping the power cables around from the monitor to tower etc and see if the base now works. could be a fuse
Keith
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I’ve tried changing leads – it’s not the fuse on the lead – is there a fuse on the PC itself that could be faulty?
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There will not be a fuse in the PC but there maybe a small one inside the PSU, but if this has gone it will mean the PSU is faulty.
Its a good thing that its not a branded as the parts for these are expensive, a new PSU for your machine should be less than £20. from somewhere like ebuyer.co.uk.
they are very easy to replace, only a few screws holding it in and a few connectors inside.
Keith
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The rebooting on its own would say to me that the power module was overheating and cutting out.
Every so often you should take a vacuum to the cooling fan for the power module.
It might be fried as you said it would not switch on after being off for a period.
It is pretty straightforward to swap a power supply and a local shop will do it for for next to nothing. You take it to pc world and they will advise on the power module it would take you 10 mins to swap out.
Cheers
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it may be the "on" switch at fault or power supply or motherboard or just a fuse.
Nick
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put the power lead loosely into the 3 connectors at the back, you will hear a crackling noise, if you don’t the psu is dead.
you might have a dead power switch also, take the side of the case off, find the power lead that connects to the 2 pin header on the motherboard, pull it off and bridge the 2 pins with a screwdriver, if the pc fires up then its not the psu and is the switch.
its unlikely to be anything else but these 2 things, as even with a dead board/cpu/memory etc the pc will still power on.
there are no replaceable or servicable parts in a psu, and no fuses in a pc so it will be a replacement if thats the case,
One more thing to add do NOT use ebuyer.
I have used them in the past and they are cheap yes, but they have non existent customer service and returns take up to 3 months, I ordered a TFT from them 2 years ago it went after 2 days & took a week to arrive after paying for next day delivery, i had it replaced with a scratched one, that went back, and after a couple of months was sent one that worked.
Its happened on almost every order I used them on, we wont touch them now.Also what CPU do you have, if its an athlon xp you will need 300 watt minimum.
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Phill, buy a new power supply mate… save yourself some time 😉
At worse, your hard drive could be going short and pulling it down, but based on your comments I think that would be rare. 😉
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But if its the switch then he wont need a new psu, no point in paying for one if its not that & he ends up needing a new case which will have one in already.
But the description sounds like a dead psu for sure.
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quote Steve Underhill:But if its the switch then he wont need a new psu, no point in paying for one if its not that & he ends up needing a new case which will have one in already.
But the description sounds like a dead psu for sure.
I always replace both as a matter of course anyway. My wholesalers here sell a switch with every new PSU. Sorry, I assumed that was standard practise 😳
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Oh no Shane I mean the switch on the pc, the power on button I should have said, that’s the one I meant.
sometimes they can fail, a break in the wire or a bit of plastic snaps off etc, we see this quite a lot especially on Dell and Emachines as they have very flimsy plastic tabs on the back. -
Thanks for all the advice everyone.
I replaced the power supply Unit as suggested by Shane and it’s all working fine now.
😀
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Glad you got it sorted Phill, nothing worse than comp problems!
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