Jim,

Been there....done that.....

Sounds like possibly a short somewhere on the mother board...had an old boat
anchor that had the same symptoms...worked flawlessly upside down!

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Phillips [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2001 8:11 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: OT: PC Power Problems?


Well, here is my off-topic post for this week:

In my spare time I am sometimes called upon to troubleshoot PC problems
(hey, all computers are the same, right?).  Usually the problem can be
traced to operator error, or bad device drivers, but this one has me
stumped.  A friend of mine has a PC that will occasionally refuse to power
on.  I was there when it happened and we disassembled the PC, removed the
power supply and opened it up.  Checking with a volt-meter showed that there
was 120 VAC being supplied on the input side and 5 VDC on some of the output
lines (it's hard to tell which of all those little wires should have power
and which should not); however, the PC refuses to start up - not even the
power LED is lit.  We checked the power supply from another PC (already
removed) and what it does when plugged in is the cooling fan (on the power
supply) will spin about half a turn and then everything stops.  I've checked
this at both the surge suppressor and directly from the wall outlet.  The
wall outlet is on a normally fused line; that is, no GFCI or anything like
that.  There is another PC located in another area (this is a veterinarian's
office) that works fine.  However, that's not the odd part....

The remedy for this problem is to take the PC for a walk - literally.  My
friend disconnects the monitor, keyboard, etc. and takes the system unit
from outlet to outlet until she finds one that the PC will power up from and
then the PC is fine...until the next time, which may be several days or
weeks.

Since this is a vet's office, I am hesitant to suggest sacrificing small,
furry animals (although she probably knows of some she wouldn't mind getting
rid of), so any other ideas are welcome.  Thanks.

Jim Phillips                           Information Systems Manager
Email: [log in to unmask]     Therm-O-Link, Inc.
Phone: 330-527-2124                         P. O. Box 285
Fax:   330-527-2123                           10513 Freedom Street
Web:   http://www.tolwire.com          Garrettsville, OH  44231

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