Need help.....my computer died.....again!
 

I turned my computer off this evening because it was running slow. It was off for about three hours and when I tried turning it back on, it only beeps at me. Nothing comes up on the screen at all. I tried this several times but all I got was beeping.

When I first turn it on, the fan (or whatever it is making that noise) turns on for about one second, then turns off and the beeping starts.

Aside from getting another computer, which isn't an option, is there anything else I can do? In the past it did this on occasion, but would always boot up the second or third time I turned it on. I tried over a dozen times tonight....nothing.

I have a massive amount of homework to get done tomorrow. I have LadyRev's work laptop that she leaves at my house, but it's difficult working up in this room.

I hope someone can help me out here. Thanks.

Try taking a vacuum and blowing out the dust from the inside. This would happen to my old one because dust would get too thick in there , Its worth a try.

This would cause it to not turn on, but only beep?

I'm at school at the moment, but how would I go about blowing dust out? Do I take the bottom off it?

This is a laptop, if I didn't say that already.

Fonix is right... that will sometimes work. (Although I would suggest sucking the dirt out first...then if you can reverse your air direction then blow the rest out.)

But since you let it sit for 3 hours and then it still did this it would seem that the damage may already be done. In 3 hours time if the board was too hot to start back then it should have cooled off by then. Definitely worth a try though.

Back in the good ole days when the system shut down that fast and started beeping it meant that the problem was on the motherboard. Once the system boots through CMOS (Do they even have that anymore) then the drive starts to boot up etc.

It sounds like your computer is not getting out of the initial boot of the motherooard and has never even had a chance to begin booting the hard drive and firing up the OS.

You are right. And it does have CMOS.

My computer crashed a few weeks ago. I thought I'd have to buy a new one but was able to reformat it. It was starting up but going to diagnostics, then restarting....and would cycle that over and over without going to windows.

This time, it's not starting at all. The fan (or whatever) comes on for a second, shuts off, then the beeping starts. Nothing else happens.....black screen, no other sound.....nothing.

LadyRev is going to look at it tonight for me, but I'm calling my brother to see about borrowing $1000....just in case.

Makes me mad though, cause I bought this computer on Ebay last year for about $375, refurbished. I was hoping it would have lasted longer than 10 months.

If the fan is so stopped up with dust that it just won't turn (or it has gotten so hot that it no longer works well) then your problem could be as small as that.

If the fan is locked up or is tight then I would think that the system would trigger a shut down.

It is hard to keep a computer clean. It requires a regular regiment (and does not reflect on anyones level of cleanliness)

I hope you get it going.

Act like I'm a retard and tell me how to clean it without damaging it.

Accentuate the 'act like I'm a retard' when telling me.....LOL!

It is very simple...

Now... I will leave the disassembling of a laptop to your expertise or digress to someone else...

But... once you get it open.. take a vacuum cleaner hose and suck all the bigger clumps of dust/lint etc out. If you have a soft bristle brush attachment that might be the next step. If not... and you have a soft bristle brush you can use to lightly brush everything and loosen up the dust that has become adhered to the motherboard etc then that would be good and then lightly vacuum it again.

There will probably be a fan mounted on top of your processor. Take that fan off and put the vacuum hose up to the fan frame. Sucking air through the fan will cause it to pick up some pretty good speed. Be careful... don't over do it but you DEFINITELY want all fans cleaned well (processor cooling fan & the power supply fan) and all surfaces that are directly being cooled by the fans. Any dust in the fan or on the surface being cooled will vastly reduce the cooling ability.

Just be as gentle and as thorough as you can. You don't want to break anything but you do want to get the whole system (especially portions that have to do with cooling the computer down) as clean as possible.

A computer (generally) isn't an overwhelmingly brittle device. You're not shutting down a nuclear weapon or anything... just be mindful that you don't put any undue stress on the machine as much as possible.

And.. btw... it isn't unintelligent to not know something... it is unintelligent to not ask. :)

Thanks. LadyRev will know how to get the back off, I'm sure. I'll let you know what happens! If it doesn't work, I have a cheap laptop to sell on Ebay.....

If you're talking about a desktop pc, mine did that a few months ago. I called a small local computer shop. He said he'd look at it for $40.00. It was the "power supply", which cost i think $35.00. It didn't seem unreasonable to me. Best of luck.