Computer turns on, then shuts off

[iamskew]

Hey everyone, it's been a very long time ...

Here's my problem. I built a PC for my sister a couple of months ago, and it's been working fine the whole time. She moved it to college, and the problems started up right away.

First, it wouldn't start up after she moved in. I pulled the wireless card because she didn't need it in her dorm, and the problem was solved.

Then, a day later, she was watching a youtube video, and the computer randomly shut down. After that, it would get a few seconds into startup, never further than the windows screen, and would shut off.

My first instinct was the the power supply had gone bad, so I ordered her a new one. The first one was a 550W SeaSonic, the new one is a 500W PC Power & Cooling.

She helped me build the computer, so I let her put in the new power supply on her own. I just told her to swap out the cables one by one. It sounded on the phone like she did it right.

When she turned it back on, it still had the same problem. It turns on, and turns off shortly after.

Her Mobo has a clear CMOS button on the back, so I told her to try that. No change.

I haven't seen it in person yet, so I told her to bring it over to my place when she gets a chance. I'm kind of stumped as to what the problem is, so I'm asking for your help. If you need specs, I can give them.

My next instinct is that she got something in the case during the move that's causing a short. After that, I suppose the CPU cooler may have been jarred loose during the move, and the CPU is overheating right away. My last guess is that it's a corrupt hard drive. Can an SSD go corrupt?

Thanks for reading the wall of text, and I appreciate all of your help.

 

[mpilchfamily]

Any number of things could have happened in the move. There could be a loose connection somewhere, a solder joint in one of the power plugs on the motherboard may be damaged, the caps on the motherboard may be bad, or there could be a loose screw shorting the system. You really won't know till you can get your hands on it and have a good look at things.

 

[iamskew]

You are correct sir. Once I get my hands on it, I can be more specific about what I see.

Until then ...

 

[Lemon law]

To some extent, you should tell sis to go to the bios rather than try to get into windows as its been there done that it don't work.

A quick trip to PC health may allow you to see cpu temps keep climbing until it shuts down, which would hand you a digagnosis right there. Past that, booting to memtest86 can test memory, and booting to a window install disk can also give you other clues.

But sadly, its been my experience that what you probably have a defective mobo.

 

[iamskew]

Lemon,

You're diagnosis is what I've secretly figured it probably was ... but I won't know for sure until I see it for myself. It sucks if that's the deal, but not the end of the world. Should still be under warranty.

 

[iamskew]

OK, I finally got my hands on the computer.

I opened it up, and it was painfully obvious that the CPU cooler was loose. It was attached, but the top two legs moved easily.

I tried to re-seat it, but for the life of me, I can't get it to lock down now.

So, I thought it would be a simple test to lay the computer on its side, put a little pressure on the CPU cooler and see if it would start up. Well, it turned on, brought up the mobo manufacturer screen, then a bios-type screen (it was more of a window, and I don't remember what it said, but I'm pretty sure it was a result of clearing the CMOS earlier) which I selected whatever the default option was, and then it turned off a second later. No windows screen came up. Now, it won't even display anything on the screen once it has been turned on.

I shook the case and didn't hear any rattling at all -- so no loose screws or anything causing a short.

Here's my hypothesis on what happened:

The move jarred the cooler loose. When the computer stood upright, the cooler hung just loose enough to break the seal between it an the CPU. After some time, it overheated and shut off.

I looked the motherboard over, and didn't see any capacitors that looked abnormal.

So, my questions now are -- Is the CPU toast? If some safety mechanism is what's doing this, will a new cooler and new paste fix the problem? If I put on a non-stock cooler, will it void the warranty, and make it a smarter move to just take it to microcenter so they can tell me exactly what the problem is?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[iamskew]

Well, I've done the unthinkable. Something I haven't had to do in at least 9 years. I took the computer to micro center to get their diagnosis. I hate that I had to spend money on something I usually can fix ... but I honestly didn't want to go through RMAing one part a time until I found the broken part, and I really didn't want to take advantage of the companies I bought parts from.

Thanks to all of you for your help.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

You have to hand in your nerdy know it all computer guy fix it card (kinda like when Al Bundy was stripped of his security guard stripes). Wow what an embarassing feeling that must have been to walk into microcenter computer in hand.

 

[iamskew]

Originally posted by: OILFIELDTRASH
You have to hand in your nerdy know it all computer guy fix it card (kinda like when Al Bundy was stripped of his security guard stripes). Wow what an embarassing feeling that must have been to walk into microcenter computer in hand.

Ah man, you can have it. Everyone loves you when you fix their computer, but as soon as something goes wrong, even though it was their fault, you're the dumbest POS on Earth.

I think I can live without that