Well I was cleaning under my bed, and behind my old workout bag I don't use anymore I found my dad's old computer, and he said I could have it. Well we didn't have an extra keyboard so I borrowed one from my work (everyone said it was ok) Now I mainly work with laptops, and everyone I know works with desktops unfortunately I'm off of work for a week, and I wanna contact them after work. However I pressed the power button heard a click, but didn't turn on, so I pressed it again to turn it off, and still heard a click.

I'm guessing the hard drive got burnt out, but idk, and cause it doesn't turn on I can't boot to a flash drive, or open the optical disk drive. Can anyone help?

Depends on how old the computer is, but my computer has a momentary contact switch to turn it on and off. The power supply logic handles the state change and in the case of turn off, tells the operating system to shut down and then the operating system turns off the power supply.

In reality, the power supply is always on when the computer is plugged in and switches between a standby mode and full power as needed. So I'd suspect the power supply. Check the fuse. I'm not familiar enough with modern power supplies to help you much beyond that.

I agree. It's almost certainly a bad power supply.

Does the power button feel like is stays in a little when you push it, then goes back to normal when you push again?

If so, it's probably a very old desktop that's not worth repairing. Most all modern PC power supplies use momentary contact switches.

Just pop the case off and check it out. Just looking at the the RAM will tell you a lot about the system. Looking up the motherboard model number will tell you exactly what you have.

I once revived a machine by just vacuuming its innards. Don't be shy, anything the cleaner will suck was going to fall anyway and was creating bad contacts.

I just noticed when I plugged the comp into the wall I hear clicking. The button doesn't do anything, but it does keep making that clicking sound by the comp. I opened it up, but I didn't go into that metal box sort to speak where the fan is, and what's making the clicking sound inside it.

It's safe to have someone else mess with it as idk what I'm doing, plus a bunch of cords are going in that I can't takeout as their put together by a cable (I think it's called a zip tie).

When I go back to work I'm gonna see if anyone can help and fix it, and I'll pay for it with my paycheck I got earlier this month. (BTW: My dad bought it preloaded with Windows XP Home Premium) So I'm guessing he got it around 2001-2005.

idk if he needs to back anything up so I'm gonna have them just fix the hardware problem it has, for whatever it is, and I'll install Windows 7. (idk what it's specs are yet I'll find that out later when I take a look)


Are vacuum is broke, and we need to get a new one. Hopefully a decent one this time. I'd like to be able to have some hose with this one to clean the walls, or in corners, and such. When I'm out getting my fishing license Saturday I'm gonna take a look at some vacuums.

Definitely could be a PS, but I've seen defective MBs cause this too. Hope it isn't a bad MB. Also, before doing anything, remove your modem card and see if it boots (sometimes a defect modem card can load down the system PCI bus preventing boot). In fact, start with modem, then network card if you have one, then, if you have onboard video, remove external video card.

Same thing happened to mine a few months back.Click but no power.
It was the power supply unit. (desktop though)
40 bucks fixed it.

They did suck a lot of dog hair out of it too.

The metal box with a fan inside inside is the power supply. It shouldn't be clicking.

One of the most common hardware problems on a desktop is a power supply failure. Usually, the fan stops working and the power supply overheats, then dies.

Is it a name brand PC? If so, what's the make and model?

If it's a custom built PC, just look on the motherboard for a make and model. It's printed somewhere on the mainboard (sometimes between the card slots) and you'll probably need a light to find it. Then, search the web to find out what you have there. Just my opinion, but you probably don't want to spend any money if it's an older, underpowered PC that's not upgradable.

most of the time when that happens it's the power supply it's happened to me before you most likely have to replace the power supply.

Likely that the CMOS battery is dead given that it has not been used for a long time. Try replacing that and see if it helps.

Partha

A dead CMOS battery doesn't prevent the machine from booting. It just forgets some of its configuration and lose time.

OTH when/if the machine is put back in use it's a good idea to replace it.