SOLVED Dead Computer

[DonC]

Granddaughter's "old" Lenovo computer will not startup. Seems the power cord was rapidly pulled out of the wall and when replugged in it was dead. After it has sat unused for several hours and the power button is pushed, the CPU and exhaust fans flip "on" and immediately shutoff.
Button battery is new and I pulled and reseated Ram cards. The only thing I can think of is the power supply is DOA. It's so old, I'm wondering if it is worth it to buy a used power supply for ~$20. Any ideas/suggestions will be gratefully accepted.
Thanks for your thoughts and time.

DonC
Old Vietnam B-52 pilot struggling to keep up with grandkids.

 

[Wolfie]

Hi Don,

if there was a power outage, it could have well hit the hard disk drive in such a way that the drive is not readable by the computer?. If you can disconnect the HDD power cable (do this while the computer is disconnected from the mains), try switching the computer back on and see if you have any messages on screen or it enters BIOS/UEFI.

There are also several vids on YouTube covering the subject.

+how to test a dead computer - Search Videos

www.bing.com

 

[DonC]

Wolfie, thanks for the response and ideas. I had already pulled the HDD and used a USB device to read/write to/from the HDD. It has been a while since I did a PSU power test, but it came back to me when I saw people using a wire jumper. What I didn't remember were the pin numbers to jump. After a couple of sites, I tried the old paper clip test and no power. Figured that was a strong indicator, so I pulled the PSU out and did voltage checks on each color of wire. And, surprise - surprise - surprise, on power to any. Ordered a rebuilt unit and it will be here by Friday (probably sooner since it is only coming from about 100 miles away).

Again, thanks for the quick response and info. G-kid will be happy and 'mommy' will more than happy since they don't need to buy a NEW one. I can emphasize with your closing: "Please bear with me, I am slow at everything!.".

Ciao, DonC

 

[Wolfie]

Glad to hear you solved the problem Don. Have a good one and stay safe.