pc bootup problem

[greyone]

I have a pentium 3 667 MHZ with two hard disks and 512MB of RAM. Since the past few weeks i was having a problem where the computer would boot up automatically. I scanned through the hard drives for any virus etc but there were none. Then i opened my computer and made sure that all the cards and the memory were inserted properly in their slots and inspite of that i continued to have problems.
Today when i booted up my computer it would not boot up and blank screen shows up and i really can't do anything.
Would really appreciate if someone would help me out with this since it would help me to save some $$$.

 

[Dreamland]

greyone - does it even go as far as counting up through the memory when you start it, or does it beep at all? Was it starting up at the same time each day, or at random times? Are you connected to a LAN or the internet directly? (vs. a dial-up connection)

 

[greyone]

nooop as i siad the screen is completley blank and there are no beeps etc. It used to reboot at rnadom times. Yes i'm connected to the LAN.

 

[bcastner]

Dreamland,

I think he meant to say it would reboot at various times, not spontaneously start itself.

greyone,

The machine is not even doing a POST (Power On Self Test). This means either motherboard/processor, or power supply has died. As there is no noise from fans or hard disk drives or nothing else when you throw the power switch, and we will assume it is plugged in because of your monitor, it seems most likely it is your power supply. If you have one that is plug-for-plug the same as the current one, you could swap them and see if the machine would then boot. Or if you have a friendly computer store nearby that is nice about returns, you could go buy one that matches and test.

But you will save time and grief by taking it to a good repair shop, as there are a number of things that could be the problem and they become increasingly more difficult for you to test on your own. And if there is more than one component at fault, it becomes increasingly unlikely you would quickly resolve this on your own.

 

[fluxvoovoo]

Try this first.
Unplug the machine - then push in and hold the on/off switch for about a minute.
Then plug it back in and turn on.
It's worth a try. If you have a meter you can check the power supply output easily, checking to make sure it is within tolerance and is not fluctuating wildly. Hit the garage sales for a used system with an ATX power supply - you can usually get them for next to nothing and have a good supply of spare parts...good to have em in a pinch.