We had a power cut last night and the PC I use as a file/print server will not start up this morning - on starting a normal boot it will run through the self tests as usual, go through grub, and switch off part way through the boot process - no warning or error message, and the switch off seems to occur at differing stages of booting.
Cooling fans on the CPU and PSU seem to be running ok, I've removed any usb devices (bluetooth adaptor and printer) but the problem remains. I'm suspecting HDD or PSU failure (PC has two IDE HDDs and a SATA DVDR), but before I start taking it apart and replacing parts could one of the hardware experts on here confirm that or point me in the right direction please?
Fortunately everything important on the PC is backed up.
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You need to test the power supply properly either with a tester or a multimeter. You need to check the voltage on the 12v rail as it boots up and see if there is a big drop. Even if it seems fine it doesn't mean its not the PSU.
If it was a hard drive it wouldn't switch off, it would simply crash on loading with an error message.
The first thing I would do is test the PSU and then swap it but if you don't have any spare PSUs it is a fairly expensive option.
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I'd probably download the 'ultimate boot cd' . I'm pretty sure it has loads of diagnostics on it so you could boot from the cdrom and check out the HDs. Can you escape out to a command line before it gets into whatever os (i assume a linux if you are mentioning grub) and do an fsck on the system disk?
Just seen the bit where you mention it switching off so probably psu then!
If it is on 24/7 then I'd recommend a ups :-)
Last edited by: teabelly on Sun 8 Aug 10 at 11:52
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I would try a complete power off
remove the watch battery on the motherboard for a good ten minutes
see if i could find the little remove cmos history tag on the board to delete all previos history
refit the battery
fire up the computer and see what happens
or
can you get into bios too and set to factory settings?
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Its the PSU probably, I have had quite a few that croak ofter power cuts.
To make sure remove everythng from the pc except the boot drive, 1 memory stick, and the video card. If it still fails to boot, swap the memory sticks, and if it still hapens its the power supply.
(as a final check remove all the drives just leaving the cd drive, it should as a minimum boot to "non system disk" message.)
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Thanks everyone for the advice - had a busy day so not had a chance to have a proper look at the machine, but had a quick play this evening.
The BIOS seems fine, nothing changed in there, still showing correct time and date, etc. It stayed on while I was checking the info in the BIOS incidentally, but as soon as I tried to boot again the machine switched off as soon as it went past grub. Interestingly when I tried to boot from a live CD - which I've tested on another machine - the DVD drive wouldn't read from the CD. I don't think the DVD has been used more than a few times since setting the PC up over a year ago, so I can't be sure that there's nothing wrong with the drive.
Unfortunately the machines shuts off before I can get to a proper command prompt - can get the grub options but nothing past that.
The machine is usually on 24/7 by the way, but not sure I can justify the cost of a UPS. I'll have some time to look at it properly tomorrow, so I'll keep you updated.
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Just to update I took the machine apart this afternoon, and with the case off I could hear a slight clicking from the main hard drive just before the PC shut down. I replaced it with an IDE CD and the PC booted and ran a live CD - no problems at all.
I'm going to replace the drive with a SATA - any recommendations for a replacement? As it's only for the operating system capacity isn't an issue, 20GB will be more than sufficient.
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If you only need a small drive ( - I doubt you'd get one much under 300Gb) go for a cheap SSD - for performance and cheaper/cooler to run. CCL have a 30Gb at a shade under £60 www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=45438&utm_source=eshot0327&utm_medium=eshot&utm_campaign=HDD1013#
and eBuyer have a 64Gb at £83 www.ebuyer.com/product/195355?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products
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30/64gb is not big enough for a boot drive, unless you are prepared, and sufficiently techie, to fiddle with a basic windows install, and be rigorous and knowledgeable with your machine housekeeping.
I wouldnt recomend it.
To the OP, any drive other than an Hitachi (ex IBM "death stars")
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If the OP gets tempted by an SSD then make sure it's a fast one. Cheap ones can be slow. There is a difference in speed between single and multi level cell. Quick google found this:
forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/223173-know-your-ssds-slc-vs-mlc.html
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My windows directory is about 10Gb. My computer isn't overloaded with apps but has quite a few (incl bloatware like Office) and Program Files is about 37Gb, but that includes a games library of 31Gb, which I can easily move onto other storage if required.
30Gb is massive for a boot drive. As you should know Z, it's user data (esp pics, music & video) that takes space.
I had the impression that OP is a bit knowledgeable in the computer dept anyway.
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I would agree 30Gb is big enough for a boot drive with application. Maybe not too many games. Data should be on another drive in my opinion anyway.
e.g. www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Product/39571/OCZ-30GB-Vertex-Series-SATA-II-2-5--Flash-SSD
Note there are cheaper MLC devices on that site. Smokie's is cheaper though.
I'd happily go for a SLC SSD drive of 64Gb. But my main computer at home these days is an iMac and swapping the drive is not for the faint hearted. My PC has been switched on a handful of times in 9 months.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 10 Aug 10 at 09:59
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30GB is more than sufficient for my needs - it's a straightforward and fairly minimal Debian installation; from memory the deceased drive is partitioned with 1GB for boot, 2GB for swap, 5GB for home, and the remainder for the root filesystem.
All our shared files are held on the second HDD - I'm considering replacing this at the same time as the other one; it's about the same age as the one that died so I suspect it's just a matter of time before it goes the same way.
Thanks again everyone for the input, I hadn't considered a SSD but it's certainly worth thinking about.
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Samsung Spinpoint 1Tb gets the thumbs up. Yes I know it's monster - partition it. www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/hard-disks/359743/samsung-spinpoint-f3-1tb
JH
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PC shutting down - RattleandSmoke
