Computer: Not with the computer in question now, but here are some general specs. Running Windows Vista 32 bit Home Premium on a pretty cheap desktop Emachine T series 3626 which came with 1g of ram and 150g of free space.
Issue: After loading bios, booting from hdd, computer loses power during vista loading screen. After 4-5 tries computer does boot successfully but can lose power again at any time with no obvious reasons as to why. Computer won't even boot in safe mode.
*Note. If the computer had been running recently however, the first boot attempt is usually successful.
I have been dealing with this problem for about a month and a half now. It seemed to pop up just after I made some changes to startup config., I copied Reason 4.0 (music production program) and World of Warcraft to my 500 gig external hard drive and have ran both those programs from either my internal HDD or external HDD and also save data on both. I may have changed bios/cmos during that time but it's unlikely. About a 6 months ago I overclocked my computer, and a year ago I installed an extra 500mb of ram. Also my tower tipped over about 2 months ago while it was running but the hit wasn't hard and the computer kept running normally. I wish I could tell you exactly when this issue started and whether or not it was before or after the changes I have made in the past month and a half but I can't remember. Anyways I've tired all sorts of solutions. Here is what I can remember doing.
*Note. After everything I tried in the list below I did install a clean copy of Vista and wiped my HDD clean, but the first cold boot after doing so the computer lost power just before vista loading screen which is even sooner than usual.
Updated all drives, resetting bios/cmos, deleting all unnecessary programs including Reason from my internal HDD and WoW altogether , testing individual sticks of ram (although I am not confident I did that correctly), tried 2 different power sources but all on the same floor as my computer, cleaned the inside of my tower, looked for burnt or loose components, unplugged all cords inside computer and plugged them back in again tightened loose screws, took lithium battery out for five minutes and put it back in to reset cmos in a different manner, changed boot order from cdrom-hdd-removable to hdd-cdrom-removable, tried booting with external HDD plugged in or not plugged in, defragged both HDD's, changed power/visual settings to both high performance and low performance, downloaded SpeedFan to ensure problem wasn't overheating, switched monitor's power cord with the towers to ensure it wasn't faulty, booted in safe mode as mentioned, and downloaded cc cleaner to both clean comp, and to fix errors it found.
That's everything I can think of, and most of the information is now redundant after the reinstall but I thought I would include it anyways.SO ! What next? It seems pretty obvious it's a hardware issue but I would like to narrow it down as much as I can before taking it in to a professional. Anyways thanks in advance and sorry if the post is longer than necessary.
Oh one more thing, I really do need to start using this computer everyday again so based on what I have written, how unwise would it be to ignore the issue, hope I am not damaging the computer, and continue working?
Issue: After loading bios, booting from hdd, computer loses power during vista loading screen. After 4-5 tries computer does boot successfully but can lose power again at any time with no obvious reasons as to why. Computer won't even boot in safe mode.
*Note. If the computer had been running recently however, the first boot attempt is usually successful.
I have been dealing with this problem for about a month and a half now. It seemed to pop up just after I made some changes to startup config., I copied Reason 4.0 (music production program) and World of Warcraft to my 500 gig external hard drive and have ran both those programs from either my internal HDD or external HDD and also save data on both. I may have changed bios/cmos during that time but it's unlikely. About a 6 months ago I overclocked my computer, and a year ago I installed an extra 500mb of ram. Also my tower tipped over about 2 months ago while it was running but the hit wasn't hard and the computer kept running normally. I wish I could tell you exactly when this issue started and whether or not it was before or after the changes I have made in the past month and a half but I can't remember. Anyways I've tired all sorts of solutions. Here is what I can remember doing.
*Note. After everything I tried in the list below I did install a clean copy of Vista and wiped my HDD clean, but the first cold boot after doing so the computer lost power just before vista loading screen which is even sooner than usual.
Updated all drives, resetting bios/cmos, deleting all unnecessary programs including Reason from my internal HDD and WoW altogether , testing individual sticks of ram (although I am not confident I did that correctly), tried 2 different power sources but all on the same floor as my computer, cleaned the inside of my tower, looked for burnt or loose components, unplugged all cords inside computer and plugged them back in again tightened loose screws, took lithium battery out for five minutes and put it back in to reset cmos in a different manner, changed boot order from cdrom-hdd-removable to hdd-cdrom-removable, tried booting with external HDD plugged in or not plugged in, defragged both HDD's, changed power/visual settings to both high performance and low performance, downloaded SpeedFan to ensure problem wasn't overheating, switched monitor's power cord with the towers to ensure it wasn't faulty, booted in safe mode as mentioned, and downloaded cc cleaner to both clean comp, and to fix errors it found.
That's everything I can think of, and most of the information is now redundant after the reinstall but I thought I would include it anyways.SO ! What next? It seems pretty obvious it's a hardware issue but I would like to narrow it down as much as I can before taking it in to a professional. Anyways thanks in advance and sorry if the post is longer than necessary.
Oh one more thing, I really do need to start using this computer everyday again so based on what I have written, how unwise would it be to ignore the issue, hope I am not damaging the computer, and continue working?
