Computer Starting

[OneMarcilV]

Y computer shutdown last night because the electric went off for a while. No storms were around. Anyway I put the omputer on this morning and saw the screen just flickering. So I shut the computer back off by pressing the power button on the front of the computer. I. It noticed the screen did not display the wording that usually shown up before Windows starts. So first I unplugged my USB external hard drive rebooted computer still the same. Then I unplugged the keyboard then there was wording on the screen. But it listed the bios and the fact the keyboard was faulty. Ok plugged in the keyboard and decide to unplug my second external hard drive from its power source and plug it back in. Just guessing things. Power up the computer still. I words on the screen but the Windows version choices showed up and the computer booted up Windows fine. Now the computer is working OK.

I also noticed before I had fixed the problem the 3inch floppy drive letter stayed on.

So the question is. Any idea why this would have happened?

 

[Robbieskywalker]

If you lost power, I would recommend a power backup and surge protecter , there pretty cheep and are great safety pro cautions i personally think that your computer was electrical shocked, but thats just me

---------- Post added at 01:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:39 PM ----------

And I know you said it wasn't storming , but if it is and you didn't buy a surge protector I would shut off your computer and then unplug it

 

[chirkware]

When the power came back on, your PC probably got hit with a power surge (when the utility restores power, a LOT of stuff powers on at once, so you get a lot of juice briefly, then it dips, then it stabilizes). Sometimes, this fries stuff. Sometimes nothing happens. This time, sounds like you just had to reseat a few connections. Could be a connection was a little loose and got a minor arc as power jumped the loose connection. Reseating it cleaned up the bad connection.

Surge protectors help, but cheap ones are just that, cheap. If you get a lot of blackout/brownouts, buy a decent UPS unit, such as the APC Back-UPS 550. Costs about $60-$70, but it will prevent a brief power outage from taking the PC down, and will switch you to battery whenever power spikes/dips occur to prevent damage. They also usually provide a connected equipment guarantee so if the PC is fried, they pay for it (of course, you have to prove your equipment was properly connected and their equipment failed to protect it).

 

[OneMarcilV]

When the power came back on, your PC probably got hit with a power surge (when the utility restores power, a LOT of stuff powers on at once, so you get a lot of juice briefly, then it dips, then it stabilizes). Sometimes, this fries stuff. Sometimes nothing happens. This time, sounds like you just had to reseat a few connections. Could be a connection was a little loose and got a minor arc as power jumped the loose connection. Reseating it cleaned up the bad connection.

Surge protectors help, but cheap ones are just that, cheap. If you get a lot of blackout/brownouts, buy a decent UPS unit, such as the APC Back-UPS 550. Costs about $60-$70, but it will prevent a brief power outage from taking the PC down, and will switch you to battery whenever power spikes/dips occur to prevent damage. They also usually provide a connected equipment guarantee so if the PC is fried, they pay for it (of course, you have to prove your equipment was properly connected and their equipment failed to protect it).

Right now I have the computer plugged into one of those power strips. But you do think the computer is OK then. I am wondering why when rebooted the external power supply the computer started.mi have stared the computer in the past with out the external hard drive being on because I simply did not remember to have the drive on.

I do have another surge protector that is like a metal box that I was given to me way back when I purchased a CBAND satellite dish. It is not a UPS unit but it may protect better against power surges.

 

[chirkware]

I think the PC is "probably" OK. Power cycling and reseating connections a lot of times fixes odd things. More surge protection is better than less, so the other unit may be worth a shot. Good luck...

 

[OneMarcilV]

I think the PC is "probably" OK. Power cycling and reseating connections a lot of times fixes odd things. More surge protection is better than less, so the other unit may be worth a shot. Good luck...

I will change surge protectors later on. Before I shut the computer down I am going to backup my email accounts to my external hard drive.

I put in the better of the surge protectors. I fired up the computer which started up perfectly. But I still do not see the DOS language that used to come on the screen that read checking BIOS and other thingies. I just see the option to boot up from another drive then the operating system starts.

 

[westom]

I do have another surge protector that is like a metal box that I was given to me way back when I purchased a CBAND satellite dish.

Read spec numbers on every UPS. Those numbers define even less protection than the power strip. Most who learn only from advertising will ignore relevant numbers.

Surges occur maybe once every seven years. If you had a surge, then damage is permanent. And probably to many appliances including (maybe) the furnace or dishwasher.

Your floppy disk symptom is typical of when the floppy signal cable is connected reverse. However you did not say you had a floppy. Only said something about a floppy indicated.

Others have recommended surge protectors to accomplish what even the manufacturers does not claim to do.

Almost nothing can be said about why your failure existed. In part because you tried to fix the problem rather than first identify it. And because numbers were not included. You might find history in the system event logs. But best you can do is watch for a repeat event.

 

[OneMarcilV]

Read spec numbers on every UPS. Those numbers define even less protection than the power strip. Most who learn only from advertising will ignore relevant numbers.

Surges occur maybe once every seven years. If you had a surge, then damage is permanent. And probably to many appliances including (maybe) the furnace or dishwasher.

Your floppy disk symptom is typical of when the floppy signal cable is connected reverse. However you did not say you had a floppy. Only said something about a floppy indicated.

Others have recommended surge protectors to accomplish what even the manufacturers does not claim to do.

Almost nothing can be said about why your failure existed. In part because you tried to fix the problem rather than first identify it. And because numbers were not included. You might find history in the system event logs. But best you can do is watch for a repeat event.

Do not want a repeat. I have 2 external hard drives. One that is powered by the USB cable alone and the other which is powered by a wall plug. That is the one that I unplugged from the power and plugged back in then started the computer. That is when the computer started alright.

 

[westom]

That is the one that I unplugged from the power and plugged back in then started the computer. That is when the computer started alright.

Some electronics have a safety lockout feature. Unplugging is necessary to reset that feature. All computers have that protection. That disk drive may have that feature that is reset when unplugging the external drive.

 

[OneMarcilV]

Some electronics have a safety lockout feature. Unplugging is necessary to reset that feature. All computers have that protection. That disk drive may have that feature that is reset when unplugging the external drive.

That is good to know. I was just guessing on doing different things to get the computer working.