Computer just beeps and keeps restarting

[Angela Miller]

I have a Dell computer that I just put a new PS in. When I turn it on the light is yellow then turns green, beeps and starts over. The odd time it will boot up into windows but after some time. Any advice or help about this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Route44]

Hi Angela. How old is your system? What is its model or if you can link us to it. Why did you have the power supply replaced and who replaced it? What is the make of your new power supply and how much wattage does it purport to supply?

 

[Angela Miller]

The system is about 6 years old I believe. It's a Dimension 5150. The computer used to be my uncle's. I had replaced the power supply because the original had been fried to the point of turning brown. The new power supply is 450W but I cannot remember the make. Also when my uncle first gave it to me to look at the ram wasn't in the slots properly. I fixed that and when I first put the new power supply in it worked fine.

 

[ComputerGuy55]

One thing to check, are any of capacitors on the motherboard buldging or blown? Usually the ones closet to the CPU are the ones that start first, but check all of them.

Also, do you have any add in PCI/PCI-E cards? (Modem, Video, sound etc) if there are any of these installed and can be removed without stopping the computer from booting (Video card, if it requires it) then carefully remove these devices and try and boot.

Make sure to hold onto the side of the case when touching any of the parts inside the case.

 

[Route44]

Your description of a fried power supply "to the point of turning brown" is somewhat alarming to say the least. The psu is the backbone of a system and a failing/failed psu can damage other hardware. What is the time frame between when you installed the new psu and when you began experiencing your issues?

 

[Cinders]

These are what bad caps look like. If you have bad caps you'll need an experienced electronics tech to replace them or a new motherboard.

You might also try burning an ISO of Memtest86+ to a blank CD. This program is a stand alone memory tester, but it can help to diagnose motherboard issues. If the motherboard isn't up to par the memory will test as bad, and if the memory is bad it will also test as bad. If you don't have bad caps and the power supply is decent and the memory came back as bad, I'd replace the memory.

So we need the make and model of the power supply so we can cast aspersions upon it if needed.

 

[Dawn1113]

Hi there, Angela.

I had seen the same symptoms on one of my previous systems. If the replacement PSU is brand spanking new and just out of the box, then, yeah, the rather apparent failure of the previous PSU could have caused problems for your motherboard. I hate to say it, but in my case, I had to scrap the damaged board altogether.

But I was able to salvage and eventually re-use most of the other parts of that system. As pointed out by our fellow members, I'm afraid you'll have to undertake a rather painstaking process of checking everything, though -- from the replacement PSU, to your motherboard, then perhaps your mechanical drives, as well, just to be sure.

If you aren't averse to it, and are a noob like yours truly, then perhaps it would be safer to have an experienced PC tech there when you do the checking. (That's the route I took ...)

Good luck and I do hope you resolve your problem soon!