[Bradford] Apologies and some advice please

[Robert Burrell Donkin]

On Sun, May 18, 2014 at 10:12 AM, Andy Coulson <coulson.andy at gmail.com> wrote:

<snip>

> It is not powering up and I suspect the Power supply or front on/off switch,
> but fear it's the motherboard.  Nothing happens when I apply power except a
> feint whistling noise. The front button does nothing. When I switch off at
> the rear sometimes the fans spin briefly - presumably from caps discharging,
> so power is getting into and out of the PSU.  The plug fuse is also ok.  Any
> suggestions?  Is it worth me ordering a Power supply?

If the fan spins then the motherboard is likely to be getting some
power, so total PSU failure sounds unlikely. Switch on and leave top
less for a few minutes. If the PSU starts to smell or smoke then I
recommend immediate replacement (fire risk).

Given you symptoms, I think a thermal kill switch being triggered on
the mother is more likely. Worth cleaning all dust from the case and
fans then trying again.

Unless you have a fancy motherboard, probably it's the CPU kill
switch. A common cause is failure of the cooling system, most likely
the termal paste or dirt and dusk jamming the fan.

If you're good with hardware, try:
  * removing the CPU fan
  * cleaning the paste from the CPU and the fan
  * clean all dirt and dust from the fan
  * reinstall with new, high quality thermal gloop - but not too much

Be warned, though, that this is a recipe for totalling CPUs in the
hands of the hamfisted.

In the days of my youth, I've cleaned PSUs but I was crazy, compedent
and lucky in those days. Be warned that dusting transformers can be
fatal in many interesting ways. So probably not recommended...

Robert