My PC won't boot up sometimes, what should I do?

[kienthucnet]

I've been pretty worried about my computer's health lately since it Blue Screened that it had a missing/corrupt kernel and it's been acting up even before that. Everytime I try to turn it on, the monitor just shows a "no signal" sign and a black screen afterwards. It usually turns on after 2 or 3 resets. I'm not quite sure if it's a monitor, VGA cable, or a motherboard (since I don't have a dedicated GPU) issue. What should I do?

Here are the specs of my PC:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 2.8 GHz
MB: ASUS P5KPL-AM
3GB of RAM

Thanks in advance, guys!

[studiot]

Check for physical health first.

 

Clear the dust bunnies out, take out and reseat pluggable components and boards such as memory and Processor.

Replace processor heatsink compund.

Edited October 6, 2015 by studiot

[Roamer]

Reïnstall everything ?
It's something that needs to be done every now and then, just like the dust bunnies

[Sensei]

Check whether PSU has correct voltages in the right pins.

Starting after several tries (or after a while) suggest it might be cold solder joint, perhaps in PSU.

 

If you have spare PSU, connect it to see whether there is difference.

[Externet]

Diagnose, diagnose, diagnose.

 

Get one of these, they are cheap enough, and been around for decades :

 

----> http://www.ebay.com/sch/items/?_nkw=computer+post+card&_sacat=&_ex_kw=&_mPrRngCbx=1&_udlo=&_udhi=&_sop=12&_fpos=&_fspt=1&_sadis=&LH_CAds=&rmvSB=true

 

Or, remove the hard drive, set aside unmolested and put another proven good hard drive (used, old or new) in the PC. Better if with Linux operative system (free)

 

If failure persists or not, you discern being the hard drive/operative system, or the PC mainsomething/supply

Edited October 6, 2015 by Externet

[pwagen]

Do any of the lights in the computer case light up? Do the fans start spinning? Any hard drive activity? "Doesn't turn on" is quite a broad subject.

[MigL]

If there's no signal to the monitor and no activity lights, the computer is not booting.

No sense checking any of the equipment like hard drive, memory, motherboard or processor ( yet ).

 

I have to agree with Sensei, the power supply is most likely old/weak and not setting a 'power good' signal.

First thing, try another power supply.

Doesn't have to be anything fancy if you're using integrated graphics, 400-450 watts should be more than plenty.

[fiveworlds]

Got the same problem since this morning computer monitor won't start without restarting the computer. Everything else starts fine the speakers/keyboard and mouse. It is probably my graphics card I have had it for 8 years now and it was second hand when I got it.

Edited February 16, 2016 by fiveworlds