This all started when my emachine T1840 wouldn't shut down. The fan just kept running even though nothing showed on the monitor.
I tried the C Alt DEL and it didn't work and then even holding the start button until it shuts off. I finally had to pull the plug. I got it to turn on again and although nothing would load it sounded like a disk was spinning in one of the drives (they were both empty). also the light in front was blinking abnormally while this was going on.
For awhile nothing would turn on. I disconnected and reconnected different things and the fan would barely move or only spin one or two times around. When I disconnected the power switch the fan would run (by the power supply, not the cpu fan) but not forcefully.

Now I just reconnected the Power switch and BOTH fans started running at partial whirl sound (they looked to be moving at normal speed) and then after a few seconds they started sounding more powerful. The power button still will not work so the only way to shut it down is to unplug it. I have the monitor unplugged at the moment, but it doesn't sound like it is booting up.
Any ideas? Bad Switch? What would cause the funny disk sound?
Thanks for any and all input!

Alright, get some new power cables and trash your old ones. Unplug the power cable to your PC and press the power button several times. Plug the power cable back in. Thats just a little trick that won't work if its more than your cables.

*Always check to make sure your power connections are connected.

Most likely you had bad power cables, if that wasn't it it may have been a bad power supply. In which case you would have to get another power supply and test the machine with that one.

Either the bad power cable or power supply could have destroyed other components in your CPU. Because of this it will be difficult to say what the problem really is (or was). Always start with the power cables, then try the trick, then replace the power supply.

The sound from your disc (HD?) could mean it is bad or is just acting strangely because of falty power. If you mean floppy or cdrom, then it is probably just a result of too little or too much power.

Hope you are up and running soon.

ShaneMcP

I have actually swapped the power cables and it made no difference. It was disconnecting and reconnecting the power switch that seemed to get both fans going again (even though I had checked the connection of the switch before). The switch will still not work, but plugging it back in seems to have effected the fans as they are working now.
Could a faulty power SWITCH have caused all that?
Thanks,
Susan

Usually there is some other problem and the switch not working is just a result of it. I would say the switch being bad would probably be the least likely problem, however it is not impossible for the switch to be bad.

So your CPU is working now? Did you try the little trick I told you?

ShaneMcP