Member Avatar for asamd1st

Several weeks ago I installed Win 7 over Vista on a 64-bit HP desktop. Now after a routine reboot atempt machine acts as if it were dead except the green light on the back showing power on. What now? To make maters worse I had the same problem and found an easy solution but now I don't remember what it was.
Help!
Thank you

  • 2 Contributors
  • 1 Reply
  • 281 Views
  • 9 Hours Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by Rik_

Dani AI

Generated

Short version: because the machine only shows a steady power LED after the restart following the Windows 7 upgrade, treat this as a hardware-startup problem first — not an OS issue. was on the right track: a single standby light can mean the motherboard is getting 5VSB but the system never gets a full power-on. , the “easy fix” you remember was likely a hardware reseat/reset or bypass of a front-panel item rather than anything in Windows.

Safe, practical checks to try in this order (disconnect mains before touching internals):

  1. Unplug everything non-essential (USB devices, network, printers). Try powering with just CPU, one stick of RAM, and power to fans/CPU/GPU only.
  2. Drain residual power: unplug, hold the case power button 10–15 seconds, wait a minute, then reconnect and try again.
  3. Reseat memory modules and the main power connectors (24-pin and 4/8-pin). Swap to a different RAM slot or try one stick at a time.
  4. Bypass the case power switch briefly by shorting the two front-panel power pins on the motherboard with a screwdriver to rule out a failed switch.
  5. If available, test or swap in a known-good PSU or use a PSU tester / multimeter (observe safety; do not work on a live PSU without experience).

Look and listen while attempting power: fans spinning, drive noise, POST beeps, or any smell/visible damage (bulging caps) are diagnostic. If nothing changes after the minimal-boot and a PSU test, the motherboard (or its power circuitry) is the likely culprit. If one of the above restores power, note which step fixed it (reseat, single-stick, bypass switch, PSU) — that is probably the “easy” solution you used before.

Member Avatar for Rik_

If it won't fire up at all then it is very unlikely to be a software fault.
Do you get anything on screen at all?

HP use the cheapest possible components so replacing the PSU (especially if it is a Bestec one) might be worth doing as the green light only means that the 5 volt standby is working, nothing more.

If the computer has had any upgrades like more ram, bigger hard drive, or more powerful graphics card then the PSU may well not be up to the job any more!

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.