Computer will not respond

[e_ivie24]

MODEL NUMBER: EL407AA-ABA

I recently received this computer from my father. He's never had much of a problem with it, but only about 3 weeks after getting it, I can't get it to boot.

Here's the run-down: The computer is running Windows XP Professional with SP3 installed. (We couldn't locate the original recovery media or a CD for WXP Media Center, which is the edition that originally came with the computer, so we just installed Pro.) I have Avast Premium anti-virus, VLC Media Player, Mozilla Firefox,  and Call of Duty: World at War installed, which was a graphics test. These are pretty much the only third-party programs that I have installed, like I said, I just got it three weeks ago.

Anyway, yesterday, we had a power outage at the house. I disconnected the computer from the wall when it happened. When the power came back on, however, and I plugged the PC back into the wall, the fan started running at full speed, and the blue power light was on, but showed no hard-drive activity. I decided to give it a few minutes to prepare itself, but the fan and power light never turned off, even after an hour and a half.

I unplugged all my devices (speakers, mouse and keyboard, monitor, and USB Wireless adapter), and plugged only the wall cable in. Same result.

Today I tried it again both ways, and the exact same thing happened. The fans continuously spin, and the power light stays on with no hard-drive activity whatsoever.  Pressing the power button has no effect and it won't boot. Can someone please help?

(Sorry for such a long question, just wanted to give info!)

[old_geekster · Accepted solution]

@e_ivie24, welcome to the forum.

I believe that you didn't get the computer disconnected from the outlet soon enough and it was hit by a power surge.  This could have damaged the power supply unit (PSU) or other components, including the motherboard.  Since the computer has been retired by HP there isn't much information available.

I have to be honest with you.  The computer is 13 years old.  I wouldn't recommend spending very much money on it.

Please click the Thumbs up + button if I have helped you and click Accept as Solution if your problem is solved.