Oh, come on
PC troubles. Putting it up here so I can link people to the long explanation.
My computer is an Acer Aspire M5201. Runs Win Home Premium. Bought in 2010. Specs on request
Last week it did a spontaneous reboot for the first time ever.
Day before yesterday it started up without monitor input - they were on, plugged in, just stayed on standby. I frowned, rebooted, and all was fine
Yesterday it only started up partway - no monitor input, not making the sounds indicating it was properly booting but without visuals. Restarted it twice to get a proper bootup. Thought it might be something wrong with the master/slave powerblock I was using. Worried about the whole thing and made some backups before shutting down at night.
This morning I changed to a normal powerblock. Same issues - partial bootup without monitors. There were variations on this, one time it would get further than the other. Sometimes the logo lights would come on but the blue power light on the start button would never light up.
One time it booted halfway and I left it alone to make tea and after about five minutes it continued booting and is now working normally
Help me, I'm skeeered. I'm assuming this is a hardware issue, but could anybody give me pointers on what sort of issue it might be, and what I need to think about when calling the shop? It's no longer under warranty, and I'm keen to get this sorted out as cheaply as possible, so I want to have the hint of a clue before they talk me into a whole new pc.
My computer is an Acer Aspire M5201. Runs Win Home Premium. Bought in 2010. Specs on request
Last week it did a spontaneous reboot for the first time ever.
Day before yesterday it started up without monitor input - they were on, plugged in, just stayed on standby. I frowned, rebooted, and all was fine
Yesterday it only started up partway - no monitor input, not making the sounds indicating it was properly booting but without visuals. Restarted it twice to get a proper bootup. Thought it might be something wrong with the master/slave powerblock I was using. Worried about the whole thing and made some backups before shutting down at night.
This morning I changed to a normal powerblock. Same issues - partial bootup without monitors. There were variations on this, one time it would get further than the other. Sometimes the logo lights would come on but the blue power light on the start button would never light up.
One time it booted halfway and I left it alone to make tea and after about five minutes it continued booting and is now working normally
Help me, I'm skeeered. I'm assuming this is a hardware issue, but could anybody give me pointers on what sort of issue it might be, and what I need to think about when calling the shop? It's no longer under warranty, and I'm keen to get this sorted out as cheaply as possible, so I want to have the hint of a clue before they talk me into a whole new pc.