Pc wont turn on.

Hey guys. I have been thinking about getting my old ACER aspire T310 desktop up and running for my kids to use for homework, playing games etc. I replaced it a couple of years ago as I was having all sorts of suspected malware problems with it, and at that stage I was unaware of how to fix the problems myself, and as I was wanting to upgrade anyway, I wasnt prepared to spend the hundreds of dollars to have somebody look at it for me. But now that I have spent many long hours (lol) studying these forums, I feel I could give it a crack with a little help from WTT. The problem is, I just connected it all back up but its not turning on. Its as though the switch is faulty or theres no power getting to the tower. So I was wondering if anybody has any ideas if the likely scenario is that the power button could be faulty or it just may need cleaning (its been sitting untouched for about 2 years) or if its more likely to be something more sinister? Any advise would be greatful as technology really isnt my fortei, but im learning lol. Thanks Chrissy.

I am not convinced the power button is at fault, not unless there is further cause to suggest it, but it doesn't mean it's not possible, there are several reasons this could be happening, but if it's not the most obvious ones you wont be able to do more without further parts\help. Lets start with the most obvious and easiest thing to check, I'm assuming the house fuses (mains fuse\trip box) are fine or other things wouldn't be working, so check the most obvious, see if the tower has a power switch on the back of it, make sure that is on, the next if that doesn't help is to check is the fuse in the actual plug of the tower lead, replace that, and ,make sure you use the same value fuse that comes out of the plug, see if this helps, if it still has no life it may require a new PSU, but lets see what we can prove first.

Thankyou for your response 8210GUY but I just connected it back up to the power to see if I could hear any life in it at all (such as if the fan was working), and as I switched the power on it made a loud bang and stunk of burnt out electricals lol. Id say its dead in the water now

Hi Chrissy

I switched the power on it made a loud bang and stunk of burnt out electricals

Oh Dear!
That is not good………likelyhood is, that its the PSU that has burnt out…….they are very easy to replace just a few screws to undo and the power cables to disconnect……. however I cannot recommend this to you as a way forward as after any event like the one you described, the computer should be thoroughly checked for electrical safety by a competent technician and remain disconnected from the mains (and anything else) until thats been done.
If you have a "tame tecnician" handy then when she/he has finished the safety check perhaps they will check the PSU for you?
Regards
paws

Thankyou Paws I am a bit hesitant about it now even if it gets checked, especially since it would be the kids using it. Its not an issue anyway as it was going to originally be destroyed anyway, I just thought I may have been able to save it lol. I will probably just remove the HDD and copy what I need from it and destroy the rest. I may need help later to do this, but I will post back to this thread if I do. Thankyou to you both for your time and expertise. As always, its much appreciated! Chrissy.

Id say its dead in the water now

Sounds like it decided to do it's own cremation in the process lol, sorry I'm late back, didn't know you had replied here, but as paws said, trying to use it without proving it to be safe first is not worth the risk, on top of that such a failure often takes out other components with it, most likely are the motherboard and ram, although it is not definite, but with it's age etc I agree that you're plan to remove the hard drive and bin the rest is the better course of action, what it would cost to make safe and working again you could get a good second hand one for, without the hassle.

As to the hard drive the first thing you need to discover is if it's ide or Sata, given the age you suggest it's more likely to be ide, ide uses a big connector, Sata uses a small one, if it's ide you will need to check the jumper on the drive and make sure it's set to either slave, or CS (Cable Select), and set on the middle connector of the ide lead, Sata does not require this, but reply if you need further help and someone will be able to help