My computer won't turn on?

Question

I bought a new computer basically to play the sims 2 on. After about 6 months of the sims and World of warcraft it shut down on me and never turned on again. I looked up the beep code and it says its the video card or the memory. I already opened it to vaccum out some dust (and its worked since then so I know that wasnt what broke it) but in turn that voided the warranty. SOOO long story short I dont know whether I should take it to a proffessional or try to fix it myself. I learn stuff pretty quickly so Im sure I could do it, but im worried I might mess something up and break it permanently. Which way would be cheaper, and which way would be more beneficial to the computer.

Answer 1

When in doubt take it to a professional, especially if it's a brand new computer - you might end up breaking it beyond repair.

Answer 2

Within 6 months its normal for the computer to show signs of problems. The only thing you should be worrying about is the power supply. Usually this is the first component of the computer that causes the power failures and such. Seeming you have played Sims for more than an hour per day, eventually the power supply will be the first component to give in. Don't worry about the motherboard, it will give in within a few more years. Just replace the power supply.

Answer 3

If you have some spare computer parts you might be able to do the troubleshooting yourself. To find the source of the problem, you would need a second video card (on-board would suffice, assuming you have PCI or AGP graphics already), and some spare RAM. It might be cheaper to take it to a comp shop if you don't have these things available, but it would be better to do it yourself in this case. The chances of you damaging something are very minimal, as you would only be installing and removing things from the PCI and DIMM slots.

Answer 4

First remove the memory module one at a time and then try to power up, Hope u have 2 memory sticks. If it still does not work then try an addon video card. It has to be one of these two causing ur problem

Answer 5

Well, I don't think it's the power supply because if the power supply is malfunctioning, then the whole tower wouldn't boot in the first place. You can always try to jump start a power supply to see if it's working. May I ask what video card do you have?

Answer 6

For right now, just take it to a professional. If it is not the hardware, most likely some kind of virus or trojan horse. www.tomcoyote.org can help you with that. (For now, unless you are the professional; since you've already voided the warranty, don't mess with it any more.)

Answer 7

Take it to a repair shop and have him check it out and fix it. In time when you learn more about computers you may want to tackle a minor repair yourself like replacing a cd-rom drive. But since you asked the question....take it to someone.

Answer 8

most times, the problems turn out to be software conflicts. your PC is ok if it lights up, turns the monitor on, makes the printer click and if you heat the cooling fans running in the back of the tower

Answer 9

take it to a shop. no offense, but laptops have some complicated stuff in them and you really dont want to screw with any of it. Just fork out the cash and get your computer back.

Answer 10

Boot into safe mode and reinstall the drivers for the devices that it is showing errors for. This can be done in device manager through computer management. (right click my coputer, select manage)