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I know this subject is off-topic but I am desperate to find answers.

I live in Detroit and we suffered the blackout that affected Ohio to New York City. I had two computers (Dell & HP) operating at the time of the disaster at home. When our power came back on, the Dell (the older of the two computers) came back on.

The HP won't turn on. I have other wires attached to it -- the monitor, zip drive, palm holder and lamp still works. I cannot turn on the HP computer. It has only one button.

Is there any way I can fix the HP computer? I need to save the hard drive. We can't afford a new desktop. Heck, I don't even have a computer for college yet! All of this happened so fast.

By Clickspring (Clickspring) on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 01:54 pm: Edit

Where are you going to college next year?

You must have a surge protector, but who knows if your computer suffered internal damages. You'll need to get someone to look at it.

By Tenisghs (Tenisghs) on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 02:05 pm: Edit

Northwestern.

The Dell is too old to upgrade (1999). The HP is the newer of the two computers yet it's not working.

Yes, we have a surge protector. I turned the surge protector off. The monitor, zip drive and other devices were not harmed. I don't know what to do.

By Saera (Saera) on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 03:04 pm: Edit

If it simply won't turn on at all, there might be a problem with the power supply. Check the back of the computer and see if there's a switch where everything plugs in that has | and 0 on it (probably will have that, but if it doesn't, it's probably the switch you're looking for anyway). Make sure it's in the | (on) position, and turn it off and on just to make sure. I had to do that once for mine. If that doesn't work, and everything is plugged in right, then the problem is either with the power supply or the motherboard, which can both probably be replaced for not TOO much money...although you're going to have to have someone who is knowledgeable about computers help you with that ^_^;;

By Patsmom (Patsmom) on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 08:48 pm: Edit

I've had a similar problem and the only thing that worked was to unplug the computer from the wall, then plug it back in and boot it up. Give it a try...

By Marthpodi (Marthpodi) on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 12:29 am: Edit

Check your power supply, as Saera said.

side note: what dorm did you get? I'm in 1835 Hinman.

By Tenisghs (Tenisghs) on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 04:37 pm: Edit

TO MARTHPODI -

I am in Sheperd.

By Stephenpmi (Stephenpmi) on Thursday, August 21, 2003 - 03:48 pm: Edit

Definitely sounds like a power supply problem to me as well.

If you have a "newer" surge protector, it might have some kind of equipment warranty. Otherwise, find someone good with computers and have them look at it.

Also, I know this sounds stupid, but check the power cord. (see if the cord works with your monitor) It doesn't happen very often, but power cords do go bad.

Sorry about your misfortune.

By Dianekw (Dianekw) on Thursday, August 21, 2003 - 10:18 pm: Edit

My power cord went dead out of the blue.

I have a think pad.

I had IBM mail me a new one, it work's fine.

Power cord's often go bad, mine was less than a year old.

Sound's like the power surge zaped it, and maybe that simply burned it out.