I've got a curly one for you. My desktop has died. When I try to power it up a red light comes on as well as a green light. The fan starts up but that is it. It was rebuilt about 2 years ago. Thank doG we bought the 2nd hand lappies (Terry wanted them for card programming) and got wifi broadband otherwise I would be lost without my internet fix. The drama is all my "stuff" ie photos etc is on the dead beast.
Do you think this is a power issue? Any ideas? I should mention that the other day when it decide to start up, I checked the event log and it showed errors 59 and 32. I checked out the Microsoft Help and Support and it didn't give much info

AH don't you just love computers (i didn't mean it mr computer please keep working).
I doubt those event errors have anything to do with the fault.

Does the fan keep spinning or does it spin up then stop?
After the machine has been on a while if you press the caps lock or numlock keys do the lights go on or off (the caps lock and numlock lights not the ones on the front of the pc)? Do they light up then go off immediately after power up, or do they not come on at all?

Do you get any beeps as the system is powered on? Systems often give beep codes to indicate the type of fault (e.g. memory fault).

These sorts of faults are often hard to track down without a supply of spare parts.

You could open the case and re-seat the memory, graphics card and any other cards. You could even re-seat the processor, but you should reapply the conductive compound that sits between processor and heat sink so it might be best to give that a miss. I wouldn't recommend you do this unless you are confident in doing it though, you always have a risk of a shock or doing more damage with static.

I don't think you should do anything you are not totally happy with.

If you decide to scrap the machine then you can buy a hard drive caddy to put your disk drive in. These are really cheap and really good (assuming its not the disk drive that has gone). This should allow you to recover all your data and you can use it in the future to backup your computer. Dead handy.

Rob

Hi rob
No it doesn't beep anymore, if it does then it will power up but still showing the red light. The CD driver doesn't power up now either:(
The hard drive caddy is a good idea and I have already thought that I might have to get one now so when I buy my NEW computer I can transfer everything easily.
BTW the fan keeps running
It's just so dam annoying as all my email addresses are on it so I can't email anyone unless they email me first "sigh"

Best guess is that it is either a power supply or motherboard fault. If its a fairly standard machine you can pick up replacement power supplies for not too much money. If its a few years old though might be better off replacing it entirely You could always check the internal connections, including the power connector to the motherboard, I don't hold out much hope though.
You should be able to get all your emails and address book off the machine, if you go down the caddy route. Sorry