Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Dead power supply

My home desktop computer (Dell Dimension 4500) stopped working last night, but before it died, it blue screened on startup with the following:

0x0000008E
(0xC0000005, 0x805677CB, 0xF300CB34, 0x00000000)

According to a number of Google searches, this error can actually mean a few different things, including RAM and driver issues, but the one that made the most sense was that the power supply was weak, since on the next restart attempt, it didn't actually restart (just a green light when the power button is pressed - no fan, no display on the monitor). Also, the power supply fan had been very loud for a few weeks previous. So it all fits.

I don't have a spare power supply to test with, so I ordered another one last night. Hopefully that's the only problem. I really don't want to get a new computer before Nehalem comes out, and preferably not before Windows 7 comes out as well, but my computer is going on seven years, and I've resuscitated it a few times already, so I'm not holding my breath.

UPDATE (6/12): New power supply arrived (free delivery, only took two days - thanks, 911forPCs.com!). I installed it, and now everything works again. But, the CPU fan is still a bit loud, so I'm going to try greasing it, or replacing it if necessary.

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