My daughter's gateway computer is a couple of years old and will not turn on. I took the case off and there is a little green light on the mother board that comes on when it is plugged in. But nothing else works no fans no power up. I'm guessing it's the power supply which is enclosed, so all I see is a box with a bunch of wires coming out. I have never messed with a power supply.
So my question is are they expensive? Is it something an amateur wants to mess with ( I've installed memory and hard drives before)?
I personally think she should just get a new computer they are so cheap now, but she would at least like to get this running to get her stuff off it. If she goes for a new one I was just going to remove the hard drive and put it in a usb hard drive case.

Any help would be appreciated. I've switched cables, outlets and locations.

Power supplies are fairly inexpensive and easy to change out. And they do go out a lot. Dirt makes the fan stop, then the power supply overheats, and . . .
DonM

Thanks Don, do you know anything about the little green light, probably a l.e.d., on the motherboard that comes on when the unit is plugged into the wall? Does that mean it couldn't be the power supply if that little thing is getting power?

The most common failure in computers IS the power supply, as to the LED then all this indicates is that the power supply is receiving power from the mains, not that the rest of it is working correctly.
Power supplies are cheap, just get one that is the same or more powerful then the one that is fitted, and also has the appropriate connectors for all your components. (Take the old one with you when you buy the new one)
In addition any computer shop worth its salt will have a power supply tester, and they will be able to tell you if your power supply is OK or not.
Hope this helps

Bill

If you are unfamiliar with doing this yourself, I HIGHLY recommend you take the computer to a local computer repair center, and have them swap the power supply. If you can't diagnose whether it IS the power supply or not, might as well fix the real problem, rather than just guess. The computer tech will at least give you the correct diagnosis.

No point in maybe making the problem worse (a mistaken cable connection, or a static discharge on to the motherboard etc.)... Having an experienced person do this should cost you little.

And a two year old computer is still probably more than adequate for you and your daughter's needs... Are you REALLY bumping into a wall, or is the thing just so ridden with spyware and the like, it's running worse than when you bought it? The tech can probably check this, too...

The computer belongs to my 28 year old daughter, who lives in her own home, it was a inexpensive underpowered bundle when she bought it.
But she has no complaints with it and the only time I see it is when something is wrong, which surprisingly is not very often. She uses it mainly for school work and email she's not a web junkie and doesn't do downloads and such.
My feeling is this, I would rather spend 400 dollars on a new tower with more memory and updated os, than 200 to fix what she has. And from what I could see to take it to the Geek squad is gonna cost around that much.
She has a friend in school taking IT courses he will look at it and then I will help decide it's fate, I don't want to mess with all those wires. I would feel the same way if it was mine. Somethings I'll do somethings no.

Thanks to everyone for all the help.

P.S. It is probably more like 4 or 5 years old than the 2 I originally stated.



[This message has been edited by mikeathome1 (edited 02-18-2008).]