PC won't start
 

Last night I left my PC on to finish a download, and this morning I found it off. When I tried to start it back up, it got as far as the Windows loading screen, and then turned itself off. For some reason, though, the keyboard remained on, albeit locked up.

So I opened it up and cleaned some of the dust out. That seemed to work, and it got into XP, but a few minutes later, it turned itself off again. I tried cleaning it a second time, and now it doesn't start at all; you push the power button, and the power LED goes on for about a fraction of a second, but nothing else starts.

Has the power supply gone bad, or is it somehting else?

Sounds like when I accidentally unplugged my CPU fan.

I'd definitely try replacing the powersupply :( they are nto very expensive

Then my next question is what do you have to consider when buying a power supply? I've been using the 450W one that came with the case, and it worked fine up until now (although I did have to turn the PS fan to High when I got my new video card). Should I stick with a PS of the same voltage?

Power supplies that come with the cases are notoriously bad for being low quality (unless you're buying a super expensive case). I mean, if a case and power supply combo is $50, and good power supplies cost $50 by themselves, how good is the one that comes with the case? Most of the time the power supplies provided with the case aren't even capable of outputting the advertised wattage for long periods of time, which is why people start running into problems when they begin to upgrade their machines with newer hardware.

Unless you are running a super fast processor, CD/DVD burners and the latest video card (and don't plan on adding much more stuff) you can probably use a 350- or 400-watt power supply and be fine.

You know the beeps when the computer starts up? Those tell you what's wrong with your computer. If you look around online you can probably find out what the sounds mean, and thus solve your computer problem without wasting any money.

but his isn't even beeping anymore

if it's not beeping there's probably also a list of things that will make it not beep. I'm assuming that would be powersupply like you guys were saying.

I didn't see that it wasn't beeping anywhere in this thread, so I thought I'd throw it out there.

Anyway, I put in a new 400W power supply and everything appears to be working fine once more.

As for the old one being crappy, it did last me for about three and a half years before going bad.