Thread: PC Troubleshooting support

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I know this may be a bit of a longshot, but...There seem to be a lot of people around these forums, staff and members alike who are far more knowledgeable about computers than I am. My problem involves my mother's computer, which she received as a gift back in '99 or 2k. It's a Packard Bell that runs on Windows 98. The problem is that one night, a couple of weeks ago, it apparently came on by itself. (I kid you not) it would stay on for approx. 4 or 5 seconds, then shut itself off. It continued this cycle over and over again, and it did not seem to respond to my attempts to either start or stop it manually. Eventually, as it was late, I finally out of frustration, pulled the plug, and promptly forgot about it. That is until yesterday, when I plugged it back in. It then began to behave the same way as before. The thing of it is is that my mother, who is not very computer literate, used this computer as an electric file cabinet to store, amongst other things, her poetry. (between 200-300 at last count) Since it doesn't stay on long enough to go through the entire start up process, there doesn't seem to be a way to do a diagnostic test to see what is wrong, much less access the poetry. She needs to be able to get to it, as she sends out cards to members of our church on their birthdays, anniversaries, birth of newborns, the shut-ins, and the terminally ill... So if any of you staff or members have even the slightest inkling, I'd very much like to hear from you...

It sounds like there is a short in the power button, or it may have some gunk built up behind it . Have you taken the case apart yet?? But first, try to start the computer in "safe mode" by holding down the CTRL button while starting the computer. If it works, you will see a list of start options. Pick "safe mode". Let us know if it works so we can go throught the steps of getting that nasty virus off her computer.

Do you shut the computer all the way down or just let it go into stand by mode? Was the computer in stand by mode when it started flickering or was it totally off? and if you can get into safe mode check your power options. Or could just be a stuck power button or reset button.

I remember a virus several years ago that would constantly reboot the computer, but that doesn't explain how it came on in the first place. Is it possible she had a Wake On LAN card installed (I seriously doubt if PB computers ever came with one)?

I would start with the hardware (power button, reset button, etc). Maybe pull her hard drive and install it (as a second drive) in another computer just so you can backup her data.

Appreciate it, Like I said, there is a guy in our church who does building/repair/sales/tutoring etc... It's a small but successful company that he and his wife run together. They helped us out once before, and while all they did was do a diagnostic once over, they reported their findings, and didn't charge us for it. Needless to say, since the computer in question is about 10 years old, (the mfg doesn't even have it's serial in it's CS database) I'll probably let him fiddle with it. Then in addition to making and storing a back-up on my computer, I'm thinking of checking out Carbonite.com as well, just to be on the safe side.

Some good suggestions here. If you still can't get it to work, here's the forum that I use for computer problems.

Savemybutt.com - Computer Help For The Novice In All Of Us...

Thanks everybody, I appreciate it, especially since I've been here less than a month...