My Computer is Busted

[Midland Beek]

My PC wasn't switched on at the time, but it was hooked up to the mains, when a DIY job I was doing required the turning off of the mains electric at the fuse box. This turning off and on of the mains electric seems to have jiggered-up my PC - none of the USB ports now function.

Any ideas why this has happened? Thanks.

 

[enrico]

A power surge. Always fit a power surge plug. Mine blew up in a thunderstorm when lightening hit the telephone wires! Surge plug worth every penny.

 

[REDWOOD]

My PC wasn't switched on at the time, but it was hooked up to the mains, when a DIY job I was doing required the turning off of the mains electric at the fuse box. This turning off and on of the mains electric seems to have jiggered-up my PC - none of the USB ports now function.

Any ideas why this has happened? Thanks.

Go into device manager and see if your USB ports are connected and no conflicts

 

[Bee-Key-Pur]

Oh dear, ..it happens...

 

[itma]

If it HAS (only) taken out the usb ports, the good news is that you should be able to buy a PCI card to slot in (to a desktop pc) for roughly a fiver -- giving you some new/additional/working usb ports.
USB2 should be fine (and distinctly cheap) unless you are looking to attach an external usb3 hard drive. Then you have the choice between usb2's performance and the added cost of getting a faster usb3 card.

 

[steve1958]

Mine can be a busted sometimes

 

[alanf]

Everything works except USB? And you changed nothing since it worked? Unusual.

Possibilties are hardware failures like a chip on the board or the power supply, or software like driver corruption. Simplest way to work out software v hardware is to boot a live CD, something like Ubuntu. Take it from there.

 

[Shabro]

Sounds daft I know but have you shut it down correctly and restarted it since?
Have you tried restoring to an earlier time before the outage?

 

[drstitson]

"Have you tried restoring to an earlier time before the outage?"

do you have a handy Tardis or deLorean (plus flux capacitor)?

 

[busybee53]

Steve1958 - so can mine.

 

[itma]

"Have you tried restoring to an earlier time before the outage?"

do you have a handy Tardis or deLorean (plus flux capacitor)?

I suppose that's how it works... http://www.apple.com/uk/osx/apps/#time-machine

 

[Midland Beek]

Thanks for your comments folks.

Couldn't get any existing USB ports to work, but fitted new card giving me new USB ports which do work.

Defo a power surge in spite of surge protector fitted. Be warned people - whenever switching mains power off at switchboard be sure to unplug PC beforehand, even if not switched on and 'live' at the time.

Restore, defrag, CC Cleaner, etc. do nothing to improve performance. Some kind of critical failure is confirmed by 100% CPU usage and general bad performance of computer - dies and then re-boots. I guess the CPU is overheating causing PC to auto shut down.

I guess parts are friend. CPU? Me thinks not correctable unless I take it apart and fit new part or parts.

 

[DanBee]

So difficult to offer any troubleshooting at a distance, but if you're swapping components like CPU out to troubleshoot, unless you have a pile to hand it's not worth the time, cost, or effort IMHO.

Google Morgan Computers for cheap run-out or refurb brand-name PCs. I have used them for over a decade, reliable service and good value. Pop your old hard disk into a new unit and recover your data.

Good time to think about backup strategies for the flood or fire scenario - a stack of CDs in the same room, or indeed an external drive kept next to the PC may fare no better than the thing they back up. Online backup services are many and varied, and cheap. OK you may not miss your emails to your mates, but things like digital photos cannot be recreated once lost. Don't mean to sound preachy, but often it takes a nudge like this to think about the value of data on a PC and deal with something as dull as backups