Win 7 PC "goes to sleep" without warning, won't wake up

[pontiac59]

It’s a used unit from a local computer shop they’re willing to warranty for 30 days. Probably the same as what was in it. I mean the only reason I’m even buying one is the one I had here has the wrong plugs to connect to some components. Or I’d have spent zero dollars for one.

So let’s review. I started it in safe mode and deleted some files as was suggested by others. To finish clearing the programs it needed to reboot. I told it to reboot and within 20 seconds of this reboot starting it quit.

The next morning I attempted to boot again, only because I wanted to grab some passwords out of it. As usual it gave the options for safe mode, I chose no because the email program won’t run under it. It then gave me the startup repair procedure.

The startup repair ran and concluded it could not fix the problem. At that point an HP specific help dialouge came up. Before I could choose anything, again it quit. I think it’s likely the shutdown damaged files.

The bottom line is I cannot do anything about any files on the machine until I verify it has a functional power source. A similar power supply robbed from a junk computer is more than good enough to use to determine if this is the issue. If it turns out I cannot salvage the machine, I’m only out $20.

So I will replace it, put it back together, turn it on and see what happens. My guess is it will be unable to boot and may give me the repair process again. If it still quits in a short time, then the power supply was not the problem. If it does not quit, maybe I can play around with it long enough to get it to recover.

[Pyro]

Sounds like a good plan,

If you can be out that money I would absolutely recommend it.

[Bruce]

the melted plastic and smell absolutely points to you needing to replace the PSU.
some, or most, or your startup issues probably stem from the PC continually losing power mid-use.
but could also be due to the age of the drive, the whole rig after all is more than 10 years old.

the OS hasn’t been reinstalled since Feb 2012, the BIOS is old with version 7.17 available as of 2020 but Pegatron drivers are hard to find, seems to be a HP mobo.

but yeah, all moot points until you can replace the PSU.

[Malnutrition]

Once you change the PSU and are able to boot the machine, we can check for malware and run a few test on your HDD to make sure it is ok.

We may still be able to get the machine to Boot if it is stable enough to stay running after changing the PSU, so long as the HDD is not fried.

[pontiac59]

If I remember right this machine is supposed to be set up with two hard drives, a very small one with the OS and the 1TB unit with most everything else. However inside if there is two the second one seems to include the CD drive and slots for SD cards. That was the only one the even more ancient power supply would not plug into. Other than the two plugs on the motherboard I think these were the only other two things the spaghetti off the PSU plugged into.

If I can get it to run long enough to just pull the important data and programs out of it that would be fine, but this new machine only has 1/4 of the HD space so figuring out where to put all the data will then become an issue. I don’t know if I want to put a second, conventional HD in it or not.

[Bruce]

according to your Speccy report, that rig only has the one drive, a 1TB Hitachi Deskstar.

I’ve been thinking of suggestion that it may be time to disassemble all the components and re-assemble out of the chassis, onto a piece of cardboard on the kitchen table.
not only will it allow for easy swapping of parts to troubleshoot this easier down the track, but it’ll be a good exercise for you to get to know your rig better.
and when reassembling, only connect the components that are critical to get the PC to boot, so no CD unit, no extra PCI cards like sounds or network, only one drive (if you do indeed find it has two), and so one.

[pontiac59]

No idea why I thought that. Maybe when I bought it I was seeing specs for another computer. it seems like a good idea, put the OS on it’s own little drive separate from data storage.

So this is interesting. The PC I’m using to access this forum with is a year old Win 10 machine and I was looking to see the specs on it and accidentally discovered it seems to have the ability to make a system repair disc for Win 7. I found it under System and Security in the Control Panel. There’s a Backup and Restore option and the System Repair option.

[Bruce]

not quiet, but I can see how you could jump to that conclusion.

it says Backup and Restore (Windows 7) - meaning it is a left-over feature, from Win7, they brought across to Win10.
and NOT a feature that allows you to go back to Win7.

[Bruce]

@pontiac59 - any update?

[Bruce]

no activity - abandoned.

[pontiac59]

I had to wait about a week for the adapter to come in the mail so I could even put the new power supply on.

I just finally got off my caboose and put it together and it booted like normal, there are some errors but they seem to be related to the antivirus stuff I uninstalled when I last had it running.

Somehow despite an uninstall of AVG, AVG is still on here and running. Or reinstalling itself. That’s annoying.

Oh well, issues from this point are just software related I would say. At least now I’m not afraid to mess with the thing. The only minor issue I had is the used power supply’s .. I forget the name of the plugs, not Molex, the flat black ones… one of the three on it was broken, I probably should put some electrical tape on it next time I am in there. Which probably won’t be too long, I plan to get another hard drive and start transferring important things over to it.

[Bruce]

good to know, and thanks for the update.
let’s keep this open for a few days and see how you get on.

with AVG, doing an uninstall from Programs & Features is not enough.
if you haven’t, get their removal tool to completely delete all the leftover crap, or use Geek Uninstaller or Revo Uninstaller to do it for you.

[Malnutrition]

Do you wish to take this back to the malware area, so we can give it a proper check? There may or may not be malware, but the tools used in that forum make for easy clean up of a cluttered machine.

[Bruce]

@pontiac59 - where we at?

[Bruce]

no update, closing.