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(editted) This HP Compaq 6000 Pro at my office in Japan has started not powering on properly as of last week. I can hear a clunk, clunk noise sometimes that repeats. I'm thinking now it might be power getting to the speakers is bursts, causing bits of noise.

It is a compact PC where everything is crammer behind the monitor and a real pain to open. I have re-set the cpu, the memory, and the HDD, but something is killing the power in about 1 second.

picture of the power light

When plugged in this led comes on, and when I push the power, after 1 second the light switched to the red circled LED then immediately back to the first LED, and nothing else happens besides the clunk clunk.

It started doing this last week, but booted up after a couple power cycles. Yesterday it didn't after 5-6 tries, so I turned it upside down and sideways looking it over, tried again and it booted. Once power goes through it stays on all day. Today I opened it re-set everything and it still won't take.

I'm not our companies engineer, we don't have one, I'm just the guy that can usually fix computers. I have plenty work to do as much as I'd like to spend a few hours opening this ugly mess of an HP (tons of plastic snap-ins) but that's really not my job...

Any ideas? There's nothing really hardware I can disconnect easily.

I edited this from asking about the noise as maybe an indication a physical circuit connection was being attempted but not completing. It sounds like that is not probable thanks to previous comments.

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  • Why the commentless down vote?
    – Kyle Postlewait
    Commented Jul 3, 2017 at 23:59
  • (I'm not the downvoter.) What is a "head" when talking about a switch? Do you mean a button? The power-button on your computer just closes a small circuit (for as long as you press it), so the mainboard knows that you want to start your computer. Everything after this "initiation" will most likely mean that your mainboard encountered an issue in POST ("Power On Self Test"). This can range from "insufficient power supply" (due to PSU failure) to "failed to initialize GPU/CPU/RAM". And where does the noise come from? The button or somewhere inside the computer?
    – flolilo
    Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 0:05
  • I'm sorry I don't know what it's actually called, not a button, but the actual physical "closing" of the circuit. There is a physical movement or matching of parts that goes from open to closed, yes? That is what I mean. I can hear the clunk, immediately after pushing the power button, inside the box, before any sort of actual POST or monitor activity or anything. That is why I am curious if it's the actual circuit connecting device (plate? head? bridge?) that is not working properly.
    – Kyle Postlewait
    Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 0:09
  • I don't think that your mainboard is old enough (I don't even know if there was one) where that contact was closed mechanically, not electronically - especially since it would need power to move a mechanical switch in the first place. Mechanical sounds from inside the machine are related to HDD failures most of the time. I'd open it and disconnect the HDD and try it again.
    – flolilo
    Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 0:19
  • 1
    " the power switch was trying to push two "heads" together to create a path for the power." -- You're probably referring to the actual contacts within the switch. But many electrical/electronic devices no longer have a power switch that has to handle the full line voltage and current. Instead there's a soft (a low-voltage, logic control) switch (e.g. the "power button" of a motherboard) that controls a relay that handles the full current at line voltage. Relays can have a distinctive mechanical click noise.
    – sawdust
    Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 3:06

1 Answer 1

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On modern computers (since about the Pentium II era IIRC) the power button does not directly switch the power. Instead when you press the power button the motherboard detects the button press and turns on the main part of the power supply (a "standby" section in the power supply is always active).

Unfortunately there are many things that can cause the symptom you describe. Basically the motherboard turns on the power supply but then some fault is detected (by either motherboard or CPU) causing the power supply to turn off again. The audible clunk is simply things like fans and hard drives starting and stopping and may or may not have anything to do with your problem.

Start by disconnecting everything that isn't essential. Drives, power splitters, fans, add-in cards (leave the graphics card if your motherboard doesn't have onboard graphics) front panel ports (leave the buttons and LEDs).

Try again, does it boot to the BIOS screen? if so start adding back in the removed hardware one item at a time. If not then you probablly need to involve someone who has spare parts and can test your items one at a time.

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  • I'm on the computer right now. When it boots it boots fine, no visible / audible warnings or errors. It will run for 10-12 hours before being shut off by whoever is last to go home. Then it will give me trouble starting up the next morning, or so it has for the past 4-5 days. It seems to be getting worse, but it's literally an instant failure, less than a full second before the power switch light goes off after being pressed / coming on. I'm much more familiar with things after that, it's so fast I'm having trouble imagining what would kill it that early.
    – Kyle Postlewait
    Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 1:48
  • For some random information: We are in mosoon season and this building is old. The humidity is very high, and it sits over night for 12+ hours. I also know the HDD (there's only one) cable is finicky; once every 100+ boots it will throw a unrecognizable HDD error. If I re-set the cable it recognizes it fine.
    – Kyle Postlewait
    Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 1:49
  • I know where the fans and hard drives are and what they sound like, though "belief" is a dangerous practice. The noise is not near any fans, and the HDD shouldn't make any noise that heavy unless there's something physically wrong with it, and it's actually less than a year old, still possible though of course. I will try to pin-point the noise tomorrow morning, but if hardware was going to stop it, wouldn't that be expected to be more permanent/cause problems when it does boot? This is a stupid compact HP, so all the parts are hidden away snug inside, I've opened it before though.
    – Kyle Postlewait
    Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 1:54
  • I updated the question to include a link to a picture of the computer in question. It's an HP with everything crammed behind the monitor. Not really a power supply I can detach and test. I really don't like these kinds of computers! I tried to re-set everything, but I have to pretty much take the whole thing apart to try and disconnect the speakers or the fan. As for the sound I think it's the speakers. It's probably too loud to be something physical like a fan starting and hanging... but maybe.
    – Kyle Postlewait
    Commented Jul 5, 2017 at 0:14

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