I'm posting this for Winfrey, she is on the phone. She connected her desktop HP M7360M Media Center computer. She plugged it in and nothing happens. She is looking at the back of the computer, below the plug there is a switch that says 230 or 115, have tried both settings. Below that there is a green light that is flashing. I opened the computer and nothing is loose. Any ideas greatly appriated.

I wonder if something has gotten knocked loose during the move. Just because you don't see anything loose doesn't mean it isn't. I would double check all the power supply connections first.

When you say nothing, do you mean no beeps or anything?

The switch should be set to 115 in the US - follow the leads from the PSU to the motherboard, make sure they're firmly connected.

Do the fans spin up? If you hear BIOS beeps it may be a component (Memory, Hard Drive, DVD etc...) that's come lose.

I've run into bad power cords that caused issues - do you have another you can test with?

Thank you for your replies. I will double check all you suggested. My nephew will be coming to check again and to bring a new power supply to see if that is the problem. I will update you next week. Thanks again.
Lynda for Winfrey

New information for Winfrey's problem. Replaced the power supply, took apart, cleaned all parts, checked all parts to make sure everything is tight. Everything boots up. I can get into all programs, but, when I go into the media, I get echo and incomplete sound. Also, the mouse traking lags. Any suggestions? Help will be appreciated.
Lynda for Winfrey

Maybe the sound card is bad. Do you have a sound card or onboard sound?


Is this a wireless mouse?

Thanks Jenny100, will relay the suggestion.
Lynda for Winfrey. Winfrey does not have internet yet.

It may also be related to a driver issue -

If the BIOS was reset when the power was restored, it may have changed an IRQ or DMA setting, try uninstalling and reloading the drivers to correct that.

It could also be a shielding issue. Make sure the new PSU cables aren't near the sound card. Normally that would cause static, but look to see where they're at.

Do you see any flagged devices under Device Manager on the Control Panel?

You don’t by any chance have a microphone connected do you?

Edit -

Check the sound card properties too - make sure there's nothing set for environmental effects (like echo).

Thanks InlandAZ, will relay the info.
Lynda

I just got off the phone with Winfrey. The computer is up and running and there are no issues in Device Manager. She still has stuttering sound and a long lag time to do anything with the mouse.

Her Task Manager shows high CPU usage and in her Processes, System is running at 100,424. She has 2 GB of RAM.

She hesitates to uninstall drivers quite yet as she hasn't located the moving box with all her disks yet.

I've done some looking on the internet, but there are a myriad of listings on the System running that high. Any bright ideas, esteemed computer gurus??

Start task manager and click on the CPU column (to sort in descending order) - what's at the top?

Edit -

Ah, System -- Hmmm... Sure it's Not SystemIdleProcess?

See if she can get a better idea of which specific "system" process is using the CPU with Process Explorer -


Process Explorer v12.04

Here's an image of what is looks like - It's a bit more detailed than Task Manager.

Process Explorer Image

I asked that too, but it just says System. Here is exactly what it says in her Processes. In the Image column it says System; in the Username column it says System and in the Memory column, it lists the 100,424. I believe it was 00 in the CPU column.

I think I forgot to mention - no downloads as she has no internet yet.

Ohhhh - no downloads eh

Try resetting the Virtual Memory settings under the System applet on Control Panel. Set it to system managed size.

Tried to look up an HP M7360M and only got hits on a HP M7360n computer. The review indicated an integrated sound card but we have no way of knowing what is in Winfrey's unit.

If there is a separate audio card in addition to an integrated unit, the BIOS must be set to turn off the integrated sound.

Without further info we must assume that this unit worked correctly in the past and just developed this problem. That means something just changed.

If no mechanical problems have been noticed, that leaves electrical or software corruption. As has been suggested, checking the BIOS settings is crucial as they could easily be lost. However, most of the BIOS settings must be good or the computer would not boot. Given that now problems only start when trying to plays movie or sound files, that narrows causes to only those items that control sound: BIOS settings, sound (card) settings, DirectX sound settings, etc.

It appears that some HP computers have software to troubleshoot sound issues. Microsoft also has troubleshooting software.
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/no_sound/

You can also try the DirectX tool DXDIAG to see if it will point to any problems.

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The high CPU usage would seem to indicate software running in the background. That needs to be explored further.

When she runs dxdiag tell her to go to the sound tab and make sure the Hardware Sound acceleration level slider bar, is all the way to the right and ask her to run the Test Direct Sound (the button beside the slider bar) to make sure everything is actually working.

Is that no internet because the computer can't connect or no internet because she just moved to a new place and hasn't had internet connected yet?

If the computer has just come back from being on a trip, something could have come loose inside. Also if she has a sound card as well as onboard sound, make sure the speakers are plugged into the right input (the sound input on the sound card and not the sound on the motherboard.)

Sorry, I had to leave for awhile.

Integrated sound.

No internet because they are out in the country now and she hasn't gotten an ISP yet.

All connections, cards and RAM were checked and reseated to make sure. She took it in her car on the move from California to Tennessee as she didn't trust the movers.

Am I on the right track thinking the "System" in processes is hogging all the resources?

I'll call to suggest resetting the Virtual Memory, Inland.

Thanks, everyone!

It's hard to say, 100 MB seems a bit on the high side to me, my largest process consumes about 28 MB. What was the CPU usage of the system process? Was it high as well?

You might have her try to boot the machine in safe more, or do a selected startup with MSConfig.

Something sure isn't right with it. If the sound is cutting off (incomplete) it sounds like an IRQ issue, the mouse may similar.

Another good place to look for issues is the Event Viewer (under Control Panel, Administrative Tools) - Each key in the tree (Application, Security, System & IE) show you any failed processes and their error code.

Since she doesn’t have internet at the moment she might want to disable her Wi-Fi/NIC in the BIOS - it may be polling for a connection (seems unlikely, but it sure won’t hurt).

CPU usage was quite high. She said she was used to seeing very small single digit numbers and her CPU usage was running at more than 50% and occassionally spiking more than that.

The Event Viewer sounds like a good place to check for issues.

I also wondered about the Wi-FI/NIC too. And booting into Safe Mode would be informative too. We just didn't get that far this afternoon.

I wondered if there might be something going on that was caused by the replacement of the power supply.

I'll give her another call tomorrow and see if we can't ferret out what is going on.

And, thank you Robert Gault, for your suggestions. At this point she's looking at everything!

It could be that some programs like antivirus or email are trying to connect to the internet but cannot because of not having an internet connection.

Thanks, Donald. I'm hoping a boot into Safe Mode or a clean boot will provide us with more clues.

This is one of the cases where Microsoft's ***Process Explorer*** utility would help you out. It gives more information than Task Manager and can help you spot which programs are using up your resources.

Thanks, Jenny. Inland mentioned it too - I'll see if she can't have someone else download it for her.

Talked to Winfrey this afternoon and she still has not solved the computer problem. Has not talked to Draclvr yet today. Tried changing the virtual memory to system managed but did not help. Is going to have nephew download MS process explorer. Checked the events log and sees a lot of errors but not sure how to translate. Thanks to all for your help and concern. It is very hard not have internet to communicate!!
Lynda for Winfrey

Yes, got tied up with my stone retaining wall this afternoon. Finally had to quit when my back wouldn't cooperate any more! I will try to call her again tomorrow. If you check this before I call her, please tell her to try booting into Safe Mode and seeing if the issue is still there.