In case there are other Hewlett Packard computer owners that are unable to turn on their computer and are experiencing a blinking green LED light on their power supply, you may not have to buy a new power supply.
There are situations where there is “leftover” power or an electric charge still in the power supply. You need to find a tool to discharge that power. Once it has been discharged, when you plug the power cable back into the computer the power supply will emit a solid green light and you will be able to power back on normally again.
I don’t know what the tool is to discharge the power supply – a technician did it for me. Alas, weeks later, after fussing with the insides of my computer some more I have managed to get it back in a state where the green power supply light is blinking again and I am unable to power up my computer. Wish I had one of these tools…
Lots of the help messages in response to people with this same issue are telling them to just buy a new power supply – that may not be necessary.
Update:
I found an article on how to discharge the capacitor in switch mode power supplies. I don’t know if I’m willing to try these suggested methods however…
Talk nineteen to the dozen 
Posted by Eva on January 14, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Just FYI… my boyfriend’s computer had this exact problem. We checked this page out:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?dlc=en&lc=en&product=425925&lang=en&cc=us&docname=bph06788#bph06788_section_2
…and the very first recommendation worked for us. A technician friend of ours said that just unplugging the PC and holding the start button down for a good 10-15 seconds will kill the power to the board. It worked like a charm–when we plugged it back in, the green power supply light was steady and it booted right up.
I’m glad we didn’t listen to all the people who told us to just replace the power supply! I wonder how often that is done without it actually being necessary…
Posted by Norman on January 14, 2011 at 7:22 am
This worked for me too. Thanks.
Posted by Naveen on August 22, 2013 at 11:17 am
Thank You so much. This really worked for me. Thank goodness it worked or my parents would have killed me!
Posted by N Kellogg on July 29, 2013 at 2:30 am
I tried everything, even the blow dryer, I also vacuumed out all the fans which I do about every 6 to 8 months anyway, just to keep it clean. What worked for mine was… keeping it plugged in, staying grounded by keeping a hand on the outside of the tower, unplug the large power cord from the motherboard, plug it back in. I did not hold down the power button while doing this. Use extreme caution when doing anything with electricity!!
Posted by Anonymous on July 31, 2014 at 10:44 pm
This worked for me as well
Posted by Tom Sargent on November 16, 2014 at 3:15 am
This worked for me also
Posted by Dale on June 26, 2014 at 8:51 am
Well………..it worked for me too!!
Posted by vicki on June 22, 2015 at 4:06 am
I would really hate to have to do this every time as one person below said…however, due to the nature of this ‘fix’ I have a feeling it is the power supply capacitors that are not good…and , you need a new power supply…unless you know how to solder in new ones. it is a common enough fail in many computers. Heating up your computer is never a good idea,no matter the part! So, please check to find out what is the true problem and find something on ebay that may fit your budget better..and still have a good computer! You can wind up doing far more damage than good for your unit, then be stuck putting out for another computer. Just a thought guys!:) Cheers!
Posted by Anonymous on October 11, 2020 at 12:07 am
This worked for me as well. After hours of trying other things.
Posted by Ben Kohn on November 22, 2008 at 2:54 am
I think that the above person got LUCKY. With review of some 20 sites the correct answer is to REPLACE THE PSU. Power Source Unit = PSU. It sure though is a nice fix when it does rarely work.
Ben Kohn
Cocoa FL
Posted by Emily on September 12, 2012 at 8:52 pm
No, they did not just get lucky. We have restarted our HP over 20 times now, since June of this year, using the hairdryer “fix”.
Posted by John Conley on September 24, 2012 at 10:12 pm
I’ve been booting my HP now for well over a year, at least 20 times or more, using the hairdryer. Beats me as to why.
Posted by nate on July 13, 2013 at 6:33 am
The hairdryer is heating up the capacitors in the psu. the capacitors are bad so replace the psu or replace the capacitors.
Posted by Anonymous on September 6, 2015 at 3:49 am
The hairdryer worked for me too! Hard to believe but it did! Imagine my husbands surprise when I fixed the computer!
Posted by CreareeSuck on May 21, 2009 at 5:17 am
Interesting information! i will come back again!
Posted by BRETT on May 22, 2009 at 3:41 pm
AFTER TWO MONTHS IN JAIL I CAME HOME AND TURNED THE POWER BACK ON FOR ALL MY ELECTRONICS & FIRED UP MY PRESARIO SR1703WM.THE THING WORKED FINE FOR ABOUT 10 HOURS THEN OUT OF NOWHERE MY DISPLAY BLANKED OUT THEN PIXLEATED IN A GRIDD OF GREENISH ORANGE SQUARES ABOUT 1″ IN SIZE.IT WAS ABOUT 4 SECONDS LATER THAT I DOVE FOR THE POWER SWITCH BUT NOTHING HAPPEND. I THEN TRIED AGAIN BUT THIS TIME I JUST HELD THE BUTTON DOWN & STILL NOTHN SO I YANKED THE POWER CORD. I WAITED A MINUTE TO LED THE POWER DRAIN OUT OF THE MACHINE & SMELLED AROUND FOR ELECTRONIC DEATH GAVE THE THING A JIGGLE AND A QUIK CHECK OF ALL THE CONECTIONS AND TRIED TO POWER IT BACK UP. POWER SUPPLY HAD NORMALY STEADY GREEN LIGHT BUT WHEN I PUSHED THE PWR BUTTON ALL I GOT WAS A SOLID NONSTOP BEEP AND FAST FAN RPM THAT DID NOT SLOW TO NORMAL LIKE IT SHOULD ALSO THE PWR BUTTON WAS UNRESPONSIVE. THIS EVENT HAPPEND ALMOST EXACTLY 1 YEAR AFTER I PURCHASED MORE PNY RAM. ALL POWER TO MY GEAR IS LINE FILTERED THROUGH SEPERATE LINE CONDITIONERS AND SURGE PROTECTORS.
Posted by YO YO YO on June 16, 2009 at 11:40 pm
DUDE I HAVE NO FREAKING IDEA WHAT YOU SAID BECAUSE YOU TYPED IT IN ALL CAPS! ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO READ.
JAIL, EH? WERE YOU ARRESTED BY THE GRAMMAR POLICE?
Posted by guest.000 on April 30, 2010 at 10:49 pm
HP Power supply flashing green light
This is an easy fix so here you go nice and simple:
Problem: Your motherboard circuit has been cut.
Causes: Power disconnected during operation. Power outage or short in the surge protector.
Symptoms: Flashing green light on both motherboard and power supply. System will not power on.
Solution:
Step 1: Ensure that both the power supply and the motherboard lights are flashing green, not solid or off.
Step 2: While the power is on, disconnect the power supply from the motherboard. This connection is the largest of the connections and should be listed as the ‘P1’ or ‘Primary’ power connection.
Step 3: Wait until the green light on the motherboard stops flashing and check to ensure that the green light on the power supply is now solid. If it is not solid, disconnect the power to the power supply and wait until the light turns off completely. Then reconnect, it should be solid now.
Step 4: While the power is on, reconnect the P1 connection to the motherboard and you should now see that the light on the motherboard is solid.
Step 5: Power on your PC. The problem should not persist.
Warnings: If the power supply light remains flashing after you have restored power to it while it is disconnected from the motherboard, it may be a system failure in the power supply itself requiring replacement. Always be careful when working with an active or live power machine.
Posted by Jas on June 28, 2010 at 4:22 am
Yea the problem is on my computer is the green light on my desktop computer power supply is off so does that means i need replace the power supply?
Posted by Anonymous on April 19, 2014 at 1:33 pm
by using the hot stting on the hot hair dryer it discharged the capacitors and the computer fired right up. NICE
Posted by Kevin on July 26, 2010 at 3:05 am
This suggestion is the stupidest thing I have read in a long time. People like you should not troll through tech forums and post anything. Folks, never ever start disconnecting and connecting cables on the inside of your computer without first unplugging your computer from the AC outlet and number two, discharging the remaining current left in the PSU by holding the power button on the from of the computer for about 5 seconds followed by another push for precaution. This poster will cost you bigger issues if you listen to him.
Posted by David on September 1, 2011 at 10:02 am
Worked perfectly. I held my breath and pulled the ATX connector while plugged in (and blinking green). The LED went solid green. Plugged the connector back into the MB and hit the PS. Perfect. But I don’t trust that PSU.
Posted by Anonymous on January 18, 2013 at 3:44 am
Unplugging the motherboard while the power supply is on. Worked great for me. Tried all the other ways did not work.
Posted by Anonymous on January 23, 2011 at 11:11 pm
These steps worked perfectly and my power supply and computer is functioning properly.
Posted by Anonymous on March 5, 2012 at 6:40 am
Wow. it worked for me too. Weird. Thank you so much. I tried many complicated things and this simple hair dryer method works.
Posted by Anonymous on June 11, 2012 at 1:23 pm
Okay guys, this hairdryer method works… I honestly had tried another method before, it worked the first couple of times I kind of thought my computer was fried for good because.. well I’ve got bad luck sometimes but it worked after my second try, thanks guy and praise the Lord.
Posted by Anonymous on June 7, 2013 at 2:39 pm
cold solder joints
‘
Posted by Anonymous on January 15, 2014 at 7:13 am
Great! I tried hairdryer and this method works for me too. Thanks!
Posted by Roy Smith on February 17, 2016 at 11:40 pm
Hair dryer worked, just held it where the fan is for about 1 minute and the light went from blinking to solid green, unbelievable, the computer is about 8 years old and sits in the basement, it’s only used about twice a month. There was a short power failure a couple days ago. Thanks for the tip.
Posted by Anonymous on April 10, 2012 at 8:44 am
Worked perfectly . Thanks.
Posted by Anonymous on December 29, 2012 at 8:49 am
Wow it does work,,,hmmm
Posted by Anonymous on September 22, 2012 at 8:15 am
Worked for me as well. Thank you.
One thing only: if you unplug the power supply once gain the blinking returns and you have to do thi procedure once again.
I don’t really know if it will last long time like that.
Posted by Anonymous on June 26, 2013 at 5:53 am
This solution worked for me. I didn’t have a green light on my motherboard but I unplugging P1 from the MB while the power source was plugged-in and this turned the blinking PSU light solid green. Thanks
Posted by Anonymous on August 3, 2013 at 2:43 pm
Worked like a charm! I have an older hp pc and thought all was lost. Thanks for the solution.
Posted by Peterson Ndereba on June 10, 2022 at 5:15 pm
THIS WORKED FOR ME ONE HUNDRED PERCENT FOR SURE. THANKS MAN. BE BLESSED
Posted by Casey on November 28, 2010 at 7:20 pm
So in searching for help on this topic i found another forum that had the simplest yet crudest solution. it’s easy and non invasive and it doesn’t matter how tech savvy you are. Take a blow dryer and turn it on to to blow air at the back of the power supply for a couple minutes. When you see the light turn green you’re all set. It worked for him, it worked for me and no risk of having to unplug anything inside the computer that can damage the cpu or mother board. Just make sure it’s only on there for a couple of minutes, it shouldn’t be hot enough to approach the heat of the power supply anyhow.
Posted by Lana on March 23, 2011 at 10:57 am
Holy cow! This worked….the hairdryer thing actually worked. Thank you sooooooo much!
Posted by Anonymous on January 24, 2012 at 7:54 am
I too just used the blow dryer to heat the power supply and OMG it worked, that is crazy. It took 2-3 minutes but thats just crazy. Thanks for the crazy info..
Posted by Anonymous on July 22, 2012 at 6:52 am
I did it for a min and I was like I don’t think this is gonna work so I turned it off and the light went solid and I was like Wtf it worked
Posted by Lisa Hall on February 25, 2013 at 8:03 am
Yea!!!
Worked for me too! My husband looked at me like I was crazy. Boy, did I surprise him (and myself as well!!)
Posted by Anonymous on April 24, 2013 at 5:44 am
Hair dryer works! :-)
Posted by Anonymous on June 7, 2013 at 2:39 pm
cold solder joints
Posted by Jcarlos on November 3, 2013 at 5:49 am
Just amassing!!!!
Posted by Kevin Kirkpatrick on June 29, 2011 at 5:32 am
Worked for me to. But I’m pretty sure you don’t need to leave it there for a couple of minutes. I’m assuming it just blows the dust out of your computer which takes a couple of seconds. Thanks for the advice! (we used a vacuum to get the dust out before reading this lol).
Posted by Anonymous on August 11, 2012 at 9:02 am
Vacuums cause static electricitythat could blow out your power supply, so be careful. Compressed air much safer.
Posted by Francisco on December 3, 2011 at 10:53 am
Wow, such an easy solution. Thank you Casey!
Posted by Britpip on December 12, 2011 at 12:10 am
Worked after 1 minute with the hairdrier. The power of the Internet. Thanks Casey
Posted by Anonymous on December 16, 2011 at 9:18 pm
Well I felt like a fool squatting down there with a hairdryer, BUT I’LL BE DAMNED!!!! It worked. Thank you to the mad scientist (whoever you are) who figured this out.
Posted by Sam on June 30, 2012 at 11:38 pm
I too felt like a fool but it worked. Thanks for the non tech fix!!!!!
Posted by adam on July 27, 2012 at 6:49 am
ok.. so that is crazy. worked here too.. hair dryer on warm..(hair dryer has a ‘cool’ option and that didn’t seem to work.) plugged in and green light flashing.. then the blinking got slower and slower. now solid. then i unplugged it to move back into my computer room.. and PSU was blinking again. so turned on hair dryer again for a solid green and it fired up. not sure how long it lasts but the hair dryer seems to jump start the PSU
Posted by Anonymous on December 27, 2011 at 12:32 pm
I don’t know why this Compaq Presario stopped working when all I did was open the case to upgrade the ram. Next thing I know the computer would not power up at all. Only the blinking green light, which made no sense at all. I almost thought that somehow the power supply went out at the same time I had upgraded, which didn’t make any sense. After trying many different troubleshooting ideas, I finally went to the Internet and couldn’t believe some of the extreme suggestions. I thought for sure the hairdryer trick was too crazy to work, but instead of replacing power supply or motherboard, I gave it a shot and lo and behold it worked. Not sure who first figured this out, but thanks to all the people who confirmed it before I tried it. Kudos Casey and anyone else that may have discovered this trick.
Posted by Lisa Mayo on March 26, 2013 at 8:06 am
OMG! THIS ACTUALLY WORKED! Thank you so so much! Hair dryer has to be on warm… the blinking did get slower and slower then solid green! She booted right up ….. Thank you!
Posted by Olga on July 6, 2013 at 11:25 pm
Extraordinary! It worked! I’m still shellshocked,
All i did was go on a 2 week holiday, disconnected Presario from power supply, and when I came back, the only thing that worked was the flashing green light on the back of the PSU. Tried everything I could do myself, reconnected power to all components, swapped out memory, even took out and replaced the battery, which I replaced only a couple of months ago. Finally, just as I reconciled myself to taking the PC to the local Curry’s, I came across a forum which gave a link to this site.
As a physicist, I should have had more faith in the hairdryer solution, but as a software professional, it just didn’t sound credible.
However, necessity (desperation more like) is the mother of invention, and I had nothing to lose by frying the circuits in the PSU which was going to be replaced anyway….so I gave it a go and watched as the flashing light stopped blinking.
I’m still amazed, will tell everyone.
Could be the dust, of which there were shedloads, was blown away, or the heat helped reseat some of the soldered connections inside the unit, or the stream of hot air heled to discharge a capacitor inside the PSU. Whatever it was, it worked like magic. Thanks folks!
Posted by Anonymous on December 30, 2011 at 5:29 am
thank you so much it worked
Posted by Anonymous on October 14, 2012 at 7:50 am
HP desktop, same problem, I just tried the blower, it worked!
Posted by carL on January 11, 2012 at 11:41 am
Please add me to the list of non believers, who was desperate enough to try the hair dryer, and now sits here shaking his head in disbelief of the steady green light staring at me. Woo Hoo thank you all
Posted by Anonymous on January 12, 2012 at 1:02 pm
The hair dryer trick worked for me. Thanks a lot!
Posted by Mike t on January 19, 2012 at 6:30 am
Unbelievable!!! It worked for me as well. I think it is the fact that the hair dryer gets the fan moving that cures the problem, as a pc will not power up if it thinks the cooling fan is not working.
Probable cause is a build up of dust.
Posted by judas on January 20, 2012 at 8:25 am
Wow holy crap, the hair blower DID work! I know nothing about fixing computers so this is a big relief for me, it saved me money getting it checked out. Thanks
Posted by Anonymous on January 28, 2012 at 1:26 am
YES!! It took a couple of minutes but the hairdryer WORKED!! God, I LOVE the internet!!!!
Posted by Anonymous on February 19, 2012 at 12:32 am
Worked for us. Thought my boyfriend was insane for bringing us this option. Full heat and power on the dryer, comp plugged in. In less than a minute the green light was solid!
Posted by Kelly on February 28, 2012 at 12:36 pm
Well this is one skeptic that learned a lesson tonight. My HP had a blinking green light and would not power up. I tried numerous methods to get it to restart. Unplugging the power supply and then the cables inside the machine. Holding the power button down with no power applied. Reset the BIOS. Nothing.
Sent off an email to a supplier about obtaining a power supply. While working on my other computer beside it I decided to try the hair dryer one more time but this time I let it run a lot longer and it got pretty hot…..and then all of a sudden the darn thing powered itself up and is running as fast or faster than ever before!!!!
I’ve worked on a lot of computer problems but not once have I ever tried this. One more trick for the bag of tools! Thanks Casey!
Posted by Anonymous on March 13, 2012 at 8:50 am
Holy crap…it worked..
Thanks =)
Posted by Anonymous on March 20, 2012 at 11:17 pm
It really worked! About 30 to 45 sec with a hair dryer on the back of the PSU and the computer came on. Nice one!
Posted by Sheri Sutton on April 4, 2012 at 3:17 am
I actually tried this last night thinking there is no way this is going to work. When I started blowing the power supply with the dryer it seemed like I was there forever (not really but did seem like it) I then started blowing on the inside of the side panel where the other vents are for the power supply, because I didnt think it was working when I brought the hair dryer around to do the back again to my surprise the LED light was solid again. I turned the power on and it turned on. I was shocked. I actually took it to a repair guy too and he told me it was the motherboard. Well he was wrong. I am using my computer now and I am loving it! Thanks a million.
Posted by Anonymous on April 11, 2012 at 4:15 pm
Staggering – I messed around for ages on this then as a last resort tried the hairdryer – and it simply worked. This is such a simple yet illogical thing that you won’t try it first, but just give it a go.
Posted by Mick on April 15, 2012 at 4:40 pm
Blimey!!!!! it works.
Posted by Anonymous on April 19, 2012 at 7:50 am
Another hair dryer success story. Thanks a million folks!
Posted by Mish on April 22, 2012 at 11:28 pm
I read all of this and I am amazed the blow dryer REALLY WORKED! Thank you for sending on this info. I definitely didn’t learn this in my A+ class. I do have to say that I might have held the blow dryer to the fan a little longer than anyone else should try. It took me about a half hour on and off to get the light to stay steady. I was a little worried about the heat at the end, so I turned my blow dryer to the cool setting and it finally turned steady! I was going to pull the hard drive on a clients old computer to retrieve the data, but I found this first and had to give it a whirl. Thanks again Casey, if you are still reading these posts….
Michelle
Posted by Jason on May 4, 2012 at 7:08 am
Blow-dryer worked like a charm. That must be the craziest, coolest hack I’ve ever used.
Posted by Anonymous on May 25, 2012 at 2:52 am
+1 on the Hair Dryer. Amazing but it worked. Good excuse to vacuum the side panels and the vents first too then trying the Hair Dryer. Thanks Casey!
Posted by Anonymous on May 29, 2012 at 2:50 am
Like all of the rest of you, I thought this was just short of making a sacrifice to the computer gods, but it worked in 20 seconds!!! Bless you for this crazy post.
Posted by buck_od on June 21, 2012 at 1:01 am
The hair dryer worked. I was a non-believer, but when all else failed this came through.
Posted by Jamie on July 27, 2012 at 10:59 am
Worked for me too! Thanks for the great advice!!
Posted by Anonymous on August 7, 2012 at 10:25 am
It felt like an eternity, particularly when everything got hot. I said what the heck, let’s try it full blast. Put the dryer on high and it suddenly booted spontaneously. This is awesome shit. But why does it work? Some science/tech explanation please. This is just odd…
Posted by Anonymous on August 22, 2012 at 12:33 am
No bullshit! It worked for me too. Took less than one minute. Started right up. Awesome sauce!
Posted by Anonymous on February 17, 2013 at 1:05 am
Worked for me too!!!! had flashing light on back of my HP tower, and it wouldnt power up. I unplugged the power cord and held the blow dryer at the power connection till the green light quit flashing. Then plugged back in and had a solid green light and it powered up. Blow dryer blew out a bunch of dust and such…. Love the internet….
Posted by Anonymous on April 24, 2013 at 5:45 am
Hair dryer works! :-)
Posted by Anonymous on May 16, 2013 at 11:13 am
The hair dryer trick worked like a charm. I used hot air, so I don’t know if it’s temp related or just blowing the dust out (which there was a lot of). If it happens again I’ll try cool air first instead and see if that makes any difference. Gotta luv the internet for this kind of stuff!
Posted by Anonymous on September 26, 2013 at 4:20 am
I didn’t have a hair dryer, but I did have a heat gun. On the lowest setting I waved it back and forth at the PSU from about 5″ away. It took less than a minute for the LED to stop blinking. Thanks!
Posted by Yblue on December 7, 2014 at 1:20 am
Definitely works!
Posted by RonB on December 25, 2010 at 10:39 am
Guest.000 suggestion worked for me. My kids think I am a genius now. Thanks.
Posted by Joe on January 17, 2011 at 6:33 am
Casey’s tip worked for me after trying all the others.
Thanks Casey!
Posted by StefS on April 12, 2011 at 11:06 am
Worked for me!! That’s awesome! Hp said it would cost me 350 at least or to buy a new one. Yay!!
Posted by msnow on April 18, 2011 at 12:32 pm
wow after almost crying the hair dryer worked
Posted by WooHOO! on February 9, 2013 at 11:08 am
lmao, Now you can dry your tears too! I have a really dusty office because it’s next to a major street and each day the dust finds it’s way in. So I get it. Hair dryer on high- pressed cool setting because it’s the fan sticking that shut down my system. I could see it wasn’t turning. I didn’t want to melt anything.
When I mentioned this to my BF/contractor/computer genius – he gaffed it off. Saved me from lugging 2 computers in the snow to his house though.
Again, I have triumphed over the know-it-all! (The fan in my case, wasn’t turning so the computer was protecting its self-that’s why the flashing green light on start up). Also, we had a power outage the lights were on, on my printer,etc. The lights in the office were dim but on.
My BF also an electrician, tells me one of the legs blew so it was operating on limited electricity. I figured I blew the computer with the outage; and pressing the start button while in minimum supply mode, I did see a flash in the back of the computer. In any event, that half power situation must have signaled the computer to shut down so even when the power came on full strength, it registered safety mode. All I can say this time, is making the fan turn again allowed the computer safety to go off and it’s running great again.
Posted by Hugh Sheppard on April 27, 2011 at 10:05 pm
WOW! This worked for me too! My HP t350 has a faulty switch that needs treating gently, so when the PC packed up, I was sure it was to blame. As it was just before going away for 6 weeks, I just unplugged everything and thought about replacing the 5 y.o. PC and how I was going to remove & copy the present hard-drive.
But thanks a million for this; returning after 6 weeks the fault persisted, but cleared after 1 minute with the hair-dryer. If it was due to a capacitor that needed to be discharged, why didn’t it happen over the 6 weeks? We had hot weather and the PC location must have reached 30C; why wasn’t that enough?
Has anyone the explanation?
bestregs
Hugh
Posted by cmorcat on November 10, 2011 at 10:48 am
This belongs in Ripley’s!!! This is the third time we’ve had the blinky green and this time all the things that had worked before wouldn’t do the trick. 1 minute with my wife’s hair blower and presto. All these geeks telling everyone to buy a new PSU obviously aren’t married for a good reason.
Posted by Lazy Man Mike on May 4, 2011 at 8:01 am
I have the touch of life!
Mine went out after a brown out. This is the third time that I have brought her back with out a new PS.
First time waited 6 months plugged it in and worked.
Second time, a week and worked.
Third, was trying the holding the button in for 30 sec trick when unplugged. Thing was it would try to boot a till when unplugged, the first sign of life other then a green led. A little over half a dozen tries later and it came up. Slowly, and I have some issues with a Floppy diskette seek failure and a inability to access a partition to reboot/reformat but hey its a start for a 6 year old computer.
Never give up. My Zombie computer is a testament to computers ability to sort them self out…. concerning the PS at least.
Posted by WooHOO! on February 9, 2013 at 11:20 am
and… mine is from 2004 with upgraded graphics and RAM, a swapped out CD drive and recently the hair dryer treatment after a power outage…and still it resists me buying a replacement. It’s not fast and it’s 75% used C drive memory and way more apps on it than it should but it still manages to do the job. An almost 10 years old compaq presario SR1211nx such a piece of crap that the place I bought it from wouldn’t take it back. Now I’m glad. Take that Office Max!
Posted by OMAMO JULIUS on June 17, 2011 at 9:48 pm
Sure? Gotten the same problem I will try……
Posted by OMAMO JULIUS on June 17, 2011 at 9:50 pm
I will try the blower thing……Thanks in advance men!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by jeffbrj on June 20, 2011 at 1:54 am
As a last result, against all logic, I too tried the hair dryer trick. Worked like a charm; you rock Casey!
Posted by Gary in Houston on June 21, 2011 at 9:54 pm
Wow…I have to admit I was VERY skeptical…but this worked for me too! The heat from the dryer allows the capacitors to “open up” and release the stored energy which then lets them perform normally once the power supply is reconnected. Thanks for the tip!
Posted by Howie Hogle on June 23, 2011 at 7:55 am
This worked for me then when it quit again I finally found an upgrade power supply at http://www.allpcpower.com, they walked me through the installation process. now works great.
Posted by Bobby Ray on June 30, 2011 at 10:35 pm
I am just blown away (no pun intended – well maybe a little) the friggin hair dryer – really?? IT WORKED FOR ME TOO!!! Just put it on and wait – and when you think its not going to come on just keep it there for another 25 seconds or so and presto.
I have to admit I was looking around for camera’s for the first minute or so…… I can’t wait to show my kids that someday……. – thank you soooo much. You made my day – LMAO!!!
Posted by Anonymous on July 5, 2011 at 2:42 am
Let’s see, turning a DC motor by blowing air in the opposite direction of normal airflow turns the motor into a generator. The fact that it is turning backward means it is generating reverse polarity. As the motor normally runs off the power supply, the reverse polarity discharges the capacitors………
Correct me if I’m wrong
Posted by PaulCC on July 26, 2011 at 1:37 am
THanks a million casey as crazy as it sounds it worked for my HP computer as well
Posted by Burk Schmidt on July 27, 2011 at 8:40 am
the post by guest.000 (on April 30, 2010 at 10:49 pm) worked for me. (discharging the power supply did not).
Thanks very much!!
Posted by Linda on July 30, 2011 at 4:34 pm
The blow dryer worked like a charm – so thankful to people taking time to post these solutions.
Posted by Anonymous on August 5, 2011 at 1:13 pm
OOO, worked for me too! I was a little skeptical about removing plugs, but took a shot at it……damn thing fired right up! =)
Posted by Anonymous on August 20, 2011 at 5:31 am
yo, that sh*t really works! lol My dad came into the room while and sees me blow drying my computer… I was thinking this better work…and it really works
Posted by Anonymous on August 27, 2011 at 5:57 am
Holy crap the hair dryer worked!!!! Forum after forum and this is what works. I’ve never solved anything from forums. THANKS!!!!
Posted by Anonymous on August 29, 2011 at 5:01 am
Wow! The hair dryer trick worked! Thanks, Casey!
Posted by Anonymous on August 31, 2011 at 9:32 am
Ok.. So I tried all of the aforementioned solutions on this forum, starting from holding the power button, then unplugging everything, then plugging in Mobo while the power plug was hooked up. Then I strolled across the hair dryer thing, and said what the hell, I have tried everything else.
Then, THE HAIR DRYER WORKED!!
Thanks everyone for sharing.. 6 year old HP, was passing it down to my daughter. She is very happy now, thanks again
Posted by Jeff E on September 3, 2011 at 6:41 am
Thanks Casey! The hair dryer worked for me; Green light is on steady and computer booted up! Can anyone explain what happens?
Posted by Anonymous on September 12, 2011 at 12:14 am
I too tried the blow dryer on the power supply fan. Son of a gun, that worked! Thanks!
Posted by Julie on September 28, 2011 at 6:42 am
My hp f1703 got a power surge and subsequently had the flashing green light in back of the tower and failed to turn on. Tried the hair dryer trick. Took 2 1/2 minutes but green light is solid and computer works like a charm. Revived from DEAD DEAD DEAD! Big kudos. Thank you!!
Posted by jonQ on October 9, 2011 at 2:01 am
THANK YOU!
Lost power, got the blinking green light on the back of the HP P61101, was ready to toss it rather than spend a nice day messing with it – BUT – 2 minutes with a hair dryer on the back fan, with the PC unplugged cleared it right up. Wow – Thank you.
Posted by shellz on October 9, 2011 at 11:06 pm
Blow dryer worked after a power outage low hear directly at the fan but not to close
Posted by Anonymous on October 12, 2011 at 2:59 am
I was very sceptic, tried everything like pulling out and putting back Mobo cables. Nothing helped. I used dryer as last resort… Incredible, but my computer is working again.
Posted by kraft_07 on October 16, 2011 at 9:45 am
I don’t own a HP but it worked on my desktop too. Only thing was the light did not turn green after blow drying. I unplugged, light turned solid green and then booted. SOOOOOOOO HAPPY NOW!!!
Thanks for all the posts. Well worth my time to read them all.
Posted by Anonymous on October 22, 2011 at 10:34 am
Thought I was doing good, by blowing all the dust out of my HP Pavilion tower, then no power up,blinkin green light,about to give up I Googled it and Hair dryer to the rescue.aaaaaaaaaaammmmmmaaaaazzzzzzzziiiinnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg. :)
Posted by Smithy on October 23, 2011 at 12:23 am
Holy Wowwwwwwwza! The Drier trick actually worked. bingo bango. no problem. took the extra minute to blowdry though all the vents on the side of the CPU to try to clear out some of the obvious extra dust collected as well. Anyway Blow drier solved this non power up issue no problem! I’m not sure if it has to do with some for of neutralizing electric charge or something, but it worked. so amazing!
Posted by Anonymous on October 26, 2011 at 8:04 am
The hair dryer worked for me too! Thanks!
Posted by Anonymous on October 31, 2011 at 12:47 am
This did the trick for me as well. I had reset a breaker on the main house panel which cut the power to my computer. When the break was turned back on the PSU of the computer was just blinking. I researched to web to find solutions and I tried everything I found reasonable to correct it but nothing seemed to work until I found this post. I have to admit I was skeptical as well…but it did work! The computer is functional once again. Thanks
Posted by Anonymous on November 3, 2011 at 3:47 am
EXTREMELY skeptical, however decided to try blow dryer trick, after about a minute it turned back on. Thank you very much for the idea and post. Save myself and mom a lot of trouble trying to fix it.
Posted by Anonymous on November 5, 2011 at 2:02 am
thankyou very much it is really a good idea and i think i should stop reading forums because there are alot of people who even don’t know about problem and they give you suggession . Thanks again dear
Posted by James on November 6, 2011 at 11:08 pm
I was already starting to shop around for a new Power Supply, but then decided to Google the problem. When I found this I said why not. What have I got to lose. I asked my daughter for her blow dryer and she thought I was crazy. Sure as sh*t it worked. I just wonder who was the original person to sit there and think “Hmm, I’ll try a blow dryer.” Whoever it was Cudos to him or her. And thank you Casey.
Posted by Anonymous on November 12, 2011 at 8:31 am
Crazy damn hairdryer trick works!! Your ‘fix’ is actually mentioned on an HP forum with a link to this thread! So glad someone posted it on there otherwise I’d be terrified, pulling apart a computer for no reason!!! Casey your a frikkin’ GENIUS! LOL! Thank youuuuu!
Posted by Anonymous on November 12, 2011 at 8:33 am
-OH, and it only took about 40 seconds for the light to go solid green for me! ;)
Posted by Anonymous on November 13, 2011 at 9:01 pm
Worked for me. When you think it’s not working, don’t quit!
Posted by Anonymous on November 14, 2011 at 12:16 am
Hair Dryer worked great! Thanks!
Posted by Anonymous on November 14, 2011 at 3:29 pm
works a treat!
Posted by Anonymous on April 19, 2012 at 10:28 am
OMG the hairdryer WORKED!!!!! It took about 9 minutes but it worked!!!!!
Posted by Hans on November 15, 2011 at 12:48 am
Got a better one for this, I found it on this site http://www.ehow.com/how_5329291_test-bestec-pc-power-supply.html with power off /unpluged , pull the ATX connector (the big one on the motherboard, find the green wire (PWR Test) and insert a paper clip in to it then insert the other end of the paper clip into a black wire (ground), now power up the power supply, green light will go on if the supply is good, if so then power off and pull the paper clip and plug the ATX connector back in to the mother board. now power up like normal. and your done, :-)
Posted by Anonymous on February 20, 2012 at 3:09 am
Tried the hairdryer, it worked for a day and then the flashing came back. Tried the paperclip the second time after the hairdryer wouldn’t work for a second time and this worked! Learning if you try random things to a computer it turns back on.
Posted by Paul on November 20, 2011 at 6:33 am
Have spent days trying to sort out this very problem and couldn’t believe it when I read this post but it worked!!!!! Can’t thank you enough.
Posted by Ron on November 21, 2011 at 1:07 am
I was ready to start shopping for a new pc today. Last night power went off and the HP would’nt power on. Don’t know why but googled this issue and found the blow dryer fix.
I’m simply amazed. It worked! :)
Thanks, Ron
Posted by samuel on November 22, 2011 at 12:48 am
That was awesome blowdrier worked!!!!!
Posted by Anonymous on November 25, 2011 at 2:41 pm
Yes the blowdryer worked. I just tried it, just now. And the light went solid and the computer powered up. This is really a weird fix but I like it a lot!!!
mspart
Posted by Ski on November 30, 2011 at 11:57 am
Casey!!!! You’re a damned genius! That’s the most outstanding answer I have ever heard! You must have a I.Q. of 160! You are gifted, Private Casey! You are going to be a general someday!!!
It freakin worked, no shat about it. Phucken-A right man!!!! Your’e a friggen rock star dude!
I’m so happy I could soil myself and in fact, ah, I think I just did.
Like the other dude said, who in the world was the first guy to try this fix? Dude was a true pioneer. Like the first stoner who licked the back of a frog to get high, who the hell would be the first one to try that? I dunno, go figure.
Poke a fork in me, I’m done.
Ski in TX
Posted by Anonymous on December 1, 2011 at 7:39 am
just tryed the hair dryer trick and it worked for me too.
Posted by Handydyke on December 3, 2011 at 2:03 pm
Un-freakin’-believable! Worked for me too!!! At 1am and desperate after rearranging my office and not doing anything I believed significant to my machine (it was not moved, only peripherals attached to it), I tried it for about a minute and a half. Wasn’t sure if computer should have been plugged in so I did it unplugged. Once I plugged power cord into back of computer, light went solid green and I hit the power button on the front and presto!!! Gotta love technology…and hair dryers!!!
Posted by Anonymous on December 7, 2011 at 9:27 am
Worked perfect after having contractors flip off the breaker without telling us!!! Who knew a hairdryer could fix all your computer malfunctions :-)!!!
Posted by Eve006.75 on December 11, 2011 at 6:05 am
Oh my God – it really works – barely had the hair dryer on for more than 10 seconds.
Have to say I spent a couple of hours cleaning out the dust bunnies inside the tower first, (dust) which may have led to the insides over heating in the first place
Posted by Anonymous on December 11, 2011 at 6:09 am
Thank you very much it work lake a charm and tell your Tech. friend thank you too.
Posted by holli on December 12, 2011 at 7:56 am
omg the hair dryer worked!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Happy Happy Happy on December 13, 2011 at 8:31 am
The hair dryer fix worked for me. Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Polar Bear on December 15, 2011 at 12:40 pm
Worked for me too. Make sure the air blower is blowing warm air to the back of the power supply (the fan outside the box) and that the fan is turning due to the air rushing in.
Posted by Gary on December 16, 2011 at 9:55 am
I wanted to know if dust was causing the PS light to blink so I used 75 PSI of compressed air to clean out the PS and the rest of the computer. I didn’t see any dust and that didn’t fix the blink. I hit the PS with the hair dryer on cool but it still blinked. So I turned on the heat and in about 50 seconds, the computer was working. Heat is what’s fixing something. Yes it works but why? Waited a day to post, it’s still working a day later. GV
Posted by Anonymous on December 17, 2011 at 11:55 am
Just tried the hair dryer on a friend’s HP which had quit. Looked like a blown power supply but I figured I would give it a try. The blinking didn’t stop after several minutes of blowing with air on cool setting of the dryer, I ended up disconnecting the 24 pin plug and replugging it and then plugging in the power cord, all with the dryer still blowing. I got a solid green and when I punched start – it did ! Thanks Casey, for the great trick. I probably wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t tried it.
Posted by Anonymous on December 18, 2011 at 5:41 am
Worked for me on my HP m1170n desktop tower meda center. Does anyone know why this acually works? Is it discharging leftover power?
Posted by mark on December 23, 2011 at 9:00 am
I cant believe the hair dryer worked! I have been working on pcs since 1986 and never heard of anything like this… I never post on these things either. Some of you guys are funny.
Posted by Bruce S. on December 25, 2011 at 5:06 am
I just tried the hair dryer trick and it worked like a charm. Who would of thought….
Posted by Robert on December 25, 2011 at 6:33 pm
Just tried this here in the UK and it booted up after less than a minute thank you so much :)
Posted by Anonymous on January 2, 2012 at 1:10 am
Awesome…hairdryer worked! Thanks!
Posted by connor on January 2, 2012 at 9:19 am
Went on vacation and shut down the computer and power supply. Blinking green light, no power. Unplugged the supply, etc., found this site and discovered that the hair dryer works. Completely bizarre.
Posted by Gary V on January 2, 2012 at 1:12 pm
That’s when my light started blinking, after it was unplugged for a while. Maybe this has something to do with the battery?
Posted by Dave on January 3, 2012 at 11:08 am
I unplugged my computer for a two day trip and when I came back I plugged it in and pressed the button and nothing. I had previously replaced a PSU for my previous computer so I thought that’s what I would have to do here for my Compaq. I searched online and found a lot of long lists of remedies from pushing in and holding the on button to unplugging motherboard and other stuff inside the computer. I have extensive experience replacing, adding and fixing items inside my computer, but I just didn’t feel like dinking around. I came across the blow dryer trick hear and was extremely skeptical. I never mind trying something once. I had the dryer on low heat blowing into the fan while it was still plugged in. Nothing seemed to work so I put it on medium heat and unplugged it. After about one minute I saw the blinking green light stop so I stopped the dryer and plugged the power cord in and SOLID GREEN LIGHT APPEARED. I pushed the button and it fired right up. I yelled down to my wife that it was working and she was very happy!
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Anonymous on January 3, 2012 at 1:22 pm
Hairdryers trick worked like a charm, and I almost had er all packed up to go to the doctor. Really cool little trick.
Posted by Anonymous on January 4, 2012 at 3:49 am
HP 350n Tried for two days nothing worked only blinking light thought new pc or power supply? Then I went to internet saw the post on hair dryer said no way,but tried before heading to Best Buy. Yes the ” Hair Dryer “really works” I dont have any ideal why ,but THANKS
Posted by Anonymous on January 4, 2012 at 11:04 am
I’ll be a ……. Worked!!!!
Posted by Anonymous on January 5, 2012 at 5:58 am
All I can say is “Holy Sh*t,…..it worked!”. I was cussing this thread, because I felt like an idiot holding a hair dryer to the back, with the little green light flashing. However, after about 5 minutes, I unpluged the power cable and plugged it back in….solid green light….PC powered up. I was actually starting to think that all the previous posts were fake, because it sure as hell wasn’t working for me….until…POOF!
Posted by John Conley on January 6, 2012 at 12:30 pm
I’m glad I found this…blinking light…take off the side, poke about. Nothing. Read HP site, wt HECK. Then I saw another link. Right. I’m blowing a freaking hair dryer into my tower? NOT. Ten minutes later, what the hey. 10 seconds after I start styling my PC’s hairballs the light goes steady. We had liftoff. Very cool, and thanks to you all.
Posted by vinny on January 7, 2012 at 10:09 am
I was ready to go change out the power supply and so thought to give the hairdryer trick a try bang it worked son of a compaq buttoned up that case and quick got everything backed up and kept using it
Posted by Tony on January 10, 2012 at 10:38 am
THANK YOU SO MUCH! Exactly as described, the Hair Dryer worked to fix my HP big desktop m8120n with the little green light on the power supply!
Although several people speculate that this addresses a capacitor issue, wonder if the heat from the hair dryer interacts with the thermal overload circuitry in the power supply (which is causing the power supply to cycle on and off, hence the blinking)?
Posted by Anonymous on January 11, 2012 at 2:36 am
Unbelievable!!!!! Directed the hairdryer on the fan near the power supply for about 60 seconds and voila!!! The computer spontaneously started up and is booting up as I write. We had a power outage for about an hour last week and the computer had been on during the power failure. When the power came back on, the computer would not start up and the green light was blinking in the back near the power supply. I have a compaq presario sr1750nx. This crazy hair dryer trick really worked. Still can’t believe it. Thanks to the person who figured this out.
Posted by gsgordo33 on January 12, 2012 at 10:45 am
incredible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just added RAM to my 6 yr old HP. went to power up and green light is blinking. Tried holding the power button with no success. Luckily I found this site with minimal searching. In less than two minutes with the hair dyeron moderate heat the green light was solid and the computer booted right up. This is crazy. Add me to the list of believers
Thank you Casey because I have minimal tech skill.
Posted by Anonymous on January 13, 2012 at 3:54 am
I was very skeptical………….after trying the hair dryer on “cool” setting and nothing happening, I read further comments and saw that the hair dryer was being used with “heat”. Tried that and had a solid green light within 45 seconds. Unbelievable!!!!!
Posted by Anonymous on January 15, 2012 at 9:56 am
Holy F@#%*ng S*#t. I thought the hair dryer tip was the dumbest load of bs I ever heard. Then I tried it. WOW. Worked in no time. I am still in a state of shock. Thank you everyone for saving me money on a new PSU.
Posted by Rebecca Dawne on January 19, 2012 at 11:15 am
My hp a730n died about two years ago when the power went out while it was running. I had pulled the supply and was going to buy a new one. I came across this and re-installed the power supply. Used the blow dryer for about a minute and it fired right up. Amazing.
Posted by Mike on January 19, 2012 at 12:37 pm
Thank you for this forum! We had a power outage and PC would not power back up. Had blinking freen light on power supply. Tried unplugging it, switching voltage switch back and forth, etc. All things I had read on other forums. So shoirt of throwing the tower away, I tried a combo of what I read on here.
1) unplugged tower from the wall
2) Held power button in for 15 seconds,
3) Put hairdryer on low heat, blew it on the 2 fans and surrounding area for approx. 45 seconds.
4) Plugged the tower back on.
The green light blinked a few times and then weht solid. Pushed the power button and it started right up. No problems since. Thanks again.
Posted by Bobby on January 21, 2012 at 11:11 am
THE HAIR DRYER THING *WORKED*…IN ABOUT 80 SECONDS THE BLINKING GREEN LIGHT ( STOPPED ) BLINKING..AND STAYED SOLID GREEN..HIP HIP HOORAY!!!!!.. A MILLION THANKS TO THE PERSON WHO FIRST POSTED IT….heres what i did first plugged Computer into wall socket…GREEN BLINKING LIGHT came on…aimed the BLOW DRYER into the FAN AREA ( on back of Computer) for 80 seconds..THEN THE LIGHT TURNED SOLID GREEN and THE COMPUTER POWERED UP on its own,..i ENTERED MY PASSWORD AND PRESTO..COMPUTER IS WORKING AGAIN…
Posted by Anonymous on January 25, 2012 at 7:12 am
I can’t even type this without laughing… but the hairdryer method worked for me too :)
Posted by Jeffrey on January 30, 2012 at 11:00 am
I would like to add a great big +1 to those desperate souls that the hairdryer solution Casey posted over year ago helped out. I can not believe it either, but I saw it with my own eyes and my wife’s hairdryer. Thank you Casey for posting this where those of us in need could find it!
Posted by Anonymous on February 2, 2012 at 2:46 pm
Awesome. Worked on my old Compaq computer. Hair dryer turned it to green in about 15 seconds. AWESOME!
Posted by Eddie on February 3, 2012 at 12:59 am
Ok, allow me to let all of you know that it did not work. I have spent an hour unplugging, plugging, blow drying, pressing power button, and still nothing. The one thing that is happening. When I tried the blower dryer for several minutes, the light stopped blinking. When I unplug the mobo the light comes on and stays on. As soon as I plug in the mobo, the light goes out……any ideas?
Posted by Anonymous on February 3, 2012 at 8:34 am
Worked for me! I really cannot believe it! Definitely need to use the heat setting on the hair dryer – cool did not work for me.
Posted by Anonymous on February 7, 2012 at 2:15 am
My goodness !!! This crazy solution really worked !!! It did it for me. I’m on my last resort and actually looking for sites to buy the power supply when I came across this site. Thank you very much for sharing this kind of info and for everyone who tried and confirmed it worked.
Posted by Chris Hickie on February 9, 2012 at 5:11 am
Amazing. The blow dryer worked. But only blowing hot air, not cool (worked in < 1 min for hot air, not in 5 mins with cool). Be careful with the hot air not melting anything.
THANKYOU!
Posted by Anonymous on February 11, 2012 at 9:51 pm
Worked for me to!!! Saved my bacon cos it wasn’t my PC :)
Posted by Ladyofthelan on February 20, 2012 at 3:21 am
Worked for me too, funniest thing I have ever done as a network administrator who works with computers all day! Gotta tell the techies at work, we’ll have a good chuckle!
Posted by Anonymous on February 26, 2012 at 7:17 am
Came home, computer dead, flashing green light. Son reported power surge/outage while I was gone. Aimed the hairdryer at the fan vent, took about 45 seconds, and Viola fixed. Everyone who takes the time to share stuff like this totally ROCKS!! Thank you.
Posted by Kelly on February 28, 2012 at 12:39 pm
Major skeptic writing this…………..it worked!!! I would have lost a bet if someone had told me it would power up my dead computer.
Posted by Anonymous on March 1, 2012 at 9:37 pm
amazing, but it really does work, I’ve been an IT for more than 25 years, but I never came across anything like that. I was just starting to think I should buy a new PC, but now I can wait a bit longer
Posted by Anonymous on March 2, 2012 at 5:49 am
absolutely works! 30 seconds on warm/medium and light was solid green. now my wife wont go through the roof. just dowloaded very important pictures and thought she lost them.
Posted by Nicole on March 3, 2012 at 11:47 am
Thank you!!!! YES the blowdryer worked!! I was skeptical as well, but amazingly in one minute the computer started working like normal! Thanks for the help!!:D
Posted by Anonymous on March 9, 2012 at 5:53 am
Wow! Amazed that this hairdryer trick worked. Thanks
Posted by David on March 13, 2012 at 5:27 am
Thanks for the trick. My PC is a Sony vaio desktop from 2006. Same blinking green light. Hair dryer for about 1 minute and like magic, green light stayed on and PC booted up normally. Awesome!
Posted by Anonymous on March 19, 2012 at 1:57 am
Just did it for me too. I must have thrown away good number of PSU asuming they were dead… Very humbling post by Casey. God Bless you a million. If you open a charity let us know. Good man you are.
Posted by Michelle Spencer on March 19, 2012 at 10:15 pm
WOW! Held my breath and unplugged it from the power supply and it glowed solid green! I was so excited until I tried to power it up. The lights flickered and now it doesn’t do ANYTHING! No blinking lights or anything!! This computer contained my entire business!!! Ugh….
Posted by Barry on March 26, 2012 at 8:21 pm
Worked for me too.
My wife suggested that possible condensation build up or humidity would both be dealt a blow from the dryer!
I am not sure I believe the reverse fan movemtheoryeroy that discharges capacitorsters.
Posted by Kelly on March 27, 2012 at 7:52 pm
I have a computer that stopped working 2 years ago that I really liked, and have bought a new one since then. Today my newer computer did the same thing with the flashing green light and would not turn on.
I searched Google and found this blog thread about the hair dryer trick, I tried it, and it worked for me! It even worked on my computer that stopped working 2 years ago. I can finally get all my files from my old comp.
thanks!
Posted by ST on March 30, 2012 at 4:34 am
Hairdryer worked on a sr5501p Compac. THANK YOU! To be seen is only temp. Stopped working after a power outage.
Posted by gareth on April 4, 2012 at 6:22 am
same problem with hp 350.uk , taken it apart twice!! tried hairdrier trick, amazed this actually works.thank you very much.
Posted by Anonymous on April 6, 2012 at 3:48 am
Well I thought I was the first one to say that this doesn’t work until I put the dryer on high heat and BANG IT WORKED!!!
So happy I was tired of constantly opening up the computer to connect and disconnect cables!!! BRILLIANT!!!!!! thank you Casey
Posted by M. Rivera on April 6, 2012 at 10:50 pm
We moved to a new home and I didn’t hook our desktop up right away (it has actually been about a month that it has been disconnected an powered down). When I hooked it back up; no power and the blinking green light. I tried to reset the PSU and no luck! So I googled the problem, found this forum and thought “a hair dryer, yeah right!” But it freaking worked like a charm and fast too!! Use the hair dryer people!!!
Posted by Brian on April 7, 2012 at 7:50 am
WOW, I was utter convinced the hair dryer thing was some sick soul’s attempt at getting people to electricuteb themselves. So after NOTHING else work, I drank a few beers and decided….why not. ? LOL Sure enough, as stupid at it sounds, THIS WORKS!!
Thank you!!!!!!!!
Posted by Larry on April 14, 2012 at 6:19 am
Simply amazing. Large thanks to original poster, and those with the positive responses. Was postponing the brews, thinking I was goint to be driving – to buy a replacement (something). Since the hair dryer cancelled that need, I can just have the brews.
Posted by Jeff on April 19, 2012 at 7:51 am
Another hair dryer success story. Thanks a million folks!
Posted by Anne on April 20, 2012 at 2:50 pm
I have a pc which last week started to take a long time to start after ‘sleeping’ – I would press the button on the front and instead of it firing up straight away, it was blinking on and off and then eventually starting up. Yesterday it would not start at all. I tried cleaning it inside – no difference. Tried a cool hairdryer on the inside. No difference. Tried the hairdryer on the back and then tried pressing the button on the front – worked straight away. This morning, again it would not work so I tried the hairdryer again (less than a minute) but nothing happened. I took the power cord out of the back, used the hairdryer again for about a minute or less, then put the power cord back in and pressed the button on the front – hey presto! I’m writing this now from that computer! Amazing! It would be lovely to find out why it works.
Posted by Joe on April 27, 2012 at 7:12 am
Add me to the list. HP a6200n started right back up after the hair dryer procedure.
Posted by Anonymous on April 28, 2012 at 10:05 am
Me too….I am a techie and that seemed to easy…One hair dryer and about 4 minutes.
Posted by Anonymous on May 9, 2012 at 7:16 am
I owe someone lunch…
Posted by Anonymous on May 10, 2012 at 8:39 am
worked great ye, ha, learn something new al the time, thanks for this page.
Posted by forby69 on May 11, 2012 at 9:49 pm
i have just tried that and i was astonished:;? i didnt actually say that but is was similar but it worked
Posted by Anonymous on May 13, 2012 at 11:46 pm
I am so happy I read all your posts as I was blow drying my computer and it worked!!!!! Thanks so much!!!!
Posted by Anonymous on May 17, 2012 at 2:16 am
Well, I’ll be. The hair dryer thing actually works, thanks!
Posted by Des on May 17, 2012 at 5:07 am
No idea why it works, maybe the heat opens a circuit that gets closed when the power gets interrupted or something, but the hair dryer on high heat blowing into the fan from about 2 -3 inches away worked in less than 30 seconds. I suspect it takes longer if you use lower heat or are too far away.
Posted by Eric on May 22, 2012 at 2:05 pm
The hairdryer thing worked for me too! Couldn’t believe it. Left power cord in and at first used air conditioner on high pointing at power fan. Then read the guy who used the hairdryer on low for longer period of time pointed at the fan. Before long the green light started blinking faster and faster and then stayed on! Excellent advice. Thank you so much to whoever came up with the idea and for everyone else who posted! Saved me a lot of time, trouble and aggravation.
Posted by Anonymous on May 26, 2012 at 10:05 am
This worked for me also. One change that I did. The light would not go solid no matter how long I blew air into the PSU. So I disconnected the mother board P1 power supply and blew out the connections and wham, it powered up.
Posted by Anonymous on May 29, 2012 at 4:00 am
Thanks so much. Awesome…
Posted by Gale on May 29, 2012 at 11:34 pm
I suffered the same problem of not being able to power on my Compaq Presario. We had a power outage in my neck of the woods and I guess when the power came back on it zapped the computer somehow. I am not a techie but I thought the hair dryer solution was probably a prank. But I said what have I to lose.
Lo and behold, within 40 seconds of blow drying my power supply the green light stopped flashing and glowed a steady green. Beautiful. It worked.
The thing I love about this solution is that not only does it work, but it silenced a lot of those tech heads who were so strident and condescending in demanding that we all go out an buy a new power supply or motherboard. Yes, we can all be humbled by the simple things of this world.
Posted by Patt on May 30, 2012 at 9:48 am
Wow that is amazing I just tried it, it took less than 20-30 and sure enough.. SOLID GREEN.. Thats everyone
Posted by Anonymous on June 2, 2012 at 11:51 am
The blow dryer worked! Our computer is 7 yrs old, so I thought we had to replace it. We only use it for printing, and the hair dryer just made my day! Thank you who ever figured that out and posted it.
Posted by Anonymous on June 3, 2012 at 10:46 pm
Just to add to the list………I thought yea right but why not try before dropping some $$, it worked. Simply as that the hair dryer worked. Wow and thanks!!!
Posted by anon on June 4, 2012 at 1:47 am
Aiming the hair dryer into the power supply fan worked. Add 1 more success to the list
Posted by Emily on June 18, 2012 at 2:43 am
HALLELUJAH! My husband and I thought we were going to have to purchase a new computer this afternoon, after trying our usual fix, unsuccessfully. In the past, when we were not able to boot up the computer, due to a “brown-out”, or a full-blown power outage, we just opened up the tower, leaving the computer plugged in, and unplugged the main power supply connected to the motherboard – then unplugged the USB closest to the front of the computer. Then, we would plug the power supply back to the motherboard, and plug the USB connector back in.
THIS time, it did not work. We tried, repeatedly.
I found this page, while looking for solutions, and after 2 1/2 minutes of holding our hair dryer on the main power supply, at the back of the computer, the blinking light stayed lit. I hesitantly reached for the power button on the computer – fearing another disappointment. IT WORKED! I was so excited.
We saved hundreds of dollars, days of aggravation, and now know a very simple fix, to get the computer up and running, when the power goes out. When you are holding a hair dryer in one spot for even a minute, it seems like a long time, but if you persist, you will most likely have a working computer again.
Many, many thanks for all who have taken the time to share this “quick fix”!
Posted by grateful on June 22, 2012 at 1:53 am
Geez Louise it worked! After trying so many things for so many days and tech support telling me I needed a new motherboard, I tried the hairdryer out of desperation and it worked! It took about a minute and it needed heat. (At first I thought I was just blowing dust out and kept the hairdryer on cool– that didn’t work.) Thank you thank you thank you! I almost cried with joy!
Posted by Anonymous on June 26, 2012 at 7:35 am
I couldn’t believe the hair dryer fix either, but there are so many positive comments about it, I stopped at the store on the way home and picked up one, $14, and yes, after about 60 seconds, the light stopped flashing and held steady and the computer came right up. Although I do back up regurarly,,that’s the first thing I’m doing, then will see how long this lasts. If that’s the only flaw with this HP, which is 7-8 years old, then it’s one of the best PC’s out there.
Posted by Bill on June 29, 2012 at 9:36 am
UN FREAKING Real in a last ditch effort before standing on my head in the corner with a pickle in my mouth I tried this and Lord and behold…………………IT FREAKING WORKED. Thank You to ever the 1st crazy ass that even thought of this.
Posted by Anonymous on July 1, 2012 at 1:09 am
Yup, me too.
Posted by Anonymous on July 7, 2012 at 8:26 am
YES. The hairdryer trick worked for me on my HP Media Center PC m7334n. I left it plugged in and blinking blue, front and back. I took off the right side panel, and ran the hot air on high all around it, including through the fan exit. After about one minute, both blinking lights went solid. Pressed the start button and it powered up! Put the panel back on and I’m in business. Thanks for saving me so much money, and giving me a chance to back up my data and maybe use this 2005 computer another year or ? Sean 7-6-2012
Posted by Anonymous on July 11, 2012 at 3:09 pm
I want to say thank you to the person who shared the blow dryer trick. I didn’t have to do anything. Just hold up the dryer to the power supply in the back (after I you tubed what that was.) I don’t think it was even a full minute to get a solid green. It was a little scary with all this electricity around me using a blow dryer to heat up something electrical, I felt like an idiot, but “I’ll be d$*^#a!” was all we could say. Saved a lot of drama in our home!
Posted by Anonymous on July 19, 2012 at 12:11 pm
I really thought no way would this work… must be a joke, and I felt really stupid trying it. Well it took like three or so tries (on cool blow), about a minute apiece. Each time the light would start blinking slower and eventually go out. I plugged in the power cord and the light would be blinking again. But then at some point the light came on solid and the power button worked. I’ll be a monkey’s uncle :)
Posted by Emily on July 20, 2012 at 1:02 pm
Very important to leave the computer plugged in. Works like a charm – nine times, for us, so far. We have had frequent power outages lately, and every single time – the hair dryer trick worked!
Posted by stp on July 23, 2012 at 6:52 pm
Several times over the past 2 years I had to fix my Hp a700. what worked for me was to have the Pc plugged in pull out and replace the cable to the motherboard. Last week after another power outages this method did not work. Tried the hair dryer that didn’t work. Time to replace the power supply this was easy should have done it long ago.
Posted by Anonymous on July 26, 2012 at 7:07 am
SON OF A BITCH IT WORKED.
I would have never guessed.
Posted by Erin on August 1, 2012 at 5:52 am
It worked for me too! You would have thought. As the fan started to spin with the force of the blow dryer, you would see the green light go solid. It certainly looks like it is a fan issue.
Posted by Happy Camper on August 9, 2012 at 12:23 am
I too am incredulous but extremely pleased to have found and used the hair dryer trick successfully thanks to this blog posting.
My PC is a (several year old) HP Media Center m8120n. My video card died, as indicated by the POST code beep sequence (correctly detailed in an HP support document revealed by Google). I replaced it and was shocked when my PC not only did not start up, but did not seem to even supply power. I _heard_ rather than saw the blinking green light at first. The hair dryer is a great trick which has saved me time and money and would never have occurred to me in a million years.
Thank you!
Posted by Anonymous on August 15, 2012 at 10:41 pm
tried this today on my SR1734X I bought a few years ago. Blinking light at the front, (the motherboard), and solid power supply light at the back. First I took off the side and took it outside and blew 5 years of prairie dust out of it with my leaf blower, a dangerous step as I could have damaged the guts of the computer, I was too lazy and cheap to buy a can of compressed air. Then I put the side back on, hooked it up, powered it up, and same problem. Tried the hair dryer thing for 3 minutes at the back, the mother board light continued to blink at the same frequency. Dang! Anyway, I unplugged it, waited for the lights to turn off, plugged it back in and WOW the thing is rebooting now. Unbelievable, I’d love to know the science behind it.
Posted by Anonymous on August 18, 2012 at 9:20 am
Unbelievable. I felt like an idiot as I got my wife’s hair dryer and went to work on the PC. I was sure this was a hoax but figured it couldn’t jurt. 30 Secs into it and the light went green and PC powered up when the start button was pushed, Who knew ???
Posted by Dana (@LdyJedi) on August 18, 2012 at 10:30 pm
I thought this was insane, but… the hair dryer worked! My sister and I have been fighting to get her tower up and running. Got out the hair dryer, figuring what the hell… we’ve tried everything else. PSU replacement next, right? But this worked! Yes, she will eventually replace the PSU, but wow.
Posted by tish on August 19, 2012 at 12:03 am
As I write this comment, I still cant believe that we woke up this mornIng thInkIng our computer got hIt by lIghtenIng and It Is workIng again thanks to a hairdryer for about 1 min in the fan area until thr blinking light turned solid. thank you so much!
Posted by Cathy on August 23, 2012 at 2:12 am
All i can say is WOW!!! my neighbor had a power failure and her computer stopped working – no power, green light on back was flashing. She was going to take it in for repairs – I told her to wait, I could replace the power supply if need be. I found this solution with the hair dryer and IT WORKS!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!!! Thanks so much!
Posted by Gordon on August 25, 2012 at 2:19 am
I didn’t believe it either but it worked for me too! Impressive
Posted by vinny on August 28, 2012 at 11:37 am
Yep worked HP of course you must leave power cord plugged into computer do not overspin the fan and use heat setting 25 seconds damm blinking green light flares on solid green hit the power button and off it went ….the best thing is that it was a student computer that daughter had dropped off home because she needed a laptop. The desktop had that blinking power light so it was placed upon the get around to it someday list. I saw this done on the same type of computer and ran home like bunny to try it. No power supply replacement no playing with wires or holding down buttons for 30 seconds. Just looking stupid with a hair dryer and saving money and aggravation and also a full professional office suite of programs that daughter had gotten from the college for free……thank you unknown hero who started this
Posted by Justin on August 29, 2012 at 8:11 am
Just discovered the “blow dryer miracle”. After many attempts to start my HP computer, one shot of hot air and a push of the Power Button was all that it took. Back in operation now……
Posted by vince weis on September 4, 2012 at 10:25 am
It works. We had a power surge while we were gone over the weekend. I was sure that my HP was dead when it would not start. A quick search turned up this site. It took more like 10 minutes of hot air after I found the post that said you point the hair dryer at the power supply fan. A solid green light appeared like magic. Then the HP fired up like a champ. Thank you all for this fix.
Posted by justin on September 9, 2012 at 6:02 am
Woowww!!! Thanks a lot! I thought just becausee the hairdryeer method worked for otherrs…it doesn’t mean it will work for me..but itDID sooo thanksss a bunches! Almost spent 60 dollars buying another powersupply and installation!
Posted by I wear many hats on September 12, 2012 at 2:32 am
Forget the hair dryer…
This is what worked for me this morning on two PC’s after a power outage:
1) open up the box, leaving it plugged in.
2) locate the connection to the mother board labeled P1 and unplug it. -green light should go solid.
3) unplug the box for 3-5 seconds, and plug back in
4) plug connection P1 back in. Green light should remain solid.
5) PC’s started right up with the power button.
As with any electrical appliance, great care should be taken.
Posted by cmorcat on September 12, 2012 at 7:40 am
That sometimes works. The hair blower always works unless the PCU is totally blown.
Posted by Anonymous on September 12, 2012 at 3:04 am
I tried it and it turns out i was blowing air from the blow dryer into the back of the cpu and i sall sparks……….now if i have made my problem worse will it me far more worse if i do the blow dryer thingy where its sapposed to go?????
Posted by Anonymous on September 18, 2012 at 11:23 am
Wow! It works. Cannot beleive this who ever it is who got this first. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
Posted by Stephen on September 21, 2012 at 1:34 pm
That is the craziest thing ever..never…ever…in a million years would I have thought it would have worked.
Posted by Andriah Samarripa on September 22, 2012 at 6:42 pm
OMG I woke at 530 in the morning and noticed my CPU light blinking like crazy my computer didn’t turn on and I hit the net and found this website…I knew it was a long shot but it worked and I’m still stunned by this thank you all so much this is another confirmed story!
Posted by Anonymous on September 29, 2012 at 2:25 pm
I am so amazed!!! The blow dryer trick worked…it really worked!!!! I was ready to smash my computer and buy a new one because none of the other tips were working but I decided to try the hair dyer suggestion. I felt like a fool and it seemed to be taking forever but when the flashing light turned into a solid green light I screamed! That has to be the neatest trick I have ever heard of!! Gotta love the internet because I would have never dreamed of trying this on my own!!! Thank you so much for such great advice!
Posted by Anonymous on October 7, 2012 at 6:50 am
it worked out great what a nice trick
Posted by Tim Franz on October 10, 2012 at 9:06 am
my HP pavillion had the green blinking light problem as well. Tried holding down the power button while it was off to ‘drain’ any excess charge in the capacitator. Plug it back in, still blinking.
Tried the hair dryer trick, after a couple seconds the light went green!
BUT
Even when the light is green, the computer won’t turn on. =( I’ve reset the bios, re plugged all the connectors in, even re seated the CPU. It still wont turn on, even when I get the damn light to not blink :'(
I just got this computer a couple months ago, only thing I added was a GFX card + extra HDD, which have been working fine for months…
Posted by Anonymous on November 11, 2012 at 1:23 am
Leave it on longer and use heat… That’s what I had to do the second time it worked for me!
Posted by Niketa Miller on October 16, 2012 at 12:05 pm
Shut the front door! The blow dryer trick is AMAZEBALLS! Totally worked! I <3 you Casey!
Posted by Rich on October 18, 2012 at 3:20 am
Wowsa! Never saw this coming! Hair dryer did the trick on a bud’s ‘puter. The motherboard trick did not work. Don’t think it’s dust, we blew it out very well with compressed air. Don’t think it’s the fan, as the fan works once it’s on and others have posted heat was needed, not cold air. Think it’s the heat, myself, as there must be a cap or something going marginal and warming it up allows it to turn on. Some have expressed worry about excessive heat- wouldn’t think a hair dryer would be too bad, so long as its not a bona-fide heat gun, in an electronics plant they test assemblies by putting them in heat chambers. If it worries you move it from spot to spot on the fan, besides if you get the fan spinning that will distribute the heat more evenly inside. Not a permanent fix in this case, turn it off goes back to blinking again, sure it’s the PS now, tho, and until he gets one this is a workaround, not sure I’d be comfortable merely leaving the computer on, if it were me, tho. Unattended power supplies going on the fritz don’t sit well with me. But it is a workaround.
Posted by Jamie D. (@PuraVida0) on October 20, 2012 at 2:28 am
That is the craziest trick ever! Thank goodness or hairdryers!
Posted by Anonymous on October 29, 2012 at 3:20 am
The hairdryer trick worked for me within about 30 seconds, despite the strange looks I was getting from my kids and my husband.
Posted by John Lewis on October 29, 2012 at 5:20 pm
Well the hair-dryer worked for me – great when people get together – and many thanks for the first post – whoever it was.
Posted by Anonymous on November 11, 2012 at 1:22 am
Worked for me once, then it happened again and hair dryer wasn’t working…. Got the light solid, but still no power… I was about to head to crystal to buy a new power box, when I decided to try once more… Left on a little longer this time and by damn…. It worked!
Posted by rex on November 12, 2012 at 4:11 am
Holy crap! Lol I am in complete shock, the blow dryer worked. I did it once for about 3 minutes with no luck. Turned it off for about a minute or two then realized the dryer wasn’t on high, turned it back on full blast for about a minute and bam! Solid green light. Computer is up and running. Thank you so much.
Posted by dave on November 13, 2012 at 1:11 am
Another vote for the blow dryer! I had to power off my HP p6110f during start-up as it was stuck. The green blinking light stayed no matter what I tried from the HP troubleshooting checklist. Fifty seconds of spinning the PS fan on high heat did the trick. Thanks!!!
Posted by bmyska on November 14, 2012 at 10:45 am
My HP Pavilion a1220n wouldn’t start after a 2 hour power outage. I ran the hair dryer on high heat for at least 3 minutes to warm the capacitors and the blinking green light turned solid. The HDMI daughterboard on my Onkyo receiver has the same problem. I have to power it on and let it warm the capacitors for about 10 minutes before it will run my media player.
Posted by Eric Butler on November 18, 2012 at 7:52 am
Yall are full of crap
Posted by Anonymous on November 18, 2012 at 6:48 pm
My pavilion hadn’t been on for some considerable time, due to a pc upgrade, but needed the get some photos for a project. The pc had the flashing green light, gave it about a minute of hair drier and away we go. Thank you so much for this, it has saved me a lot of hassle and time
Posted by B on November 19, 2012 at 6:20 am
Moved house recently, unpacked my hp pavillion and had the green light blinking. Really needed the pc for final tax returns for my company (last call..), thus rather desperate for a quick fix. Found this thread, located gf’s hairdryer and and after max ten seconds the green light was steady instead of blinking, and I was soon online.
Many thanks from Norway, much appreciated!
Posted by Anonymous on November 25, 2012 at 1:31 am
Hair blower trick worked for me too. Thanks!!!! :)
Posted by RW on November 26, 2012 at 7:58 am
Power outage for two hours. Had blinging green. Thought I would need a new PS. Cleaned all the dust out. No help. Found this thread and 15 sec of hair dryer and up and running. Thanks.
Posted by susan on December 17, 2012 at 11:06 am
unbeleivable–after power outage i only had the green light blinking on the back.couldn’t get it to power up. i started regretting that i hadnt written down some passwords, and backing up my computer regularly. i was just sick. then i started googling for help. i was almost ready to haul this old tower to a computer repair shop, just to see if i could recover some of my data. thinking that it was probobly going to cost me more than this tower is worth. then i googled one more time and stumbled onto this thread. i tried the blow dryer, but i guess i didnt read it correctly at first and i ran the blowdry from the inside the tower out. didn,t work. then something dawned on me when i read one post about the computer not starting if the fan wasnt working. then i realized that i should blow it from the outside in. omg , it came on almost instantly. im going to rehook everything now and back everything up and write down every password that i might need. this was a good lesson learned and i am so thankfull for the persoin that started this. thankyou thankyou thankyou your a genius
Posted by Anonymous on December 23, 2012 at 8:13 am
yep it works ,was not sure if mb or ps was bad so i gave it a shot and after a few tries
there it was ,fired right up .but if you unplug it you have to do it again but this answer my question bad ps . off to store new one in and back on line. thanks to the hair dryer man
Posted by Bill Mosser on December 26, 2012 at 10:16 am
Yeah, Well, I tried all the plugging and unplugging and holding the power button recommendations that I could find. Nothing worked, but blowing the hairdryer into the power supply until it’s light turned solid green (about 3 minutes) worked!! I’m a believer.
Posted by Anonymous on December 27, 2012 at 6:43 am
Add me as a believer. Thought this was crazy, wife walked in on me with a quizzical look on her face. Worked in 60 secs, aimed at the fan with the heat, not cool setting.
Big question is why so many people are having the same problem…..
Posted by philthedill on December 29, 2012 at 5:37 pm
Worked for me on a HP Pavilion a1220a with about 20 secs of heat!
There will be an Over Temp sensor/cutout in the PSU… I suspect this is tripping which is resetting something either in the PSU itself or on the Motherboard.
Thanks to the OP, it saved this “IT expert” (of ~25 yrs) a lot of dickin’ around.
Posted by Kim on December 30, 2012 at 11:58 pm
Did NOT work for me. Sad face.
Posted by Anonymous on January 4, 2013 at 2:49 am
No power and solid green light on PC this morning. Unplugged it and then plugged it back in–now light is blinking green–still no power. Found this site at work and went home to try the blow dryer trick. After 15 seconds the light went from blinking to solid green, but still no power. Unplugged PC, held down power button for 15 seconds to clear all power out of motherboard (read that somewhere), plugged it back in. Light was blinking green so I re-applied blow dryer and in 15 seconds the light went to solid green. Hit the power button and the system booted up like normal. This trick really works!! Will likely get a new PSU in a couple of weeks and ultimately replace my system, but until then I have a quick fix if I run into this problem again. Thanks Casey!!!!
Posted by Mikhail on January 9, 2013 at 3:30 pm
Works for me as well. Good solution to discharge the power supply! Thank you very much!
Posted by Anonymous on January 19, 2013 at 4:36 am
Okay so this method wasn’t too clear for me: aiming the blow dryer at the back of the power supply.
I got it to work by putting the dryer on FULL HEAT and FULL AIR and blowing the COMPUTER FAN in the back of the power supply the opposite direction.
I know people have said all that but I had to search through all the comments.
Posted by Jamie on January 22, 2013 at 1:50 pm
This totally worked for me! I didn’t think it would, but I was wrong!
Posted by Nook on January 26, 2013 at 4:17 am
FANTASTIC SOLUTION! I too am now a believer. The Hair Dryer works. After a power failure in our neighborhood during the 3rd quarter of the 2012 Ravens-Broncos AFC Playoff football game, I could not restart my Compaq PC. Googling the blinking green light + Compaq got me to your unlikely solution. It worked after 85 seconds! Some dust blew out which might have blocked a clean circuit to restarting. But I think your first comment at the top of this page makes the most sense: in the course of a power failure, some electrical discharge may be retained in the power source that cancels out its ability to fire up. The blow dryer amazingly frees it up. The PC continues to fire up properly now, two weeks after the recovery. Thanks for your valuable, cost-saving insight.
Posted by Derek on January 28, 2013 at 6:35 am
Wow, it worked for me too! took about 15 minutes for me though. it’s like jump starting your car battery. Just let the fan keep turning and and the green light goes solid now your ready to start up.LOL. Thanks saved me more than money!
Posted by DGB on January 29, 2013 at 11:30 am
The dryer thing WORKS!! incredible!!
Posted by Emily on January 29, 2013 at 8:55 pm
Once again – it worked! We had another power outage, and used the hair dryer. Sometimes, it works after 30 seconds, sometimes it takes a few minutes, but over 20 times so far, it has worked. One has to have the heat ON, and on the highest power, and just W-A-I-T….
I just had to stop in again, and add my comments….thank you, once more!
Posted by Jack J on January 31, 2013 at 9:44 am
Yup, It works like a charm! Thanks to the inventor!!
Posted by Anonymous on February 5, 2013 at 8:42 am
Yes indeed it worked.
Posted by SMG on February 8, 2013 at 10:31 pm
Tried several of the various suggestions and none of them worked. Pulled out the wife’s hair dryer and…PRESTO!!! Crazy but it most certainly worked for me. Thanks!
Posted by Winona Winona on February 13, 2013 at 12:32 am
WOW!!! Just used the blow dryer trick. IT WORKS!!! LOL
Posted by Chris on February 24, 2013 at 12:44 am
Damn. Add me to the Hallelujah Chorus here. Definitely works. I think our power supply’s circling the drain, anyway, because we blow-dryed it back to life in the diningroom (while literally heading out the door to take the tower to the shop — thanks, Interwebs!), then we plugged everything back in and the light started flashing again and we had to re-blow it. But whoever discovered this is a genius.
Posted by Mike on March 6, 2013 at 9:51 am
For all the geeks out there that own one you can also hook up the power supply to a power supply tester and let it sit until the light turns solid green.
Posted by Cory on March 24, 2013 at 11:12 pm
Yep! It works! Not sure if I need a new power supply now or what, but this allowed me to get the pc back up and running. Thanks a million!
Posted by Christina on April 12, 2013 at 2:14 am
I had my doubts about the blow dryer working but it did!! My green light on the back was flashing. I flipped the volt to 230 and then back to 120. Then I held the power button for 15seconds and I held the blow dryer to it for a minute or two and when I plugged it back it the light was green and it turned on!!!! So glad I checked online for a solution before going to best buy or paying money for no reason!!
Posted by Dave on April 12, 2013 at 10:32 am
Well I couldn’t believe it either but it worked as advertized. thanks Casey
Posted by Anonymous on May 5, 2013 at 11:15 pm
Great fix…I pointed the dryer at the fan grill for about two minutes and the flashing light stopped blinking, pushed the ON button and the computer came on…Fantastic.
Posted by Patti on June 1, 2013 at 3:21 pm
The hair dryer does work. I’ve been doing it for years but I’m surprised that by now no one has posted why it happens. You get the green blinking light when your computer shuts down before windows has totally shut down. So if you shut down your computer don’t unplug it or hit your surge protector until you give the computer plenty of time to shut down windows. I run into this problem every year when shutting off the computer for vacation or when the power goes out. Supposedly it has something to do with reverse energy.
Posted by Anonymous on June 2, 2013 at 3:34 am
Worked like a charm. Had hairdryer on unit for less than 1 minute .. great fix .. thank you!
Posted by Anonymous on June 6, 2013 at 3:14 pm
Hairdryer works, the pc up and running. Magic or what ? hahahaha
Posted by Anonymous on June 24, 2013 at 1:39 am
Hair Dryer worked great! Thank you!
Posted by Anonymous on July 19, 2013 at 9:42 am
This really works thanks so much!!!Pay it forward always
Posted by OFBG on July 27, 2013 at 3:54 am
Had the no-go/blinking problem with my Presario 1300-series this morning. After a short power outage last night it powered up OK, which I expected as computer was hooked up to an APC surge protector/battery backup. Had a longer outage later last night, but everything else in the house came through OK, so I was a bit surprised to say the least that the computer wouldn’t start up. Erico’s fix did not work for me, but the hair dryer did. I had to put it on high and hold it almost in contact with the PSU for several minutes, but it worked. Have the computer running now and will see what happens after the next shutdown, but at least now I feel like I can troubleshoot the PSU in a more leisurely fashion.
Posted by Anonymous on July 31, 2013 at 5:35 am
My parents-in-law’s HP computer was dead with the green flashing light. Glad I saw this blog before replacing the PSU. The hairdryer for 10 seconds was all it took. Cheers!
Posted by Anonymous on August 7, 2013 at 4:32 am
Worked on my HP Pavillion T780! – As an electronic engineer, I didn’t think it would – but it does – Crazy!
Posted by Anonymous on August 8, 2013 at 8:12 pm
I was like the others. Skeptical but desperate. Tried it and it worked. Flashing power supply light result of power outage ,glowed steady green after 45 secs of the blow dryer. Try It!!
Posted by Anonymous on August 16, 2013 at 5:03 am
Blow dryer worked here too !!!! My engineering needs research on this subject.
Posted by Anonymous on August 18, 2013 at 10:39 pm
BLOW DRYER!!!! Yep i am up and running now. Thank god for social media. Kudos
Posted by Anonymous on August 21, 2013 at 11:17 am
ok..hahaha..yeah. Having repaired thousands of electronic devices, it took a small leap of courage to admit that I should try this; after all, testimonials are from folks who it did work for. And…of course it worked! Unlike some other “know it alls” on here, I know enough to not hazard a guess. I do know that I’m going to NOW copy the files I need, since if there’s anything I DO know, I should be counting my blessings, since there’s either a design discrepancy or an electronic failure, and I shouldn’t count on this as a permanent fix. So..Thank YOU for sharing this “trick;” it is something that shouldn’t be ignored, and it’ll give you some time to back up what you should already have backed up, right!? Very Cool!
Posted by Richie on September 3, 2013 at 6:09 am
Had a power outage. had a surge protector. It produced the blinking green light on back. Unplugged cord. Held in start button for 10-15 seconds. Plugged back in. Still blinking. Unplugged and got my hair dryer. Blew hot air. At first I blew on everything under the cover. Reread a post or two and focused that dryer where the plug connects to the three prong on the unit. let it sit for 45 seconds and blinking stopped. Plugged it in, got solid green and startup. I have had to do this twice over two outages 6 months apart and twice it worked. Well done to original poster, the commenters and of course to myself for believing and following instructions
Posted by Anonymous on September 6, 2013 at 9:01 pm
Kevin….STFU muppet!!!
Posted by Joe on September 19, 2013 at 7:27 pm
Wow! Hair dryer really worked.
Posted by Kevin on September 29, 2013 at 11:10 am
Had the exact same problem, tried the hair dryer trick and it worked like a champ. Just pointed the hair dryer into the back air exhaust of the PS and let it go for about 2 minutes. The green LED on the PS started blinking faster, then eventually stayed solid and the PC turned on.
As someone else said, it’s most likely a cold solder joint and heating up the inside of the PS heats up the joint enough to make contact. I know the PC was off for several weeks when I had this problem the first time. At that time I was able to pull off the disconnect/reconnect the main MB power connector trick. For the second time, the PC again was off for a week or so (so the cold solder joint had plenty of time to contract), but the power cable trick didn’t work, but the hair dryer did.
The cheap and long term solution is to find the colder solder joint and fix it. I haven’t read this entire thread, so perhaps someone else did this. Otherwise, a component that generates a lot of heat is a usual suspect (large resistor, transformer, etc.). A permanent, yet not cheap solution is to buy a new PS. Of course perhaps the most economical solution is to never turn the PC off!
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Posted by Anonymous on February 13, 2014 at 3:45 pm
omg hair dryer worked LOL. accidentally flipped off the power surge protector stick that the computer was connected while it was on lol, thought it was connected to the power surge protector next to that one lol. was giving up hope, switched the voltage, did the pwr button thing, tried to clean out dust, nothing worked. saw this thread mentioned over at HP forums so tried it as a last resort. mine didn’t automatically power back on spontaneously like others mentioned when it went steady green, I had to hit the power button for it to come on. what’s weird is after it went steady green, I took the power cord out so I could turn the compaq hp tower’s back against the wall again & when I replugged, the light blinked & made the clicking sound again lol, turned on the blow dryer again & it worked just as before, both times, the light didn’t go steady green until the moment I turned off the blow dryer… not sure what that means…it would blink during the whole time I was blowdrying it lol..it seems like for other people, it turns steady green while blow drying it & their pc automatically powers up all the sudden too lol. thought dust was causing it making the fan not move coz it was coated with dust, but removing it didn’t do really anything. thanks so much, I wonder what’s the science behind this…seems so weird LOL
Posted by Anonymous on March 29, 2014 at 7:13 am
Yes, weirdest thing I ever did with my PC! After a power outage green Led was flashing… a hair drier fixed the thing!
Thanks :)))))
Posted by maxxheadroom on May 14, 2014 at 9:42 am
Yep. Green flashing light went solid on after 20 seconds with the hair dryer. Weird.
Posted by rob on May 26, 2014 at 12:33 pm
Well, that blow dryer trick worked! I think you need to make the fan spin in order to make it work, i tried for a minute before making it spin and nothing happened until i made it spin and voila!
Posted by Greg Conn on June 11, 2014 at 10:44 am
Add me to the unbelievable list! Worked first time with the hair drier!
UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!
Posted by rmar on August 3, 2014 at 12:59 am
I got tired of using the hairdryer trick, so I replaced the PSU. I have never replaced as much as a disk before, but I followed the instructions at this link, and it took less than an hour.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01684432&cc=in&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_INEN
I bought a 300 watt replacement for $37 plus shipping from, believe it or not, replacepowersupply.com. The part is called HP Pavilion a6110n 300 C9498 Watt Power Supply Replacement
Posted by DatabaseBen on August 5, 2014 at 12:03 am
a suggestion i have is that for those of you that use the ol’hair dryer trick, is to ensure your system, wall electric plug and your home is properly grounded – else capacitors will tend not to discharged when needed.
however, their is a phenomenon that is rarely discussed but exists almost in every home.
it is where a bunch of cabling is all bunched up behind the computer and or on the floor or both. because much of the cabling is of poor quality, the bunched up/rolled up/tangled up wiring creates a field of energy/static charge and acts just like a natural capacitor.
so if you have a naturally occurring capacitor on the carpeted floor, per se, and your system is also acting like a capacitor, both of these capacitors act like magnetic poles that are similar instead of opposites.
i am not sure what the easy fix is to ensure everything is grounded, ie without calling in an electrician.
but the above is just another thing to consider when tricks have to be used to overcome a “calculated” problem.
when i use the term calculated, it is because there is a rational explanation for problems. and when using hair dryers, voodoo magic, et al, to fix them, then these supranational solutions are only temporary fixes.
Posted by Nick on October 16, 2014 at 8:04 am
This absolutely works, quite amazing. My computer conked out and the power was only blinking on and off. I took out the power supply, cleaned it out, reattached all the power cables, plugged it in applied the hair driver to the fan and after a minute or so it fired up. Thanks so much!
Posted by Anonymous on February 8, 2015 at 8:31 am
Thank you, much appreciated… hair dryer does work!
Posted by Doug on April 23, 2015 at 6:17 am
The confusing part of all this testing is the LED flashing once the 24 pin connector is plugged back to the mother board…..LED goes from solid to flash. Tried every test by HP and other tech sources. Almost replaced mother board until I tried hair dryer trick and determined it was the PSU. Tried a few times with no luck. Then found a comment to try using dryer for a longer period. 3-4 minutes worked. Thanks to ALL now I’m heading out to get the right part. Cheers
Posted by Ellen on May 6, 2015 at 10:44 am
I, too, was skeptical but I gave the hairdryer a try. The green light started blinking faster and faster, and eventually it came on for good. Now everything is working like a charm!
Posted by Anonymous on June 4, 2015 at 7:28 am
OMG …. the hairdryer trick worked!! I noticed A LOT of dust passed through the vents (outward). I put the hairdryer on high (with heat) and moved it back and forth over the fan which forced the fan to spin quickly. I noticed that the green light started to blink faster and faster. I continued to do so for over one minute. Thank you so much!!
Posted by bill on January 19, 2016 at 9:44 am
Yeah, the hair dryer definitely worked for me also. thanks
Posted by Danny Livingstone on August 19, 2022 at 11:10 pm
Still works in 2022. I added a hairdryer to my set of computer fixing tools.