Old PC on MX23 cannot boot into OS

[MintHawk]

Hey, everyone.
Out of the blue and while I was browsing online, the PC which runs MX23 and was fine up until now, went into power saving mode (so the screen said) and after many attempts I still cannot boot into the OS. I see the GRUB screen, it seems it's booting into MX, but after a few seconds nothing happens.
The fans are working but the screen goes into power saving mode again. I try pushing the ON/OFF button but it doesn't work. I have to switch it off using the switch on the back of the PC. I have the suspicion that my Nvidia card is sketchy as I had a few issues in the past when the PC was on Windows. I've got a spare one I can try but I'd like opinions on that.
Thanks in advance.

[Charlie Brown]

Boot with a live media (or anything bootable) and check whether MX partition(s) got full / almost full.

[j2mcgreg]

If you can boot into a live session, a QSI would be helpful.
You should also access the bios and check on the SMART health status of the HDD.

Edited to add: just how old is it?

[MintHawk]

The PC itself is 12 years old.
I'll check with the live USB.

[MintHawk]

I tried booting it again, playing with the RAM sticks.
Although it boots for a few seconds, it then goes into power saving mode, just like I said above.
The same thing happens when I insert a live USB medium.
It starts booting but after a few seconds the screen goes into power saving mode, and I did that using two different Nvidia cards.
Two years ago, the technician had warned me about the mobo, that it was acting up, when I wanted to add some more RAM.
I think that the old PC is officially retired.
Thanks for all the help.
BTW, is there a way that I can install MX on the external SSD that I got out of the PC and use it with my win11 laptop?
Or, let me put it another way: Can I use the existing disk to boot into it so that I don't have to install MX again?

[Danathar]

I tried booting it again, playing with the RAM sticks.
Although it boots for a few seconds, it then goes into power saving mode, just like I said above.
The same thing happens when I insert a live USB medium.
It starts booting but after a few seconds the screen goes into power saving mode, and I did that using two different Nvidia cards.
Two years ago, the technician had warned me about the mobo, that it was acting up, when I wanted to add some more RAM.
I think that the old PC is officially retired.
Thanks for all the help.
BTW, is there a way that I can install MX on the external SSD that I got out of the PC and use it with my win11 laptop?
Or, let me put it another way: Can I use the existing disk to boot into it so that I don't have to install MX again?

Sure, MX supports that. I have several USB SSD enclosures with MX installed on them directly. I don't see any reason why you couldn't.

[MadMax]

Well, there's still some stuff you can try before writing off that PC. Did you clear the CMOS by removing the battery, waiting a bit, then putting in back in? If possible, try switching out the battery for a new one. If the same battery powered the board for 12 years, there's a high chance the battery is worn out which can cause all sorts of random misbehaviour.

Next thing to check is the power supply. Get a known good power supply and try booting the PC with that one. Maybe one power rail is weak and forces the computer into standby under load.


And yes, just put the boot drive in another machine, it should work.

[j2mcgreg]

I tried booting it again, playing with the RAM sticks.
Although it boots for a few seconds, it then goes into power saving mode, just like I said above.
The same thing happens when I insert a live USB medium.
It starts booting but after a few seconds the screen goes into power saving mode, and I did that using two different Nvidia cards.
Two years ago, the technician had warned me about the mobo, that it was acting up, when I wanted to add some more RAM.
I think that the old PC is officially retired.
Thanks for all the help.
BTW, is there a way that I can install MX on the external SSD that I got out of the PC and use it with my win11 laptop?
Or, let me put it another way: Can I use the existing disk to boot into it so that I don't have to install MX again?

It could be that the PSU is dying and only consistently providing power on the 5V rail. This could account for the fans working but not much else after the initial boot. If you have a spare PSU, hook it up and see if you get life in that old box, PSU problems are the hardest to diagnose because they can mimic so many other faults -- like a supposedly faulty video card.

[MintHawk]

Many thanks for all the answers.
So, I've bought a 2.5" HDD case and I'm putting the SSD in there. I'm very curious to see if it'll boot the MX installed.

[rokytnji.1]

I've done what you are trying. WlanX id will change like wlan0 to like wlan1.

Everything else should be OK. Just make sure the computer bios you are hooking the drive to is set to boot from usb.