I reinstalled windows on my neighbors cpu (Dell) using the system disc. Everything went fine except for the activation thing which I figured I would wait for since he was away and I may have needed info he had. I checked his computer one more time, a week later, the actvation reminder came up and said "22 Days Remaining" Still putting it off. 2 weeks went by although it could have been past the activation date and he calls me over . He tells me he tried to go on the first time since I did the reinstall and nothing works. I checked and have no idea where to begin to fix it now. When you press the power button the system turns on for 2 seconds and turns off then turns on again. The system light blinks then shuts off and the power light remains on. The monitor(lcd) has a blank screen and every button pushed says it is sleeping move mouse or press button on keyboard which does nothing. The keyboard lights come on in the begining put never comeback after the system does its little shutdown/startup thing. No sounds No mouse icon No nothing. Could this be caused by not activating windows within thier time? What should I do? Where do I begin? Thanks for reading all this, I just like to be thorough.
Well, computers can be complicated! I don't think it has to do with the activation. First start the computer and press F8 over and over again until it gives you the option to open it in safe mode. If you can get the computer to start in safe mode then you can trouble shoot the problem. If that doesn't work start the computer and press F4 repeatedly to bring up the BIOS screen. Make sure everything is set correctly. If that doesn't work then you are off to checking the computer for failure. With the case open turn on the computer and make sure that both fans are working and that the hard drive is plugged in properly. If for some reason the CPU fan is not running then you have a serious problem. That would mean that heat from the CPU has damaged the motherboard. If everything is working fine, then put the install CD in and tell it to update. Hopefully this will help you figure the problem out. It could be that there is a virus on the hard drive that is affecting the performance, and causing the problem. [bold]Please note: If the hard drive does not have valuable information on it I would suggest formatting it. [/bold] Let me know if any of these steps helped.
I've already done all that. You can't even get to the bios. The keyboard,mouse,and monitor aren't being detected. Only for literally a second itseems to want to start then it shuts down and automatically starts itself up with nothing working. The fans are on and the front light seems to be doing its thing. No bios beeping happens. I still had the bios set for starting from the cd and that doesn't do anything. Oh yeah thats another thing not being excepted, the tray does open/close. Very strange to me. My nieghbor thinks I did something to it. All I did was use the dell operating system disc in it and it worked fine for me the handful of times I started it. But my nieghbor thinks that his AOL dial up runs his computer so I don't think there is anyway I could explain it wasn't my fault. Any other ideas would be appreciated. Thanks for your time. -Bill-
This is not something that I usually suggest because his BIOS probably is not set as yours is. However, you could try trading your HD with his just to see if you could get it to start. I myself just had my HD go out on me. I guess my biggest point to make is that if his HD is corrupt then it will need to be replaced. I hope you have his computer at your place so that you can troubleshoot without him breathing down your neck. Another forum that is great for questions of this matter is techrepublic.com. If all else fails try posting a question there. They have helped me out of a couple of networking issues.
The HD switch out will be my next move. First I'm going to make it a slave drive and scan it for viruses then I was going to try it as a master. Its funny you say that about it being at my house because he won't let me. I tried to explain to him I need to have my resources/support to figure out whats wrong. All he does is breath down my neck while I'm working on it. Anyway, I will try your suggestion and get back to you. I will also checkout that website you directed me to. Thanks
