Well, this problem is similar to the other guy who created the thread "computer start up question". But our problems had differences so I decided to start this new thread to minimize confusion. Before this wait-till-the-end-of-the-world-before-PC-boots-up event happened, the PC kept on restarting and sometimes not even finishing start up. I ran Memtest and found out that the memory was broken so I replaced it. After replacing the memory, I was able to use it normally for sometime. Then there was this day when it took a long time for the PC to boot. I thought it was nothing until it worsened. Now I have that PC on for almost an hour and still no response. PC fans are turning, power LED is lighted up, LAN card LED lights up when connected, CD drive has no power(it won't open). When I remove the IDE cable from the CD drive, the drive recieves power. What can be the problem?
Try testing each thing individually. take evrything out then gradually put things back in. Could be a video card or the hdd but until you have tested everything you probably wont find out.
Any other opinions? Not that I don't believe matty8887, I just prefer having more than one opinion. Can a problem like this be caused only by cards and similar stuff? Is it possible that my problem is caused by a faulty processor/motherboard/power supply? I only like to look at all possible causes. I don't have any means to test if mine are defective because I only have one PC at home and I'm renting a PC to post here.
Matty got you off to a good start sounds about right. I would go with the minimum boot mb, cpu, psu, one stick of memory, keyboard, monitor start it up and try to get to the bios. If successful add your os drive back in and see what your boot time looks like. If its good then add hardware until you find the culprit one part at a time then reboot. If its still messed up with only the os drive, then sdisk for drive problems. If your hard disk is ok then its a software problem try a repair or reformat and reinstall. be sure and touch the case(or use a grounding strap) while working on your components. You should list your system specs too _X_X_X_X_X_[small]P4 2.8c @ 3.2 Abit IC7-G 2x80 gb seagates barracudas ATI AIW 9600 soft mod by w1zzard 2 x 256 pc 3200 Kingston valueram(hynix chips)[/small]
I'm not sure if these specs are right. My older brother is the one who knows these stuff and he is abroad right now and he won't be back for some time so I'm in charge here. I'll just post what I know. The PC is around 2 years old. CPU: AMD Athlon 1.3GHz Motherboard: Biostar M7VKG(that's what I read on it) PSU: JPM4-1 300W(also what I read) Video card: Inno3D GeForce2 64MB Sound card: Creative Vibra128 LAN card: CNet PRO200 Hard disk: Seagate Barracuda ATA IV ST340016A 40GB Memory: 256MB PC133 OS: Windows 2000 Professional I don't know what else to post. Just ask me if there are any important stuff I didn't place. More info on my problem... When I turn on the PC, the fans run and the LED lights turn on then nothing else happens. It's as if the PC is not on at all. No boot, no beep, no display, no anything. Just the lights and the running fans. Hope that helps you in helping me. Thanks for all the help so far and for any future helps.
Try what i said above. Take out your video card, sound card,lan card, and hdd. Then try and boot it to the bios. If this works put things back in 1 at a time then boot up. e.g If it works after you have put stuff in then you put in your video card and it doesnt card then it will most likely be your video card is broke. Have you got any spare sticks of ram anywhere that you could try instead of the ram you have in at the moment?
Matty he will have to leave his video card in or else he wont be able to get anywhere. Does the computer you are renting have a video card in it? Have you added any devices recently? Have you checked your video card and ram to be sure it is seated properly(don't just look push on it to be sure)? The no beep sounds like a strange problem, is there anyway you can use the psu from the rented machine on yours? Random reboots are often a sign of psu problems.
Ye sorry my bad. Dont know why i told him to take out his video card, guess it was late, lol. I think that it could be a psu problem now, just read his first post and his cd drive wasnt giving power but everything else was ok. What psu have you got? Maybe you will need a psu with more power? Get a psu off somebody at least a 350w and replace it, see if that solves your problem.
Well I can't get any parts off from the PC I'm using to post here because I can't take it home. I'm only renting it in a PC rentals shop near our school. I don't know if you guys have those kinds of shops in your place but here in the Philippines they could be found just about everywhere. Anyways, I removed everything out and left only the processor(of course), RAM, video card and the floppy drive but it still won't work. I hope it's not like buffhead's situation because if the processor needs to be replaced then I would probably need to replace the motherboard too and I don't have enough money for that at the moment. I only have money to replace just ONE expensive part. How can I check if the processor is OK? Thanks.
This post is starting to get confusing as we have two problems in the same thread, however, if I can add my comments, hopefully they will help. 1. Did the PC use to work ? If No - then when you built it you probably have an installation problem - the guy with the CD problem - sounds like you are sharing an IDE cable with another device (Hard Drive) and have them both trying to be a Primary Drive. - Check Jumper settings and make the hard drive Primary and the CD Secondary. You can use CS (Cable Select) - though older devices don't always work very well on that setting. 2. PC won't start but used to. Diagnosis is the key - the first question is does it boot in to Bios ? - When you turn on the PC after about 5 seconds the PC goes Beep and writing appears on the screen. If you don't get to that stage then it is highly unlikely to be simple case of setting are incorrect and sounds more likely to be a serious hardware problem. Basically for the Bios to start (the beep) you need to have a motherboard which is working, a processor and Ram. A broken Graphics card will still allow the beep to occur, you just won't see the screen. From you decription I am guessing that your Bios doesn't start ? You now need to test the processor and Ram on a know compatible working PC. If they work it is most likely that you have fried your motherboard. Even if you identify the processor as being at fault, you could still have fried the motherboard. An example of what can go wrong is that you replace the graphics card - or maybe it is just faulty and it in turn breaks, which in turn ruins the motherboard. It is not likely though possible the processor could be affected as well. Anyway, let me know if your PC boots in to the Bios then we can diagnose the problem and stand a good chance of fixing it easily. Phil
The PC used to work. We have been using it for around two years. About that CD drive thing, the CD drive is connected alone to the secondary IDE and the hard drive is connected alone to the primary IDE because I didn't want to have problems about setting one as master and the other as slave like what you said. The weird thing about it is if the IDE cable is not connected to the CD drive, we can open and close the drive while nothing happens to the rest of the system. The PC won't reach BIOS. Before I posted here after the problem occured, there were times when the PC would run, but we had to wait for a long time(around 5 minutes or so). Now it won't. Are there any other ways to test if the processor or motherboard is broken? The nearest person to me who I know uses an Athlon processor(my cousin) is a long way from home(he lives in Bulacan, a province in the Philippines, while I live in Manila). My friends and classmates near our house who own a PC are all using Intel processors so I can't use their systems to check which component of mine is broken. Thanks for all the help so far.
You have cleared the CMOS I guess - taken the BIOS Battery out. AMD Processors run much hotter than Intel and it is possible that it is damaged. If you take the Processor out - on the top wipe away the conducting paste and if it looks like it has been badly solder - that something has oozed out of the small metal squares, then it has fried, also look for cracks - they are hairline. Failing that - I am out of ideas but it sounds fairly terminal. It is a matter of testing the components.
Yup. I already tried clearing the BIOS. And I didn't see any of the stuff you said I should look for on my processor. Which is more likely to be broken? The processor or the motherboard? I'm thinking of replacing one of them with a new one to save me the time and effort of checking which one is busted.
Hello All, I have a similar problem, pretty much identical really, except the components not being so old. Basically I've just bought an ASUS A7V600-X motherboard, an XP 2500+ CPU, 512Mb Kingston DDR, a new case/PSU (350W) & a ATI Radeon 9550 256Mb AGP card. Using optical drives from old PC as with old floppy. Built up the new PC, everything working sweet, perfectly, lasted for 3 days, then the PC wouldn't even boot, (the CPU fan and PSU fan spin for a split second before stopping), the motherboard has power (LED on). After a while managed to get the computer to boot, but no BIOS, no screen, only the fans spinning, but as with nomearod my HD won't spin (unless I take out the IDE cable - in which case it whirrs up, as soon as it goes back in, stops...). I've swopped power supplies with my old PC, tried the old one on my new PC, same problems, new one on my old PC, no problems. I've taken out all the components except the RAM and CPU, still no system beep. Now it won't turn on at all again. I can't swop the CPU with my old PC as they're different sockets. However, being new stuff I sent the CPU and motherboard back, and they've both been tested - found working! I don't have a frigging clue what is wrong, it seems like I've tried everything. (Oh and the RAM is compatible, Kingston list the motherboard as working with the stick I have). Any ideas at all would be appreciated. Thanks Paul
Ok All, I've just read another thread which seems to have fixed the problem (although I can't tell because I don't yet have my CPU back!). It was suggested that the motherboard might be shorting inside the case, so to take the motherboard outside the case (or on something non conducting) and try it then. I've just done that, and although obviously it can't boot (no CPU) the PSU fan stays on, and I can 'shut-down' by using the soft-key power supply as I should be able to. I'm pretty sure that when I get my CPU back that my computer will finally work again (after 3 weeks, very very frustrating!). So give it a try and let me know if it works. Thanks Paul
I already tried that and still nothing happens. Sure, the fans run, but nothing is new there because it was also running before. Back to my latest question... Which part would you suggest me to replace first? The motherboard or the processor? Obviously one of them is broken. I'm thinking of replacing one of them now and save me the trouble of checking which part is broken because I would have to travel a long distance to do that and I don't have the time to travel that long because I have school. Thanks for all the help guys.
I would change the motherboard first as I have had 3 break on me this year. However, I would probably try to sell my processor on say e-bay and replace both the Motherboard and processor - but then that is me - Athlon not being made anymore and only goes up to 1.4 mhz - I know that it is almost impossible to buy new Athlon parts and you can buy a fairly cheap XP processor and motherboard for £70 - of course then you will need new RAM. I just don't see the point spending money on an old system, when a second hand processor costs as much as a new one.
