Help Needed For Dead PC

Hi Everyone,

Can anyone help with this problem on my partner's pc. When it is switched on, the green power light comes on, but nothing else happens at all. Nothing from the hd activity light, not a flicker.

Have tried her hd on mine as a slave and am able to access files, folders, data etc. but back in her own machine, no attempt to boot up or anything.

Have had lots of help from Buckeroo on Cyber Safety, but doesn't look to be a malware problem.

Have even been back to the local store where her power supply unit was bought just three months ago. The fella there gave another brand new psu to try, but exactly the same result.

Would appreciate any help.

Terry

 

Well, we can rule out the PS and the hard drive. That leaves 3 other possibility's. Processor, memory, or motherbord. Not knowing if the old PS was actually bad, but sense it was replaced we will now assume you have a good one my guess is the motherboard.

EDIT Is it an E machine by chance?

 

try reseating all components and make sure they snug fit. also switch teh hard drive cable.

 

Yup my guess is faulty cable.

 

Thanks for such speedy replies. Really do appreciate your time and suggestions.

Thunderz: Not sure what you mean by E machine. Just a desktop pc as far as I know. I guess it's encouraging that I'm able to access her data on mine, that the hd may be ok. Are there any tests can be done to home in on the problem if it were to be the processor, memory or motherboard, or is it just a case of replacing them all?

WSFuser & zapjb: On the motherboard there are two sockets to bed the cables from the drives into. One being red. Would it be ok to put all 3 drives (floppy, hd & cd/rw into just the one socket, or is there likely to be a problem of overloading?

Up to now, haven't made a habit of digging inside these things. So am very much on a learning curve.

Thanks again guys, absolute stars.

Terry

 

If I had that problem, I would bring my computer to a repair shop.

 

An E machine is a brand of PC. They have been having problems with some of their PS. The only fairly easy test I know of is for a PS. But we will assume yours is good sense it has been replaced. As far as the rest of the parts, unless you have spares lying around, then it is pretty much a matter of replacing them one at a time till it works.

The "sockets" (ide channels) on the motherboard are two different sizes. Most motherboards have three. Two are the same size and one is a bit shorter. You can put the hard drive and cd/rw on one cable (as long as the jumpers are set right on the back of each) then plug into one socket. However, the floppy will need to be on a slightly different type cable and will only fit into the smaller socket.

 

Unplug all optical drives. Try a different cable from MB to HDD. A cable that you KNOW works. Maybe new or from different computer.

 

Probably bad RAM or MB. Reseat (disconnect/connect) all boards and connectors on PC. Retest with one known good memory module and IDE cable after you've removed the CMOS (CR2032) battery from the MB (overnight) to clear CMOS.

Take the PC to a shop if you suspect a bad CPU or MB. Common failure mode on cheap MB...bad capacitor(s).

 

Last time this happened to me it was because the memory sockets were a bit odd.. you'd push it in all the way, plug in the second RAM module, then find that the first one had popped out a bit. Get a flashlight and take a look after pressing them down firmly again. I do agree with the others, but this is going to be one of the easiest things to check and is very much worth doing so.

 

Hi guys,

This is a run down of what I've tried yesterday. Trying to keep it as straight forward as I can.

1. Removed hard drive, memory, modem card, graphics card and network card. No keyboard, mouse, or

monitor connected.

2. Switched on and as before, only the power light on. The fans on both the psu and the cpu were

running. Pressed the reset button, and as before, no reaction.

3. Inserted hard drive back in, plus one of the two memory sticks, still no difference.

4. Removed first memory stick and inserted second memory stick.

5. Switched on and wow, the red activity light has come on!!! Stayed on for approx 1 minute and then

went off.

6. Pressed the reset button and the activity light came back on, and a series of beeps in rapid

succession, before settling down again.

7. At this stage took the opportunity to change the CMOS battery.

8. Replaced the modem card, graphics card and network card. Reconnected the keyboard, mouse and monitor.

Just left out the first memory stick.

9. Switched back on, and this time, still getting some reaction from the activity light, and even the cd

rom light coming on and flashing on and off for approx 30 seconds. Still no sign of trying to boot up

yet though. The activity light again settles down. This time though, when the reset button is pressed,

the activity light comes on again, but this time, no beeps. Again, no sign of booting up, no lights on

keyboard, and still a blank monitor.

10. Tried this stage again, with the windows xp disk in, but though the cd rom light again flashes,

doesn't appear to want to go any further.

Does any of this make sense? And does there appear to be hope of getting this up and running?

Would really welcome your suggestions.

Cheers,

Terry

 

Nice job of trouble shooting. Sounds like maybe more then one problem. (how ever my bet is still on the mother board which would explain all of them). Is there a way you can check the monitor just to be sure? Do you know the motherboard manufacturer? We could then look up the beep code you heard. Might help............ but have a feeling it was just telling you there was a mouse, keyboard and possibly a memory error.

One other question. Do you know when\how this all started? Possible bad weather\sever thunderstorms in the area? My apologies if you already stated it....I do not remember.

 

If you can retest with KNOWN GOOD RAM, then it's probably time to trash the MB.

Also retest the MB OUTSIDE of the case (on a non-conductive surface). I'd also reseat the CPU. You can jumper the power pins on the MB to restart the PC.

 

Thanks again guys.

Sorry for the delay, been working awkward shifts the past couple of days.

Tried removing everything again to see if I could recreate the state where the beeps were happening, to see what the particular sequence of beeps was, but not getting anything now.

She's now thinking of putting a list of specs together and have a new system built at the local shop.

Many thanks again guys.

Terry

 

Ahhhh, a Lady after my own heart. When in doubt, throw it out. A motherboard replacement would still be cheaper, with a memory upgrade thrown in for good measure. If the board is chosen correctly she could then use the rest of her existing hardware. But of course the final decision is hers`. Wish we could have been of more help. Sure has me curious as to what the problem actually is. Guess we will never know.......

 

Unless you have a dinosaur PC, the most logical path is to replace the MB, CPU, and RAM. Total cost...about $230. Add $40 if you also need a new PSU.

 

What about the BIOS? Does it work?
Is her computer a custom-built or a OEM factory pre-built model?

 

Talk about coincidence - yesterday, while watering around the garden, my neighbor started telling me about his HP Pavilion with the same problem. I took a look at it and at bootup it gives one long beep and that's it (absolutely nothing appears on the screen).

Can't really be sure, but the PSU seemed ok as all the fans and drives were spinning. I reseated just about everything, but that didn't help. I replaced both his monitor and pci video card with working spares that I have, but doing that didn't solve the problem.

After spending about a couple of hours with it, he asked if he should bring it to the local PC shop and I told him that imho, it's age doesn't warrant spending $$ fixing it - not when he can buy more modern/powerful PC for a few hundred $... Sure hope I didn't overlook something simple!