Quick question!

My niece has just come back to live locally after living for some time in York (UK).

She brought her Computer with her (it's Brand new this Year Pent IV, XP Pro) she aked if I would put it together which I did.....switched on....Power lights came on....Fan started up.....Amber light on Monitor.....and that was it!!! Nothing else.

Took it to Mending Man who I trust and he says either the Mobo's stuffed or the Processors stuffed or both!!!

Any ideas on the subject most welcome, mending Man reckons about £130.00 to mend.

I haven't asked her whether it's still under Guarantee yet.

Regards and TIA, Cochise,

 

Were there any "beeps?"

If it didnt beep, it is either a short (a short may be caused by something as simple as an extra brass post on the back of the board that wasnt needed), or it is indeed the mobo or CPU. To test the CPU and mobo I would remove the RAM, video card, sound card, hard drive etc. All you should have is the power supply, mobo, CPU installed with heatsink and fan. It should give you a beep.

Here is some info on the POST beeps
http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

Good Luck

 

Did you get a post? Beep?

If not, remove videocard and restart.

Still nothing, remove 1 stick of ram and restart.

Replace ram and remove other stick, or try other ram if available.

Still nothing? MoBo or Processor I'm thinkin'. Try another Processor if you have one.


goodluck !!


regards,
bill

 

Have u tried a differnt monitor or pulling out the graphics card and putting it back in making sure it is correctly installed. I have had similar problems, it turned out to be on one pc the connection to the card from the monitor was lose and on another the driver needed replacing. I have also had on another computer the graphics card was not sitting correctly.

 

Hi All,
Thanks for the prompt answers, as I said....Nothing....no Beeps....Nothing....just Power on lights....Fan running....and just Amber light on Monitor.

I Connected it to my Monitor....same result!!!

I'm assuming that the Mending Man will have checked all you suggest to have come to the conclusion about the processor or Mobo, and not being brave enough to go delving into something I know nothing about, I think I shall leave well alone.

I just wondered if there might have been something I had overlooked.

Thanks for all the replies.

Best Regards, Cochise.

 

Hi Cochise!

I think eyespy is exactly on the right track. It is very common for PCs to become inoperative after bein shipped if they were not assembled securely. A card may have come partly unstuck, or it may be that the motherboard was not firmly secured to the metal "sheet" to which it is attached and that it is now "shorting itself out" when you try to power on. Sometimes, one attempt to power it on will irretrievably damage a part (usually the motherboard) but usually it can be fixed by disassembling it (PC Cards, motherboard, RAM and processor) and reassembling it.

Another frequently overlooked possibility is that the "reset" button is stuck, this will force the PC to go into such a fast reboot loop that it appears to be doing nothing at all.

I know you took it to the PC Docs but if it was just to place it on the bench for them to take a quick look at and they didn't disassemble the internals of it, it still may be something simple along what I wrote above.

Good Luck

 

So many thanks to you all,

Contacted my Niece to-night, the Comp. is only 8 months old, it was replaced after she was Burgled last New Years Eve.

She works in Insurance so she has all the paper-work required to make a claim. So she will be on to her Insurers to-morrow.

The guys who I trust with my mending bit are pretty fair, they had the OS for a day and there was no charge for the bad news, they even suggested that it appeared to be less than a year old and did I know if it was still under Guarantee

Like you say, it could have taken a knock in Transit from York to Cleethorpes.

I still never cease to be amazed at the concern and the effort put in to ones probs. by all you kind people.

Thanks again.

Cochise.