Is my comp totally screwed?

nobodythere

I have a computer that's about 3 years old, a Celeron 1.2ghz. When I went to turn it on the monitor doesn't come on, I can hear the fan powering up but not the hard disk. I've tried plugging out everything except the motherboard power, still nothing. I also bought new memory recently (about a month ago), which I tried taking out and it still doesn't boot up at all. It doesn't even make that beep that it usually makes when it boots up.

Is the motherboard screwed? Could the memory be the cause of the problem? I took the memory out, leaving it with no memory and the same thing happened. Thanks in advance for any help.

Fenster

1. Is the monitor plugged into the mains?

2. Is the monitor plugged into the PC?

3. Is the monitor turned on?

Sorry, had to be done.

Have you tried pulling out your HD and plugging it into a new PC? If nothing else you'll eliminate that and get a chance to back up your data if its not the culprit. Also, have you checked the connections between the HD and mobo? I had a panic attack a while back after my hd didn't spin up after I put a new modem in. Turns out I just knocked its IDE cable loose.

Other than that, its pretty much out of my leauge.

innocent_crew

Think the fault is with the Video card of your system.
What video card do you use? onboard..or PCI/AGP?
Hard-Disk is ok. You should get the BIOS screen at least if the hard disk fails.
You should hear some beeps if the memory fails(in most cases).

nobodythere

Fenster wrote:

1. Is the monitor plugged into the mains?

2. Is the monitor plugged into the PC?

3. Is the monitor turned on?

Sorry, had to be done.

Bastard:P

To the other guy, it's an onboard video card, does that mean i'll basically just have to get a new motherboard? Thanks for the help

innocent_crew

Getting a new motherboard might not solve your problem. Ive got a similar problem before and finally ended up in buying a new CPU, Video Card and Mother Board.

Try borrowing a PCI/AGP video card and see whether it works.
If it doesnt..try installing your friends working CPU and RAM. This is the last step before changing to a new motherboard.

Col_Loki

Id personally try the CPU. If your feeling up to it (and its not a big job at all at all) open up the PC . Remove the heatsink thats on the CPU and re-sit it, making sure its firmly pressed.

Also re-sit the RAM.

Have you had anyone look at the PC? It sounds so much like the one i had a look at about 2/3 weeks ago (which turned out to be CPU related).

[edit] PS you will need a flat headed screw driver to remove the heatsink.

nobodythere

That heatsink is a bitch to get out! There's two clip things on the side of it, I managed to get them out after about an hour. This is what drove me to hate computers, spending more time trying to maneuver (spell?) in a tight space instead of actually fixing the problem.

Well the CPU is sitting firmly, the RAM has been removed, everything but the motherboard and monitor connections plugged out. The video is onboard by the way but I tried another video card with no luck. Time to bury it?

Paulj

i had a very similar problem a while back with a Pentium 2 machine. I thought i tried everything...well i did try everything. Then i left it for a few months, unplugged everything plugged in everything, double checked everything and somehow it worked i dont know how, i dont know what i did to fix the problem. I now believe that computers are tempermental feckers that only work when They want to.

(btw.. whats the minimum components that need to be connected for something to be displayed on the screen???)

nobodythere

Paulj wrote:

(btw.. whats the minimum components that need to be connected for something to be displayed on the screen???)

Maybe i'll just try that so. I figure the video card would have to go through the processor, or at least send something to the processor and even if it was a DMA one (bypassing the processor) it's bound to have to send some instructions to the processor so that means both the processor and the video card must be connected for a display.

I'm pretty confident that there doesn't have to be anything in the memory slots for the BIOS to boot up and give you a display. None of the removable drives (CD, HDD) have to be connected either.

Raz

Do you have any fans in the case that are connected directly to the power supply?
If you do, do they keep spinning while the power is on?
If you don't, can you open and close the CD drive? (when it's plugged into the power supply obviously)
To me it sounds like a power supply problem. You're getting nothing so you may not be getting power.

Col_Loki

You have to have Ram in the slot for the computer to boot..........

davkav

what i usually do when stuff like this happens is: disconnect the power plug out all ide cables and floopy cables disconnect the power from the CDROM and any other drives. take the memory out it doesnt need to be in for the bios to show on screen. only have the keyboard, mouse and monitor plugged in. Now try and find the battery on the motherboard make sure the mains is plugged out!! See when the comp isnt plugged into the mains the battery keeps power to the bios so it saves your settings. So take out the battery and leave the comp for about 20mins. push the power button a couple of times so you get rid of any power left in the machine.

removing the battery will allow the bios to go back to its default settings this usually works for me when i overclock to far or my memory goes bang.

When your ready just put the battery back in and see if she'll boot

Stephen

There's a simpler way to reset the bios, davkav (2 in fact)

Most modern motherboards allow you to reset the bios by holding down the Insert key before and during boot.
If that doesn't work, there's a jumper you can change (check your board's manual for its location) that will reset the bios. (This is usually handier than removing the battery, as that is often obscured by power/ide cables, fans etc.

davkav

glad you brought that up stephen, i cant seem to find the key or key combo's to boot to last known good bios config as you can see i have an epox Mobo so if any one knows how to will they let me know as it is very tedious having to reset my bios back to square one every time i go beyond my comps overclocking limits!!!!

I recommended taking the battery out so that all the power would be drained from the whole system because he is having power difiiculties

nobodythere

Thanks for that advice. I took out the memory and replaced it with the old stuff, didn't work. I'll try the battery thing in the morning, 'tis gettin a wee bit late. It might be starting to get that toasty smell it gets when it catches on fire or short circuits off the case.... Or it could be my imagination cos I didn't notice it before I considered it might have shorted off the case and it's also very vague.

This happened to the same motherboard when I first got it, entirely my fault (I was yound and foolish and left it sitting on the metal case to test it, some little thing on it caught fire briefly but it worked perfectly for the last 2 years or however long i've had it. If the battery thing doesn't work I might just have to get a new mobo.

Kinda needed an upgrade anyway, it's the bottleneck of the system, stupid Celerons crappy L2 cache.