Thread: Computer help please

OK so I assume you can get to the BIOS setup screen but it won't boot.

Does it beep at all? This could indicate a loose card or unseated RAM.

Have you tried booting with a bootable CD rather than HDD?

The other thing to try is change the battery on the motherboard. This can cause it to loose BIOS settings.

Your mate wasn't doing something silly like flashing his bios when it stopped working, did he? 'Cos if so, you may as well go out and replace the mb now.

Even if the power supply looks like all is working it's easy enough to plug one in that you know is 100%.

I wouldn't bother going to get a new bios battery first up. If the battery is flat the bios should default everything, but still work. So that would be just another trip to the shop looking for a fix.

Also, any leaky looking capacitors on the board? P4s should be past the bad cap plague, but again, if there are capacitors leaking brown stuff all over the place you may as well just get the new mb.

I'm a jolly chap tonight.

Cheers
Simon.

is the board an sis chipset board?

have you checked the 12v and 5v power from the power supply ? are either running below ?

domed caps ?

Originally Posted by DiscoCam

Stupidly agreed to have a look at a friends PC that won't boot. Doesn't POST but the power comes on and fans start up everywhere (heatsink & case fans). It is a reasonably new P4. I tried swapping out the memory with a module from mine that I know works and resetting the BIOS but still no go.

Anything you tech heads can suggest short of swapping motherboards?

Thanks

Cameron

whooo you have to choose the hard to diagnose ones to help a mate with eh.

Your mates computer could have one of at least a dozen faults.
I will assume that when you say it will not 'post' you mean there is no display on the monitor at all not even the bios text ??????????????

Firstly open it up and disconnect all drives, HDD, cdrom etc and remove all cards, like the video card, modem, LAN, memory, all you want plugged in is the motherboard to the power supply.

(this bit sounds daft but works more often than not)
Unplug your mains power from the computer, turn it on by the power button on the case, (it won't switch on)
But it will disipate any residual power in the system.

Plug the mains power back in and try to turn it on properly.
The fans will turn, like you say, but exactly what other noises do you hear?

You should hear it beeping away complaining that it has no ram.
If it doesn't beep at all, either:
the power supply has a burned out rail to the motherboard, (the cheap option). The only way to test this is with a know working PSU, about $40ish? of buy a power supply tester, about $30 these aren't reliable though because they don't test the psu under load.
OR, (the bad one) the motherboard or cpu is dead.
To test this, put the PSU in another computer and see if it boots the computer OK. If it does get another mobo / cpu.

Let's assume it beeps after you plugged it back in with nothing else attached to the mobo.
That's good.
Turn it off , put the ram back in, turn it back on again.
Hopefully it still beeps?

Even better, put you video card back in and look to see if you have a normal output on your monitor, (turn pc off first).


There are lots & lots of variables, if's and but's...........
Try the above and let us know the outcome.
With a bit of luck it's just a buggered PSU but often when they die they can take the mobo with them!

good luck, let us know what happens and IF you get a display tell us exactly what the messages are, if you just get beeps we need to know how many and how long eg one long beep three short ones.
(will also nee to know the bios brand)

Originally Posted by Numpty's Missus

I used to have similar problem with my computer years ago. Made many trips to the doctor before my neighbour discovered that it was simply that the cards were not making good contact in their slots.

For years I had been unplugging the tower from everything and rolling it around on the bed a few times to get it working...and that worked...but once the problem was discovered it was easy to fix.....For ever!!

Lucky computer.

Thanks for all the replies guys. A great little diagnostic routine downundersteve. I didn't actually get a chance to try any more fixes on the thing as I came across a warranty sticker that indicated that someone else could fix it, for free, at his place, and it was the weekend, and I drank too much beer. Now, if I could only find such a sticker on the Disco? Cameron

Originally Posted by DiscoCam

Thanks for all the replies guys. A great little diagnostic routine downundersteve. I didn't actually get a chance to try any more fixes on the thing as I came across a warranty sticker that indicated that someone else could fix it, for free, at his place, and it was the weekend, and I drank too much beer. Now, if I could only find such a sticker on the Disco? Cameron

The last computer I bought I made sure I got a 3 year warranty
Still, won't get my wireless router working though

Ah well, wireless routers.

First thing to do is get it away from the microwave and away from the base station for the 2.4Ghz cordless phone.

Cheers
Simon