an aborted XP install causes computer not to boot/post at all

[Jonathan]

Hi. I'm having real trouble tryingto install windows XP on computer. My old
motherboard broke so I replaced it with a spare one that I knew was working
and then tried to install XP Home. Computer booted fine and got part way
through beginning of install but I realised I had missed pressing F6 to put
raid drivers on, so I pressed F3 at the next menu to reboot and start again.
Computer restarted and went straight to a blank screen, no BIOS, no post,
nothing but black screen. Bugger! The fans spin and it makes normal sort of
noises but no good.

Tried everything to get it to start/show anything but would not do it. Still
posted blank without anything attached to the moterboard except ram, graphics
and monitor. I replaced and tried just about every piece of the computer to
no end.

So I decided that the moterboard must of broken and returned it for a new,
different motherboard. Computer started fine and tried to install Windows XP
again. Got past installing RAID drivers for my harddrives and onto the next
phase when it froze up on selecting harddrive to install XP.

Restarted and tried again to get it going with different settings in BIOS to
put the ram at 600 instead of 800MHZ. Got a lot further this time before it
froze up on starting windows phase of install.

On the next attempt I made the same mistake as the first time and didn't
press F6 quick enough. So pressed F3 to restart and now back to blank
screen.....Grrr...

The computer will not post anything on screen, not even to BIOS no matter
what I do or try. The fans go and lights are on on the board but that's it. I
can't understand how this is happening or what I can do to fix it.
I've searched the forum and googled this problem but can't find anything
like this.
Any ideas/suggestions?

Details of my computer:
E4500 intel Core2duo
Gigabyte 73PVM-S2h motherboard (nforce 630i)
1Gb DDR2 800MHz RAM
2 x SATA 250Gb harddrives
DVD-RW
Floppy
Nvidia 6600GT PCIE graphics

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

Your monitor has a bad cable or is bad itself. Try a different monitor.

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[Jonathan]

I've tried a different monitor and different graphics cards, plus the onboard
graphics card but no luck.

 

[Jonathan]

Also tried a different, new monitor cable but didn't make any difference.

I also noticed that when I turn the computer on the cd drive lights flash
and the tray closed when i opened it to try it without the xp disc but
nothing is appearing on the screen. it sounds like it starts to go through
the boot sequence but nothing posts
????

Thanks for your help

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Hi. I'm having real trouble tryingto install windows XP on computer. My
old
motherboard broke so I replaced it with a spare one that I knew was
working
and then tried to install XP Home. Computer booted fine and got part way
through beginning of install but I realised I had missed pressing F6 to
put
raid drivers on, so I pressed F3 at the next menu to reboot and start
again.
Computer restarted and went straight to a blank screen, no BIOS, no post,
nothing but black screen. Bugger! The fans spin and it makes normal sort
of
noises but no good.

Tried everything to get it to start/show anything but would not do it.
Still
posted blank without anything attached to the moterboard except ram,
graphics
and monitor. I replaced and tried just about every piece of the computer
to
no end.

So I decided that the moterboard must of broken and returned it for a new,
different motherboard. Computer started fine and tried to install Windows
XP
again. Got past installing RAID drivers for my harddrives and onto the
next
phase when it froze up on selecting harddrive to install XP.

Restarted and tried again to get it going with different settings in BIOS
to
put the ram at 600 instead of 800MHZ. Got a lot further this time before
it
froze up on starting windows phase of install.

On the next attempt I made the same mistake as the first time and didn't
press F6 quick enough. So pressed F3 to restart and now back to blank
screen.....Grrr...

The computer will not post anything on screen, not even to BIOS no matter
what I do or try. The fans go and lights are on on the board but that's
it. I
can't understand how this is happening or what I can do to fix it.
I've searched the forum and googled this problem but can't find anything
like this.
Any ideas/suggestions?

Details of my computer:
E4500 intel Core2duo
Gigabyte 73PVM-S2h motherboard (nforce 630i)
1Gb DDR2 800MHz RAM
2 x SATA 250Gb harddrives
DVD-RW
Floppy
Nvidia 6600GT PCIE graphics

A bad XP install should not cause the PC to fail POST. At POST, the system
isn't even aware that it has an OS. Warm boots can bypass POST.

Power off, disconnect the hard disk, and power back on. If you do not get
POST or BIOS access, you have a basic hardware problem unrelated to the OS.

HTH
-pk