Can't boot PC - help needed.

[chris.a.mitchell]

My son's XP home PC has developed a problem that results in loads of
noise when you boot up, but no action.

I've pinpointed the noise to the floppy and disconnected the power
cable. Now no noise but still won't boot.

I'm going try disconnecting the floppy data cable to see if that
improves things, but this is not an area I'm familiar with.

Will I need to do anything else? I'm thinking in terms of having to
rig some connections between various wires in the data cable. Or
should it automatically bypass that step of the boot procedure?

Any help or advice anyone can offer would be gratefully received.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

My son's XP home PC has developed a problem that results in loads of
noise when you boot up, but no action.

I've pinpointed the noise to the floppy and disconnected the power
cable. Now no noise but still won't boot.

I'm going try disconnecting the floppy data cable to see if that
improves things, but this is not an area I'm familiar with.

Will I need to do anything else? I'm thinking in terms of having to
rig some connections between various wires in the data cable. Or
should it automatically bypass that step of the boot procedure?

Any help or advice anyone can offer would be gratefully received.

It would be helpful if you gave some further details instead
of just saying that the PC makes "lots of noise". What messages
do you see on the screen? How far does the boot process go?

 

[chris.a.mitchell]

I'm told the boot process doesn't get to the point of displaying
anything on the monitor.

If the power to the floppy has been disconnected would the machine sit
waiting for some sort of response from the floppy, perhaps a null,
which it will never get, or should this time out and the boot process
step over the floppy?

As you may have gathered this area is not one of my strong points, so
please excuse any howlers.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Are you saying that the screen remains completely blank at boot time?

 

[Jonny]

Based on posts from other individuals in the past, what you may be talking
about may be bios associated or XP. Just depends WHEN your fault, if it is
actually a floppy associated fault, occurs in the scheme of things.

 

[Ron Sommer]

We need more information.
Does the fan on the power transformer turn on?
Any other fans run?
Any lights come on?
Lights on the monitor?
Do you hear the hard drive spinning?

 

[chris.a.mitchell]

All thanks for your help so far.

All fans, lights etc were as you'd expect.

We left it alone overnight, tried again and it booted! Problem seems
to be intermittent, but at least we can get in now - sometimes!

Sometimes however it looks like it's going to be OK, but then a blue
screen flashes up very quickly and it shuts down and immediately starts
up again.

Can get it into safe mode, but don't know what to look for once we're
in.

He's going to get one of his PC literate mates to have a look, but if
anyone can suggest anything obvious to check out, and more importantly
how to do so I'd be grateful.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

All thanks for your help so far.

All fans, lights etc were as you'd expect.

We left it alone overnight, tried again and it booted! Problem seems
to be intermittent, but at least we can get in now - sometimes!

Sometimes however it looks like it's going to be OK, but then a blue
screen flashes up very quickly and it shuts down and immediately starts
up again.

Can get it into safe mode, but don't know what to look for once we're
in.

He's going to get one of his PC literate mates to have a look, but if
anyone can suggest anything obvious to check out, and more importantly
how to do so I'd be grateful.

This sounds like a hardware problem. I suggest you take it
to your friendly computer dealer.