PC not firing up

[Guest]

My PC froze while using it the other night. I did a hot restart and got
nothing. When I try to turn the PC on, the makes a bit of noise and then
stops. Here's what I know...
* checked the hard drive on another PC & it works fine. All the files appear
to be there
* Main fan & processor fan are both working.
* When PC is turned on, there power to the optical mouse, the cd-rom & dvd
burner lights flicker
* CPU 'light' on the fromt of the PC flickers a bit.
* No power to the keyboard
* No signal to the monitor
PC then stops. Any suggestions ?? I was going to reformat hard drive &
reload XP but this is a bit of a waste if it is the processor or motherboard.
Any suggestions as to what to test next ??

 

[WhiteZin2000]

May be a hardware component, try this:

* Remove the memory and add-in cards and disconnect power for the hard
drive/CD/DVD and power up the PC. It should return a series of 'beeps';
indicating the system board detects missing memory modules.If you get no
beeps - its likley a system board or the power supply.
*Assuming the system boards beeps, power off the PC and install the memory
connect the video. Power it back up and you shsould at LEAST get video. If
not, perhaps a bad video card/connection.
* If you do get video, reconnect each device (CD/DVD, etc) until while
performing a power off in between each connection. When the system won't
power up, you found the problem component.

Usually I see this when a memory or video module is bad.

Cheers!

 

[Peter Foldes]

Video Card is on board or do you have a separate card for it.

 

[Guest]

Video card is on board.

Video Card is on board or do you have a separate card for it.

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.

 

[Malke]

Video card is on board.

Here are general hardware troubleshooting steps. And yes, it does sound
like hardware so reinstalling Windows would not be useful.

1) Open the computer and run it open, cleaning out all dust bunnies and
observing all fans (overheating will cause system freezing). Obviously
you can't do this with a laptop, but you can hear if the fan is running
and feel if the laptop is getting too hot.

2) Test the RAM - I like Memtest86+ from www.memtest.org. Obviously, you
have to get the program from a working machine. You will either
download the precompiled Windows binary to make a bootable floppy or
the .iso to make a bootable cd. If you want to use the latter, you'll
need to have third-party burning software on the machine where you
download the file - XP's built-in burning capability won't do the job.
In either case, boot with the media you made. The test will run
immediately. Let the test run for an hour or two - unless errors are
seen immediately. If you get any errors, replace the RAM.

3) Test the hard drive with a diagnostic utility from the mftr. Download
the file and make a bootable floppy or cd with it. Boot with the media
and do a thorough test. If the drive has physical errors, replace it.

4) The power supply may be going bad or be inadequate for the devices
you have in the system. The adequacy issue doesn't really apply to a
laptop, although of course the power supply can be faulty.

5) Test the motherboard with something like TuffTest from
www.tufftest.com. Sometimes this is useful, and sometimes it isn't.

Testing hardware failures often involves swapping out suspected parts
with known-good parts. If you can't do the testing yourself and/or are
uncomfortable opening your computer, take the machine to a professional
computer repair shop (not your local equivalent of BigStoreUSA).

Malke