almost dead machine

eric.51 · 30 Oct 2007 at 14:54

i have a reasonably old machine which when powered up does not access the bios. there is power on motherboard as it lights up and the proccessor fan is running,
the keyboard lights flash as normal and i can feel activity in the hard disk then it just stays like that . checked all leads plugged in ok.
tried changing power supply and hard disk still not accesing bios

help please
eric

ByteJuggler · 30 Oct 2007 at 15:01

Sounds more like the video card is not generating a display signal, rather than it not POST'ing (else not even the keyboard would've flashed, which is part of the POST reset, and the HDD wouldn't have had any activity.) What happens if you keep pressing keys on the keyboard when you power it on (flooding the keyboard buffer), does it beep at you? I would try another video cable/card/screen (as appropos), if so.

eric.51 · 30 Oct 2007 at 15:24

hi.
ive tried changing video card and unplugging monitor cable, nothing happens when using the keyboard. and most importantly it does not beep at all. any time ive had a graphic prob in past you get the beeps accordingly but im not even getting to the normal initial beep
thanks

Amonlym · 30 Oct 2007 at 15:41

tried swapping the ram?

old motherboards of the right vintage might have dead caps, check for bulging/leaking

eric.51 · 30 Oct 2007 at 16:43

thanks ive tried swapping round and with just 1 stick and i dont have any other mem chips of the same kind to try. i have had a look for the bubbling u suggest but cant see anything untoward. to be honest the only thing ive not tried changing so far is the board and proccessor.

ByteJuggler · 30 Oct 2007 at 16:56

Hmm perhaps it is dead then. Board or processor, probably more likely to be board. Might also check out the PSU.

eric.51 · 30 Oct 2007 at 17:40

THANKS BUT ALREADY CHANGED POWER SUPPLY AS IN POST