My computer refuses to boot up... =(

nfe0007

nfe0007

nfe0007

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17 Feb 2009
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So, after a freeze, i turned off my computer. I turned it on, booted it normally, and the computer froze on start up. I restarted again, did a system recovery, the computer restarted and i got a blue screen. I restarted again, and it froze on the first start up screen, before it loaded windows. Now, the computer will not boot at all. I press the on switch, the computer whirrs a little, my graphics card lights up, but instead of the regular little beep and the computer turning on like usual, with input going to the monitor, the computer just powers down again.

Any ideas what is going on?

Also, this is the hard drive, right? The on button is the other side of that on the external of the case, which pushes directly into that. It has power, it just fails to boot the rest of the computer. So is it a hrad drive error?

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s88/nfe0007/IMG00125-20100103-0953.jpg

And lastly the specs of my system are just a stock packard bell imedia Q6600, with an asus eah 4850 graphics card and a fatal1ty 550w PSU, but both of these appear to be wired up fine and working fine.
 
Thanks for all the help so far guys, i really appreciate it.

I am currently looking for the battery on the motherboard. Any common places it is, or could it be anywhere on here?

Trying to find it without removing the motherboard, but i dont know if it could be on the back, behind the fan and such. Also, will it always look just like a standard circular silver battery?
 
Thanks Plec, i googled my motherboard, got the picture of it up.

Turns out the battery was underneath the graphics card slot, hidden by the fan of my graphics card. Time to remove that then.
 
Damn it, now the graphics card won't come out. The part that inserts into the clip on the motherboard is getting stuck. i have pushed the clip in to release it, but it isn't coming out. I don't want to use force to remove it. Any ideas how to get it out?
 
God knows how i unclip the graphicsa card from the mother board, it is well and truly stiff, and it is impossible to get a hand on the clip, since there is a graphics card in the way =(
 
Alas, that is blocked even further by the fan than the battery.

EDIT: The graphics card now refuses to slot back into place. It is out one side, and in on the other. It refuses to push down on this side, but refuses to pull out on the other.
 
I finally managed to get the clip off, tight angles and are strong clip was hard. Got the graphics card out, pulled the battery out for 10 minutes, and still no avail. The computer still refuses to boot up. I also tried starting it without the graphics card in, that wasn't the issue. How do i reset the CMOS without taking the battery out? I see the red clip, just don't know what to do with it.
 
Thanks again for clearing that up. Again, nothing happened. I have however taken note that when I press the power button, the regular blue light that turns on lighting up the on button doesn't come on. I felt the hard drive, it powers on, it spins, it just turns back off again. Since the light is directly infront of the hard drive, I really do think it is a hard drive problem, but that is a random guess. I guess I'm going to have to remove it, and reconnect it. I would replace it with a hard drive from my other computer, but that got a system 32 error at the exact time mine broke, and I don't have a back up cd for it. Anyway to fix that aswell btw?
 
so the only thing left in the computer is the motherboard, which is connected via 2 plugs to the PSU. I also have 1 stick of RAM in there, and I have tried both slots, both with the exact same response. Any other things to try?
 
Plec said:
A very quick reply - you don't mention the CPU or the gfx - are they still installed?

Could you describe exactly what is happening when you press power switch - i.e. what fans spin up, any screen info, hdd activity etc, how long it retains power...?

It's not the HDD which leaves the MB, CPU, PSU, gfx or other odd quirk.

Could you list your full spec details, including brand and wattage of PSU.

In the interim if you have a volt/multimeter to hand you could test the PSU - as this is always a leading contender with this type of problem - ideally you would test a known working PSU in the system.

Below are links to Huddy's site which has a step by step guide on how to test your PSU using a volt/multimeter:

'Use a multimeter to check your PSU' and one to 'How to check if your PSU is faulty'

Testing known working memory is also another good thing to eliminate - or test your memory in another machine.

It may be that you will have to setup a skeleton rig outside of the case to rule out shorting but we'll just muddle on with the above first.

Additional: Could you just clarify that all superfluous cables have been removed and all usb devices, case fans (not CPU fan) and peripherals have been detached?
Click to expand...

I removed the PSU and used the old one before i replaced it. No change, exact same thing happened.

To try and clarify what is happening, the motherboard is powering up, as is the PSU, but they are not staying on. They just whirr, then shut off. Nothing is happening on the monitor, it never recieves any input. It powers up for about 5 seconds, then powers down again.

I have tried both sticks of RAM in both slots, no change, i don't think they are the issue.

The graphics card is removed, however there is still a graphics card attached to the motherboard, as it is built in.

Since now the only big thing remaining is the motherboard, i would guess it is that. Aslong as it wasn't the hard drive, i would not want to lose all my documents and such.
 
So, i have taken apart the computer, taken the motherboard out, and then did a basic re-assembly outside of the case. I have the PSU, starter button and CPU attatched to the MB, aswell as one stick of RAM. Now that i can see properly, what happens is, the PSU fan spins, the CPU fan spins, and after 5 seconds, both turn off. The start button's LED still doesn't turn on. I guess it is time for me to buy a new motherboard, and with that i may aswell get more RAM, and a new case.
 
Would the motherboard be able to post without the CPU in? Because with that out, there is still no change. The only change I notice is that the red LED on the start button turns on dimly, and then will remain on, aswell as the PSU fan spinning, until I hold down the start button, where the LED will flash red and then turn off. With the CPU fan in and the cooler fan on, the light never turns on, the PSU spins for 5 seconds, then the light flashes on and the fans stop.

Just a few things I need to ask. I only just took the CPU out, and nothing changed.

So, how do I figure out if it is the CPU or motherboard? The CPU had some blue crap on top of it, like really old blu-tac/paint. Any idea what this was or if it does anything? It's also on the bottom of the CPU cooler fan.

Will the computer post without a keyboard in? I keep forgetting to plug it in, it won't make a difference, right?

The only things I have plugged into the motherboard is the big block from the psu to give that power, the cpu block from the psu, and a small cable from 7 pins going to the starter button. Is that all I need to have connected? Am I missing anything vital?
 
How deep can the rabbit hole go?

A few posts ago I said how I had another broken computer that broke at exactly the same time? Well, after various attempts of booting it up and not being able to get past the system 32 error without the lost installation cd, I finally restored it to an old point. After turning it on and off again, the problem came back, and this time I couldn't start it in safe mode.

I was given permission to take this computer apart. I knew that the system 32 error should only be a hard drive issue, and I had a working hard drive from my own computer. After a quick swap over I started the other computer with my hard drive in it. And... The same blue screen appeared exactly as it did before my computer first broke. Luckily, the computer still boots, so I can try doing system restores and repair centre fixes, which up to yet haven't worked.

Anyway, I am really rather curious as to what happened to my computer to destroy the motherboard up to the point that it won't boot, and what destroyed my hard drive enough to give me a blue error message and a restart every time vista starts.
 
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