PC will not boot up help!

BriT

BriT

BriT

Soldato
Joined
27 Jun 2005
Posts
5,224
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Reading
Hello everyone,

Well i am having serious problems with my PC. it won't boot up. The monitor stays in standby mode and i don't hear the boot up beep.
I've had a look inside and there are no lose connections which i can see, anyway, how do i go about troubleshooting the problem and locate what is causing the problem?
 
Is this a PC you have just built, or a normaly reliable one? have you connected the 4pin power lead from the PSU to the MB if you need it.
Any sign of life at all, does the cpu fan spin up?

If it was working fine before it's most likey the PSU gone to that place in the sky.
 
Hi,

It was a custom built PC (not by me), its a year old and was normally reliable but today it's decided not to work :confused:

CPU and graphics card fans spin and the 4pin power lead is connected to the MB.
 
You could try to clear the CMOS but I dont think that will do anything. My PC only beeps when something has changed in the BIOS to confirm it has been accepted. A normal boot up will give me no beeps.

I guess you have another working PC to post on here so could you try the GPU/Memory from the good machine in the bad. One at a time

Im no expert but it's what I would try myself.
 
Well i did what you guys said and nothing seemed to change anything.

Changed the mem, graphics card and PSU but still no luck, doesn't sound right when i boot up, could it be the harddrive? i mean it makes some dodgy noises when i power up then it does nothing..
 
You would still get some video out even if your HD had imploded. Would just tell you it can't find a opertaing system. It's looking like the MB if you tried everything else, exspecialy if your getting no error beeps :confused:
 
Ok i'll try removing everything first.

Do any places still sell Socket 478 Mobos? i can't really afford buying a mb,cpu, mem and graphics.
 
This would be my approach:


1. Remove all plug cards, apart from the graphics card. Disconnect floppy drive, CDROM, hard drive and any other 'bits'.

2. Try rebooting, if you get the beeps and the POST screen appears the there is still some life left. Post back and I will walk you on!

3. If there is still no life, try removing the memory modules and reinserting them. Same for graphics card. Still no life, try swapping the PSU. Still no life, then the problem is likely to lie with the motherboard or graphics card.

Let me know how you get on!
 
Hi Michael,

I did what you said, removed all cards(not gfx), floppy, cd-rom and hard drive and now i get the normal beep i get when it worked and the post screen so maybe there is life (fingers crossed).

What next?
 
BriT,

Things are looking brighter!

I'm expecting the problem will be with your hard drive, on the basis of the noise you heard.

So, try reconnecting each drive/card one at a time (cards, floppy, CDROm etc, but not HD at this point) and rebooting each time to confirm the system still POSTs.

If there is still life, try reconnecting the HD. If you find the problem has returned, then you have a problem with the HD (obviously).

Let me know when you get to that stage, and I'll walk you through your options with the HD. I'll keep an eye on this thread!
 
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Ok, well all 3 worked. CD-ROM, Floppy then the Hard drive, all three did the beep and POST screen. So if it isn't the hard drive then what is it? all i have left which isn't plugged in is a LAN card and Sound blaster live card, oh and some usb plugs etc at the back of PC.
 
Well everything seems to be working ok, loaded up normally but i won/t touch wood yet, ill leave it on for a few hours play a few games etc to see if it will keep working. Thanks Michael!Everyone !

Oh and no, the hard drive doesn't make any 'strange' noises now....odd
 
Hi BriT,

Excellent, but something has happened, either:

1. Pulling out the cards/drives and reconnecting has fixed some bad connections.

OR (and possibly more likely):

2. The HD is on the way out, they often make strange noises prior to failing completely. If the noise reappears, be prepared!

I suggest you backup any data from your HD as soon as possible, and see how the PC performs over the next few days. You may need a new drive shortly!

You're most welcome, glad to help!

Best wishes,

Michael
 
Yep i think you are (sadly) right about the HD issue, The PC only lasted 1 hour before it, rather abrutly, froze when i played Rome : Total War and now the standby issue has reappeared.Although this time it starts to boot but then something happens and it goes into stanby mode.

When it works next time think i'll backup as much as i can and i'll order a new hard drive.
 
If you have trouble getting the HD back online in order to make a backup, try out this trick from the mystical arts of computer science:

Remove the HD and put it in a sealed plastic bag, then stick it in the freezer for a couple of hours (really!).

Remove it, and put back in the PC and try rebooting...........

When a HD starts making noises, it's usually the bearings. This rather unusual solution will tighten the bearings up and MAY bring it back on line......

Just watch out for condensation forming on the drive when you reconnect. This has worked countless times for me! It is not the urban legend some people believe it is! When it heats up, it will probably stop working again, it's just a race against time!
 
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