PC won't boot (and monitor doesn't come on from standby)

backtothefuture

backtothefuture

backtothefuture

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My PC won't boot all of a sudden.. was working fine in the afternoon and after it went idle in windows(i.e. due to not using it) , it hanged, I switched it off and turned it back on and now it won't boot.... montior doesn't power on from standby either ...

When I turn it on, all the lights etc light up, hard drive whirs, fans turn on but it doesn't go to the boot screen ( the monitor does not come on from standby)... no beeps whatsoever..

Come to think of it, for the last few days it suddenly started hanging on idle (i.e. when not being used in Windows) whereas previously it never used to do that...

Specs are : Athlon XP2500, 1 GB RAM, Abit NF7s mobo (socket A) , 500W PSU , Geforce 6800GT... haven't got any spare parts to try out ..

anyone know what the issue could be?

cheers!
__________________
 
Does sounds very much like a power issue.

Try removing all your drives (including HDD's), and booting with just 1 ram module installed.
 
just have your mobo connected and nothing else see if it gets to bios after that if it does boot and a drive and so on.
 
i tried disconnecting cd-rom drives and hard drives to see if it could be a power issue but no result

tried removing graphics card.. no result.. (i.e. no warning beeps etc)

I don't have on-board graphics so can't really use that option...

I think final thing for me to try is replacing the CMOS battery to see if that works... (looked at mobo for burst capacitors etc but couldn't see any )
 
think final thing for me to try is replacing the CMOS battery to see if that works...
Click to expand...
All the battery does it store the information for the BIOS and keep the time.
A flat battery shouldn't stop it booting and the clock can start to lose as an indicator of a low battery.

Try clearing the CMOS.
 
backtothefuture said:
Tried it without RAM and no beeps! it seems that it is unaware that there is no RAM!
Click to expand...

Have you got more than one stick of RAM? If so, try swapping the sticks out. Try booting it with 1x512Mb stick for example, if that doesn't work, try the other.

Sounds to me like dead RAM/CPU, or even mobo.
 
The complete lack of beeps sounds to me like the motherboard's dead. Could be CPU too but mobo's much more likely.
 
update:
ok , tested the CMOS battery and thats ok, so ruled that out

interesting thing happened.. the PC was on and i noticed that I forgot to reconnect the boot drive's power molex ... so I was putting it in, but as soon as it touched the power connectors on the HDD, there was a big blue spark and a POP! .. and the PC switched itself out ...

However, upon pressing the on button again the PC switched back on, and it was business as usual i.e. hard drives whirring, fans on etc etc but still no BEEPs or boot attempt (as before) ..

got me wondering..could it be that the mobo is ok since apparently it had the 'sense' to cut off when the molex sparked ? could it be that the CPU is fried instead?
 
Only one way that I know ofchecking wether PSU and that is to swap with one that is def o'kand see if yours happily powers the other machine or yours happily boots up with another psu.
Just watch that power demands are similar.
Would also work as test for ram/motherboard etc ( if you have the bits that is:))
As it could be psu/cpu/ram/m-board /another only way I can think of finding problem is by trial & error.
Certainly would start with PSU
 
backtothefuture said:
got me wondering..could it be that the mobo is ok since apparently it had the 'sense' to cut off when the molex sparked ? could it be that the CPU is fried instead?
Click to expand...

You plugged the molex in when the system was powered on? That's not generally a good idea, for that exact reason.

The system cutting out had nothing to do with your mobo - it's a function of your PSU. Sounds like the PSU's fine - I still reckon it's the mobo that's dead.
 
Mattus said:
You plugged the molex in when the system was powered on? That's not generally a good idea, for that exact reason.

The system cutting out had nothing to do with your mobo - it's a function of your PSU. Sounds like the PSU's fine - I still reckon it's the mobo that's dead.
Click to expand...

I agree.
PSU are very sensitive, and power down at the slightest fluctuation.
Luckily its a feature, and they reset after a few seconds.
Ive had the same thing happen on an Enermax when I had a loose pin in a fan connector.
It's easy to test a PSU with a DMM anyway rather than buying new.
 
I had this problem a few weeks back,
cam home PC was sat humming its normal tune but nothing when i switched the monitor on, it was the PSU, still working to some extent but not powering the system enough to run correctly,
Swapped it out for another PSU and everything worked as it should,
I highly recommend getting your hands on another PSU and trying it before pulling hair outhinking it is the mobo or CPU.
 
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