Please Help Diagnose a Major Problem

Code13

Code13

Code13

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Joined
30 Nov 2010
Posts
165
Location
Hexham, Northumberland
Hi guys. There is a piece of junk computer at work that they bought to show presentations and DVDs on a big screen. It's always been temperamental, but now it seems to be royally knackered. I've been designated the "Computer Guy" and it is now my job to fix it (punishment for saying "Are we going to get someone to fix that?"). Thing is I don't know what the problem actually is, and I hope somebody here could help.

Basically when the computer starts up it stops on the Motherboard manufacturer's splash screen (in this case Biostar). It says "Press Del to enter setup", but no keys, or anything else, work. So that means the computer is effectively useless.

Since it fails so early in booting I'm assuming that it's a hardware problem, but I've never had any experience with this issue before. The computer's parts are cheap (though they paid a fortune for it), and so replacing the MoBo, CPU, RAM, or whatever the issue is would be a viable option (and maybe prudent since it had issues before this). The shop we bought it from has since gone out of business so we can't take it back.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
start with reseating things. Lost count of the times i have fixed hardware issues just by a clean up inside and re seating RAM/CPU/GFX card and plugging cables back in etc.

Try something that simple at 1st before moving onto the likely culprits (MOBO, RAM, PSU)
 
Defunkt said:
start with reseating things. Lost count of the times i have fixed hardware issues just by a clean up inside and re seating RAM/CPU/GFX card and plugging cables back in etc.

Try something that simple at 1st before moving onto the likely culprits (MOBO, RAM, PSU)
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll give it a shot.
 
If that fails, take out all un necessary components, e.g. PCI graphics cards, tv cards, lan cards, hard drives, dvd drives. Just leave the hard drives in place, just disconnect them obviously.

Leave only the CPU, Mobo, and RAM. Leave on stick of ram in if there is more than one. Try to boot... if still the same, swap for the other stick/sticks.

Also reset the cmos, there will be a jumper on the mobo to do this, it will be labelled cmos reset. If you give the model of the MOBO, it may be easier to help.

The good news is the computer is attempting to POST, so there's no major dead components, well completely dead anyway.

Try that and let us know how you get on :)
 
Buchanan0204 said:
If that fails, take out all un necessary components, e.g. PCI graphics cards, tv cards, lan cards, hard drives, dvd drives. Just leave the hard drives in place, just disconnect them obviously.

Leave only the CPU, Mobo, and RAM. Leave on stick of ram in if there is more than one. Try to boot... if still the same, swap for the other stick/sticks.

Also reset the cmos, there will be a jumper on the mobo to do this, it will be labelled cmos reset. If you give the model of the MOBO, it may be easier to help.

The good news is the computer is attempting to POST, so there's no major dead components, well completely dead anyway.

Try that and let us know how you get on :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. Since the PC is at work I am not able to try this right away.

Also while I've been given the job of fixing it I can't stop doing my regular work to fix it. So I'd have to try and do it over a lunch break. :mad:
 
Code13 said:
Basically when the computer starts up it stops on the Motherboard manufacturer's splash screen (in this case Biostar). It says "Press Del to enter setup", but no keys, or anything else, work. So that means the computer is effectively useless.
Click to expand...

I found with my (very) old PC that if your using a USB keyboard it wouldn't work until it botted into windows, if you can find a keyboard that uses this connection it should allow you to get into the setup screen.
 
First thing I would do is enter the BIOS and check if the HDD is being recognised then reset the CMOS.

*edit: Just seen no keys work... Reset CMOS and try a different type of keyboard. If your using a USB keyboard then change it for a PS/2 one.
 
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