-=PCTechTalk=- Re: puzzling problem
- From: GMan <gman.pctt@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2008 19:07:39 -0400
Jo Ann,
After a full reinstall, you can be pretty certain it's not the software.
Not entirely certain, but pretty sure. If it never came on for them, then
there a decent chance that something happened during its travels. The
simplest of things are the first things to check. It could be that the
switch on the back of the power supply was thrown the wrong way. You've
already replaced that, so that's not it. Inside the case, a memory module
may have popped out of its slot. It could even be caused by them plugging
it into a wall socket that isn't supplying any power because the breaker had
tripped. On the other hand, this could be as serious as a mainboard
failure.
With the case open, locate and carefully reseat the main power source to
the mainboard. It's the 20 or more prong connector that attaches somewhere
relatively close to the CPU. Since you are getting power to the extras
(hard drive, optical drive, floppy, fans, etc.), this is the most likely
place for a mainboard problem like this. Next, scan the rest of the
mainboard to make sure there isn't one of those 4 pin ports that requires an
additional 4 prong power supply line from the PS. Most modern boards
require this extra power. If it needs one and doesn't have one, this will
also cause this problem. You may find that the PS you used to replace the
original doesn't have the cable. If that's the case, reinstall the
original. Finally, turn on the system to see if the problem is gone.
If all is good with the PS to the mainboard but it still doesn't work,
disconnect everything except for the bare necessities (power supply,
mainboard, CPU, RAM) and fire it up. If you don't hear any beeps, the
mainboard may have seen its final days. If the board beeps (the pattern
doesn't matter), turn it off again by holding in the power button for 4
seconds. So far so good. Hook up the hard drive & monitor and fire it up
again. Can you hear the drive spin up? If not, the drive is probably bad.
Install it into another system as a Slave and see if the OS can see any of
it in Windows Explorer or My Computer to test it. If it does spin up, do
you get anything on the monitor? If not, the video card or its port are
suspect. If you can see it POST on the monitor, so far, so good again.
Connect the optical &/or floppy drives and test it again. you may find that
after running through these tests, it goes completely together and works
just fine. That will indicate that something wasn't kosher in the original
plugging in of the various devices. Many floppy drives have ports where you
can easily plug in the cable backwards (no key notch to guide you). If the
cable is in wrong, the drive LED will stay lit up constantly, but the drive
itself will not function.
Peace,
G
http://tinyurl.com/ypbuue
"The only dumb questions are the ones we fail to ask!"
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jo Ann Weaver" <bookworm54@xxxxxxx>
To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2008 5:56 PM
Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- puzzling problem
> This computer I'm working on has me bamboozled. Here's the story. Custom
> built box, running XP Pro, 2 gig Intel CPU,
> single stick of RAM 512 MB. It was brought to me because it was slow and
> they kept getting
> kicked off the internet on their dial-up connection. Had recently got
> broadband, but couldn't get it to install the software.
> It had no active virus software. I installed AVG and Spybot S&D . Found a
> few things and they deleted them, then started
> having Windows errors. Talked to the owners, Formatted and re-installed
> XP. Got everything working, installed AVG for them,
> tested it a while and sent it home, working fine. They said it wouldn't
> come on or do anything. Got it back, nothing worked,
> no fans, no lights, nothing. Checked all connections, nothing. Changed
> power supply. Now all fans work, hard drive light and
> light on CD drive light up red and that's it. Getting nothing on the
> monitor. Any ideas?
> Jo Ann
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