RESOLVED The computer Died on me!

[rsallinsonuk]

My computer of a year old died on me on Monday evening and i am baffeled as to whats happened to it! I bought it at best buy a year ago and have been very happy with it but last night i turned it on and the light at the front came on, the fans whirred into life and that was that! Its not booting up in any shape or form the monitor just says no signal detected and the cable modem just winks at me but with only 4 lights not 6. I was wondering if it was a power surge (i have a battery backed surge protector and a wall mounted surge protector to prevent this) or could it be something else? I was on sunday cleaning the spyware out of the computer with ad aware and search and destroy and it was working fine and rebooting with out any problem.
Please help and put me out of my misery! I am sure its going to cost some cash but i can cope with that!!!

My comp : Hewlett Packard Pavillion - P4 2.4 GB, 512 MB Ram - 64 MB direct access graphics processor (i think its integrated with the ram)Nothing has been changed on it since i bought it

[gibbonsl]

that sounds like the motherboard died on you

[Shorty]

Id be hesitant to suggest you open the machine as it's a HP and that may invalidate any last warranty you have with them (if any).

How close to a year old is it? If it's not a year.. then get on the phone as fast as possible to register your problem. Even if it the warranty expires hours afterwards, they will follow it through.

If it's not under any warranty, then the next stage is to reset the BIOS but check your documentation to see what warranty you have first before we start suggesting fixes :)

[rsallinsonuk]

The one year warranty is up, i checked that out as i thought i could go running to HP and ask them for help, it expired 2 months plus ago. (unfortunatly) so it can be opened up. Unfortunatley i just got to work so i cant do anything until i go home tonight. (Also i am no computer mechanic so would be slightly hesitant to delve into the guts)

[Shorty]

If you are in the slighest bit hesitant, don't worry. We were all hesitant at one point :)

No one here (well perhaps except Thrax) was born with the abilities. We all had to learn. Now is your turn ;)

The first port of call is to take the side off the case and look (carefully) on the motherboard for the CMOS jumper. This will reset the BIOS of the system to it's inital defaults. Not sure where to find it? We can help you :)

[bothered]

The only time I've had 'no signal detected' was because of a dead graphics card. I'm sure there are other reasons for it but that's my experiance.

[rsallinsonuk]

Well i know already i dont know where it is!!! :) Fortunatley i do know how to open the case so we are one step closer!
I am tyring to get as much info before i go home (thats 8 hours away!!!)

[rsallinsonuk]

I heard that from a friend also, i might try stealing my girlfirends graphics card from here computer to just see if it is that before i do the BIOS thing cos i can do the card part (i think). Somehow though i think it might be more the motherboard now as i dont get any squeaks from the speakers or the hard drive whirring sound and crakles if you know what i mean!

[keto]

Your computer may be running fine - what you describe sounds like what I found on my rig to be a loose monitor cable. When tightened up it was able to drive the monitor again. I'd check all the connections at the back of the computer case and at the back of any components such as the monitor.

Or not. In which case, yes, open up the side. There are no great mysteries in there - maybe a dozen components that have very straightforward functions and simple interconnections. Lessee:

Motherboard
RAM
CPU c/w heatsink & fan on top
Power Supply + lots of intimidating looking wires and connectors
Hard Drive + wide ribbon cable to Motherboard
CD/DVD Drive + wide ribbon cable to Montherboard, may share cable with Hard Drive
No video card - sound card - network card, in all likelihood they are integrated on the motherboard.

[rsallinsonuk]

I did remove the monitor cable, wired it my girlfriends computer and monitor worked fine, when i reattached it, same old problem.
Now i am concerned if everything is integrated and it turns out to be a motherboard problem what happens then?

[Shorty]

Have you tried your PC on her monitor :)

[rsallinsonuk]

No i hadnt thought of that, sounds like a plan for this evening, but i still dont think it will work but its a good idea! :) I will try anything to avoid shelling out big bucks in a repair shop!

[Geeky1]

I did remove the monitor cable, wired it my girlfriends computer and monitor worked fine, when i reattached it, same old problem.
Now i am concerned if everything is integrated and it turns out to be a motherboard problem what happens then?

You buy a new motherboard :( :-/

[rsallinsonuk]

Is that expensive? Is putting in all the processors and drives etc difficult after that or do i have to maybe go to an expert fixer upper? :)

[Geeky1]

I'd need the model number of your HP to recommend a specific board to replace your current one, if you need to, but it can be done for under $100; under $200 if you need a new case or power supply or something as well (and with an OEM system, that's a possibility)...

As for changing boards... it's dead easy. Even if you've never done it before. Everything is keyed so it can only go in one way, except possibly the hard drive, cd drive, and floppy drive data cables. Oh, and the hard drive and power LEDs. But if you plug those in backwards, the only thing that'll happen is that the drives/LEDs won't work until you flip the cable around.

[primesuspect]

Whatever you do, at this point, don't pay any "expert" to fix anything. We're all REAL experts, and we work for free (Well, that, and folding) :D

[Geeky1]

Yeah... between the people on this site, you've got decades of experience, and it's free. :D

[rsallinsonuk]

I wont do it :) I promise that especially when i can be guided through the problems myself! DOes this sort of problem happen often to computers or is it just HP?

[Geeky1]

Eh. Computers are like any other machine. They break occasionally. Whether it happens more often with certain OEM computers or with DIY systems depends on the system in question. One thing that is almost universally true though is that OEM systems (HP, Dell, Compaq, Gateway, eMachines, etc.) are almost always exceedingly poorly designed. They run hot, they have very little room for upgrades for the most part, and are generally a very poor value.

[rsallinsonuk]

Let me see what happens today and i will update the message board when i return from reno on monday. I am sure i can count on your help if i havent got any further to resolving the problem!

[rsallinsonuk]

Geeky 1 i have an HP Pavillion 700 series its a 716N if thats any help??? :)

[edcentric]

rsallin,
First unplug the computer from the wall.
Then open the side.
Stare at it for a while.
Clean it out. Use a small brush and a vacuum.
Now, gently wiggle and reseat every connection, cable and card that you can find.
Look for a small battery on the mobo. The round flat ones that look like a coin. The CMOS restet jumper is often near by. Move the jumper to the other position. (there are three pin, it will be connecting two of them. pull it off and connect the other two) Wait 30 sec, and move it back.
Reconnect everything and see if she runs.

[Geeky1]

or he could just follow those steps and then pull the CMOS battery, wait a bit, and put it back in (making sure the + and - sides are correct)... easier than finding the jumper.

And yeah, that may help. Lemme dl the service manual for your comp. so I can see what we're dealing with here.

[muddocktor]

OK, HP had some pretty good info on your machine on their site and it looks like they used a special version of this i865G micro ATX board (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-130-425&depa=1) in your HP machine. I imagine that this board will be a drop-in for the HP board and you might even get away without having to reinstall Windows or maybe just a repair install.


BTW, here's the link to your HP mobo (http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/bph08426.pdf), if you want to check it's specs out and compare it to the one I llinked to at Newegg. :)

[rsallinsonuk]

Okay, sorry for the delay in getting back. Opened up the computer box, blew in there with a compressed air spray and cleaned out the dreaded dust bunnies, pressed the on switch and hey presto it worked!!!!! I guess there was a short caused by dust somewhere! Thanks for all your help, glad it wasnt an expensive problem in the end!!!
Now for another question :) Is it possible to upgrade the RAM in this machine (HP716N) and the graphics card? The graphics card is integrated so would i have to disable that some how and put in a new card???

[edcentric]

Since you have open memory slots and an AGP connector it shouldn't be abig deal.
You will need to find out what memory you are running now.
And of course, decide how much money to spend on a video card.

[rsallinsonuk]

Well i currently have 512 MB running but noticed that with background programmes running i was consuming like 150 MB without even doing anything, even disabling them still uses up alot so i was thinking maybe ike just an extra 256 MB. On the video card side i was thinking maybe $100 to $ 175. Pretty much to play half life 2 in a reasonable mode and doom 3! And of course to make work programmes run a bit faster!! :)

[MediaMan]

rsallinsonuk

It looks as though your original problem was resovled. You've carried off onto another problem...which is what we are here for.

I'd like you to start a new post in the hardware forum as it is just a question and not really emergency orientated. :) You'll probably get a quicker answer.

Tx