Computer will not boot

ely-wysellely-wysell
edited December 2004 in Hardware
Alright, about 2 or 3 weeks ago my computer out of no where started shutting itself off at random times. I will be on AIM or whatever doing absolutely nothing or I won't even be at the computer and it will shut itself off. Usually when this happens the screen goes blank, if I'm playing an mp3 it will start to skip but the light on the computer is still lit and I can't do anything except shut it down. When I shut down the computer and turn it back on it will boot up fine sometimes, but this is the second time now that this has happened where it will not boot up. When I try to boot up I hear the normal booting up noises from the computer but nothing shows up on the screen. Sometimes all I hear is the hard drive and dvdrom drive booting up and then it stops. A friend of mine suggested that it might be a bad power supply. Also, the last time I just tried to boot it up which was about 20 minutes ago it made one beep and then seemed to boot up but again nothing shows up on the screen. The monitor seems to stay in sleep mode, I know it isn't the monitor because I have tested the monitor. This is really quite annoying and it would be greatly appreciated if someone could help me asap. Thank you for your time.

Comments

  • GrayFoxGrayFox /dev/urandom Member
    edited December 2004
    Its most likely ram or a cpu problem run memtest x86 and it it checks out ur cpu is probably overheating
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited December 2004
    What motherboard do you have, ely?
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited December 2004
    Along the same lines as prof, how old a machine are we talking about here and is it a oem machine or one built by someone?
  • ely-wysellely-wysell
    edited December 2004
    I'm not sure what type of motherboard is in it. It is a Dell OEM and it's about 3 or 4 years old.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited December 2004
    What model/part# Dell is it? :)
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited December 2004
    Yeah, if you can post up the model number of your Dell, then we can look up what mobo and the configuration of the machine and see if there's something that jumps out at us. That is one thing that Dell does do much better than the other oems out there; their online documentation is much more extensive than HP or any other oem I've seen.
  • flyriceflyrice
    edited December 2004
    It really might be a PSU problem. His problems (the original author's) problems sounds like mine...PC would boot, run, then shut off for no reason. Then it wouldn't start at all. That was the problem with my PC before you fellas here told me to get a good PSU (aka an Antec) and that solved my problems.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited December 2004
    It could be a CMOS power management settings problem also.... Especially if CMOS battery is real low and BIOS defaulted everything.... THAT defaulting might leave the monitor with wrong Power Managem,ent event settings for its liking, in the CMOS....

    THEN, it might go to sleep on signal loss, and not wake up because BIOS is looking at wrong settings for the monitor in BIOS.... OR, video card might not be waking up....

    Sometimes this does not apply to situations where whole computer is off for 15 minutes, but will apply on a restart of Windows or an immediate powerup after a powerdown.

    I'd do what the other folks said, but check BIOS setup program for reasonable and sane settings in PM events also, if video is only issue. Which windows are you running (guessing 98 SE, Me, or 2000, but want to know exactly)????
  • ely-wysellely-wysell
    edited December 2004
    I feel really stupid for asking this but to where are the whereabouts of the model # on my machine? I am also running Windows XP, Straight_Man

    I am taking it into my Computer Support I class tomorrow afternoon and testing it out there to see what exactly is wrong with it. Thank you very much for everyones help I appreciate it a TON. I will get back to everyone on what my instructor and I have found out about the problem.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited December 2004
    ely wysell wrote:
    where are the whereabouts of the model # on my machine?...
    Look for a little sticker with a Dell # on the case somewhere. They also sometimes hide it inside the case, usually on the removable side panel. :)
  • ely-wysellely-wysell
    edited December 2004
    We figured out the problem today. It was the video card.....first we tested a new power supply and it didn't work, then we tested a new video card with the new power supply an it worked, and then we tested my power supply with the video card and it worked. Any recommendations of what video card that is cheap that I could get? I'm an avid gamer so one with 128MB would be good.

    By the way my model # is DHM
  • flyriceflyrice
    edited December 2004
    I have a GeForce 6800 128 MB AGP. If you're not willing to shell out 200 clams for it, I think the GeForce 5000 series 128 MB would be fine. They're a LOT cheaper....down to below 100 bucks I think for a 5700 IIRC.

    Of course, if you're an ATI fan, I can't help you there. Although my brother has a 9600 XT and it's really nice on his.
  • ely-wysellely-wysell
    edited December 2004
    So it wasn't the video card, I just got a new one for christmas and it's doing the same thing it was doing last time. So its either the memory or PS I'm guessing.
Sign In or Register to comment.