computer not starting...

flash2021flash2021
edited August 2005 in Hardware
newbie to the forum here sayin hello!

ok now with that out of the way...last night my mom was using the computer and suddenly the monitor goes blank and goes to the "self-test monitor working" screen...she said "i think there was a surge or something" so i dont really know if there was or not...

but now the power on button doesnt respond, so i've been taking components out and can't seem to tell whats wrong...all of my fans turn 1/4 turn and then stop when the power button is pressed...any ideas on where to start looking?

ps- the green light on the ethernet port is on...i dont know if this eliminates anything from being bad or not...

thanks guys

Comments

  • TheBaronTheBaron Austin, TX
    edited August 2005
    the green light on the ethernet port means your PSU isn't COMPLETELY dead. I'm inclined to believe that you have a bad PSU, and the first thing I would suggest is trying a different one
  • jradminjradmin North Kackalaki
    edited August 2005
    Look for the little power LED on the MOBO to. It probably is your PSU.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited August 2005
    You might be having this problem.

    Having said that, what the others mentioned about the PSU is well worth checking. Can you beg/borrow/steal a new PSU to try? This time of year the electric company is often under a heavy load and cheats on the power level a little to keep up with demand. An undervoltage could have taxed your old PSU enough to cause it to fail.
  • flash2021flash2021
    edited August 2005
    thanks guys!
    went out and got a new PSU and now fans/lights/hard disks come on...but now it isnt POSTing or whatever you call it...the screen goes straight to a BIOSTAR splash screen...it seems as tho it wont let me into CMOS or BIOS. i've tried holding down f1,f2,del,esc ...seems to be nonresponsive

    i hope i didn't fry the motherboard while changing the PSU
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited August 2005
    Try resetting the bios using the jumper. :)
  • flash2021flash2021
    edited August 2005
    the jumper for the CMOS? in my biostar manual it doesnt have a BIOS specific jumper
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited August 2005
    If your question is do I mean the CMOS jumper, the answer is yes.

    What model # is your board?
  • flash2021flash2021
    edited August 2005
    i think resetting it worked...it was hanging at splash screen until i unplugged everything but my master harddrive (windows xp home correctly loads)...now i just need to troubleshoot each peripheral until i find the bad one...right?

    motherboard is: biostar M7NCD Pro
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited August 2005
    flash2021 wrote:
    i think resetting it worked...now i just need to troubleshoot each peripheral until i find the bad one...right?...
    I think you've got it. :)

    Hopefully, the reset took care of everything. If you're less lucky it might be something else that got cooked when the PSU went. I hope it's the former.
  • flash2021flash2021
    edited August 2005
    ok...i hope its ok to continue an older post

    so, if you read above, i replaced the PSU and everything was goin ok...until today

    right after the Windows XP home boot screen with the little scrolling blue bars of joy...the screen goes blank..but the logon screen never shows up...it just sits there, like its waiting for something...

    any ideas on whats up?
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited August 2005
    Can you get into Safe Mode? :)
  • flash2021flash2021
    edited August 2005
    i ended up realizing my processor was running at 49 degrees F. I forget if that temp should cause problems, but after turning the comp off for an hour, it started up fine, and the temp doesnt seem to be approaching that again...Im figuring my new PSU generates a little more heat than the old one, and it doesnt help my tower is sitting in a bad air circulation spot
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited August 2005
    I hope you've really got it this time, but 49C is not really hot for your CPU. What video card are you using?
  • flash2021flash2021
    edited August 2005
    GeForce 5200FX...not the greatest, but good enough for everyday stuff and games
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited August 2005
    i just typed a post, but my younger brother decided he was an up and coming network tech and decided to try and fix the modem which had nothing wrong with it. (he nplugged all the cables. so im not gonna retype it, instead im gonna tell ya the gist of it.

    I think the boot load hang-up was heat related. get better fans in your case.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited August 2005
    airbornflght wrote:
    ...I think the boot load hang-up was heat related. get better fans in your case.
    Boot time is when things are the coolest. If it was a heat problem I'd think he would be seeing it more after the computer had been running a while. :cool:
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited August 2005
    yeah but during the windows load the hardware is stressed somewhat, at least thats what ive been hearing for quite a long time, I was told if you were gonna have a hang up itd be at the os load. :confused::scratch:
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited August 2005
    airbornflght wrote:
    yeah but during the windows load the hardware is stressed somewhat, at least thats what ive been hearing for quite a long time, I was told if you were gonna have a hang up itd be at the os load. :confused::scratch:
    Try this little test:

    Start your computer and go straight into the BIOS. Find the Hardware Monitor section (PC Health, or whatever it's called), then watch the temps for about fifteen minutes. Note what the temperatures read when you first went into the BIOS and what they are fifteen minutes later.

    Then exit the BIOS and go straight into Windows. Open MBM5's Dashboard (or whatever Windows HW monitoring utility you use) and watch the temps for another few minutes. Then start opening programs and check the temps again.

    Unless you're Folding (and you should be! :D ), your CPU temp will remain low until you really get the system under load. (With Folding your CPU usage is going to immediately jump to 100% and stay there, no matter what else you do.)

    I bet you'll find that Windows itself doesn't really have a serious effect on temperatures; your BIOS temps and temp right after booting to Windows will likely be very similar. (Once again, all bets are off if you're running gobs of stuff on startup - in that case you aren't really measuring just the temp effect of Windows, though.)

    I'll bet what you're thinking of is the draw on the PSU at boot time. That can be quite dramatic. Any time an electrical device is turned on there is a quick power spike. I used to live in an older apartment building and whenever the compressor in the refrigerator cut in the lights would all dim for a split second. It was enough to give you the heebie-jeebies. :eek:

    Since flash2021 has already replaced his PSU, I doubt that that is the problem now. :)
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