Big Problems!!!!!

JustinJustin Atlanta
edited January 2004 in Hardware
CRAP!!!! Just recieved this old Compaq Presario 4712, worked upon arival, put in a modem (this was a rather agonizing experience), and fixed a broken button on the face plate. To do this, about half of the machine had to come apart (thank god for ATX!!!). I have reassembled it and now... The power supply gives signal to the new cd burner I put in, the hard drive gets signal (this little light comes on on it), the fan on the power supply runs fine (after I cleaned about 18 pounds of dust out of it, it seems that the hard drive (2GB!!!....I know, I know....) even though it is getting signal, isn't booting. Everything else seems to be going right, I suppose. What should I do?!?!?!?!?
:eek3::rant::zombie: :banghead: :bawling: :zombie::eek2: :thumbsdow
«1

Comments

  • ketoketo Occupied. Or is it preoccupied? Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    If you added the CD, rather than replacing one, the PS *could* be inadequate..I doubt it, but it was the first thing popped into my head.

    What jumper setting do you have the new drive at, ie, Master, Slave, Cable Select, and what position is it in on the IDE cable?

    Are you able to get into the bios to configure the new setup?

    **EDIT** FIRST THING!! disconnect EVERYTHING and reconnect it all, and I do mean everything, strip the sucker right bare - even take the memory out.
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited January 2004
    Yeah check the jumpers. IDE can be picky about thats master/slave and all. I have been able to boot from a secondary slave on one and have everything but a primary master.

    Most likely its the cable. Its the easiest thing to check for ATM.
  • JustinJustin Atlanta
    edited January 2004
    I did all that but take out the memory. The CD is on Master, and no, I can't get into the setup, It dosen't even try to boot. AFter I take it all apart and put it all back together again, What then? How about the CMOS battery? ATM???
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited January 2004
    ATM=At the moment.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited January 2004
    Try booting off a floppy, then see if you can at least see the other drives. (Type C:\ hit enter, see if it goes to a C: prompt, if so, type dir then hit enter and see if it shows the contents of the C: drive)
    :cool:
  • JustinJustin Atlanta
    edited January 2004
    There isn't even signal to the screen, I get nothing! Not the opening Compaq screen, not the sound of the hard drive firing up....NOTHING!!!
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited January 2004
    Just unplug the CD ROM and see what it will do then.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited January 2004
    Are the video, etc, on separate cards, or built-in? If separate cards, try removing them and cleaning the contacts with an eraser. Do the same with the memory. Make sure there isn't any dust in the slots.

    Dumb question, but you couldn't by chance have bent a pin on your monitor plug, could you? You could also try unplugging the monitor signal cable and plugging it back in, plus turn the monitor on and off a few times. Does the monitor signal light change from orange to green?
  • JustinJustin Atlanta
    edited January 2004
    tried it, nothing... The hard drive dosen't have normal jumpers, instead of six pins, it only has three... I have the case open and I just turned it on again, it starts going like it wants to boot, then this little green light onthe hard drive blinks and that's it...
  • JustinJustin Atlanta
    edited January 2004
    Green steady on, the monitor works on my other towers, integrated video, I will take out and clean the memory, I blew a lot of crap out of there. Any other thoughts?
  • mcwcmcwc Vancouver, BC Member
    edited January 2004
    I think you should double check your IDE connections to see if its swapped around or loose. If you removed the PSU from the case, and if the PSU is a switching AT (yes, switching AT), check the connections to the mobo.

    keto wrote:
    If you added the CD, rather than replacing one, the PS *could* be inadequate..I doubt it, but it was the first thing popped into my head.

    Adding a burner to it shouldn't cause a problem. I had installed my old Compaq with a OEM 110W PSU and it ran with no hiccups.
  • JustinJustin Atlanta
    edited January 2004
    How would I know if they are swapped around? The red band goes on the right side correct?
  • mcwcmcwc Vancouver, BC Member
    edited January 2004
    The connections to the mobo. Could cause a problem since a OEM mobo could be very picky.
  • JustinJustin Atlanta
    edited January 2004
    They are on just as they they came in. The CD drive was swapped out, not added, the modem is no issue, the whole PCI area comes out in it's own little box, I am taking out the RAm for inspection right now. How bout that battery?
  • mcwcmcwc Vancouver, BC Member
    edited January 2004
    Tried clearing the CMOS yet?
  • JustinJustin Atlanta
    edited January 2004
    Do I just take out the battery? I just checked the RAM, Looks good. The HArd Drive is spinning now.... No response on the monitor though...
  • mcwcmcwc Vancouver, BC Member
    edited January 2004
    Yes, either take out the battery for a few minutes or use CMOS jumper on the mobo. If you have to get into the BIOS set up menu later, on the Compaq boot screen, when you seen a little flashing white box on the upper right corner, hit F10.
  • JustinJustin Atlanta
    edited January 2004
    I can take the battery out, what and where is the jumper on the board? What do I do with it?
  • JustinJustin Atlanta
    edited January 2004
    Scratch that... I can takr the jumper off but the battery seems like it is attached... Should I leave the jumper off? How should I get that battery out?
  • mcwcmcwc Vancouver, BC Member
    edited January 2004
    It should be a button cell and there should be a small tab that you can push with your fingernail or a slotted screwdriver to pop the battery out. As for the jumper, it should be a 3-pin header which you move the jumper to connect the other pin with the middle pin for a few seconds and move the jumper back to its original position.
  • JustinJustin Atlanta
    edited January 2004
    The battery is not coming out and the jumper only has two pins... I took some pictures, if you can tell me how to attach them here, you can see what I am talking about.
  • dodododo Landisville, PA
    edited January 2004
    do you have an extra video card you could try?
  • JustinJustin Atlanta
    edited January 2004
    It is only PCI and I don't. I am going to try another monitor right now, maybe that is it. The one i am trying to use worked before I tried it on this machine but anything would make my life easier now...
  • JustinJustin Atlanta
    edited January 2004
    GOT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just had to reset the monitor to accept signal. Guess it could have been working for a while now... Thanks Everybody!!!
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited January 2004
    profdlp wrote:
    ...You could also try unplugging the monitor signal cable and plugging it back in, plus turn the monitor on and off a few times. Does the monitor signal light change from orange to green?

    :hiding:
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    :aol: is more like it.
  • dodododo Landisville, PA
    edited January 2004
    :banghead: actually would work too
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Compaqs often have certain modems simply becasue they were made to use resources left open when box was designed. Pull CD, boot up, see if box boots up, and if so turn off emebdded modem if any, for starters. Resource conflicts can keep a Compaq from even showing video. Make sure modem and CD-rOM conectors are tight, and that CD-ROM is not jumpered to same IDE as anything else on the same cable and that if the othr things is jumpered slave that the CD-ROM is jumpered master and not slave or Cable Select -- IDE controller hung at boot can also cause ano-boot, and older Compaqs are picky about this. Could be power, could be resource conflicts or an IDE controller locking before POST is complete or BIOS never able to ID what is CD-ROM and what is something else on same cable. Older boxes are not as good as newer ones at this. SECOND, stick CD-ROM on different cable from HD.... Please....

    John.

    John.
  • JustinJustin Atlanta
    edited January 2004
    Alright, everyting is good now. The monitor would not respond to the box in question but when plugged into a diferent box, it worked just fine. I put the monitor back into the box I was working on, put the whole PCI slide box back in, and after the monitor had been signaled off from the other tower, it worked just fine. Great learning experience... Thank You all again.... I think I will go and flog myself now..... :werr:
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Um, just one more thing folks are just beginning to find out:

    The old Compaq specs and online help files, most of them, are now found on http://www.hp.com/ and you can use the hp problem solver and the specs searcher to search by compaq model name and number on HP.com to get the old help files online that seem to have disappeared. This includes boot failure lookups and problem solving with free form word searching. This is especially true of the old Presarios, and the model name was adopted by HP. Compaq name now is used for a server division product set.

    John.
Sign In or Register to comment.