Computer won't boot

[JoeN]

This is a 5 year old computer running Win. 98 SE, when powered up the LED for the CD-ROM, main power and hard drive on the front of the tower all come on and stay on, the floppy does not lite up at all, the key board flashes the num,cap and scroll lock LED'S then they all go off, and the monitor flashes a quick text box that says "no signal found OR cable unhooked" then various square colored boxes come and go on the screen - the fan for the power pack IS working - and I replaced the CMOS battery to no avail - this computer had been working fine with no appearent problems - not sure where to start trouble shooting - I've tried to start in "safe mode " and also to get into the Bios"setup" but it is a no go - any thoughts ????

[Franklin]

First off I would try the simple things.Turn the power off at the outlet for a coupla minutes.
If no go,blow out all the dust then reseat the cables and hardware and work from there.

[Ruebarb]

This is definately a hardware problem, is this onboard graphics or add-on card? Have you check the connection of the monitor cord to the vga port? Also Need a Mod to bump this to hardware section

[JoeN]

First - sorry for posting in wrong Forum, wasn't sure where to start, the Graphics card is a stand alone card, not part of the mother board, all cables have been checked when I replaced the battery - and yes all power was disconnected and allowed to stand for quite some time - this is not my computer, it is at friends house quite some distance from me - so it may take me a while to reply - what next ??????

[Ruebarb]

Have you taken the card out and reseated it back into the mobo?

[JoeN]

Did not try that, will do that next -

[kjanz]

change out the main power supply

[JoeN]

I'm having the computer brought to my house this coming week, this will make trouble shooting much easier, as far as the power pac goes, if the fan is running does that mean the power pac is OK, or how can I check to see if it is the power pac with out removing it ???

[pacvan]

Try out a different video card and a different monitor on your computer.

[JoeN]

Quick up-date on this problem, finally got computer to my house, reseated cards and power supply to drives and everything works now ??? Go figure!! Have software problem after installing new CD burner and Card Reader - will post under Software - Thanks for the help with the Hardware issue -