Help - My computer won't boot up.

I was using the internet yesterday, and I was downloading, and my computer froze. I hit the restart button, but the screen that appears on my monitor when I have not signal to it stayed on. The red and green lights on the tower remained solid. But my computer did not make the usual sounds it does when it boots up like all the beeps and such.

I am unsure how to diagnose the problem, I was thinking it could be the videocard, but if it was then my cpu would still boot up properly. And if it was not the video card then I would assume I'd be able to see something on the screen.

I'm totally lost and not sure what to do. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

What are the system specs??

When it is "trying" to boot...do you get any beeps that would sound like they are coming from tiny internal speaker from the inside of the case?? If so... is it one beep and that's it, or is it multiple beeps with some kind of rythm to it...and if so, how do they fall??

If it is a commercial system (DEll, Gateway, compaq, etc) do you get the splash on the screen of that particular brand?? For example...If you have a dell...when the system starts up...you will first see the BIG blue Dell logo appear on the screen then it will continue with the boot process and starting windows...did you ever have that, and if so...does that happen now??

Roger

 

Normally when I boot up I get a few beeps, I think two, but there is no real rythm or anything. When I now boot up there are no beeps whatsoever. The computer remains silent, with the green and red lights solid on the front.

I do not have any splash screen show up. I do not get any signal from my pc to my monitor. The only thing displayed on my monitor is a blue box saying the monitor is working but there is no signal. I cannot see anything being booted up, no bios, no ramcheck, nothing.

I have a clone PC made up by different parts. My specs are:

Asus P4P800-E Deluxe Motherboard
Intel P4 3.2 Ghz Processor
2 GB Ram
ATI X800
HD 1 - 120
HD 2 -250
SB Audigy Platinum
CDRW-drive
DVD-drive

I'm running Windows XP SP2, and all the latest drivers for everything.
I believe my power supply is 450W but it might be 400W. I am not exactly sure.

Let me know if you need anymore information. Thanks for your help.

 

Ouch, well it sounds to me like its a video card problem...while your screen froze, your computer may not have. The fact that your monitor is recieving signal but no picture comes up suggests that its a video card issue. However, the fact that you get NO beeps, not even the initial ONE beep at startup worries me as well. Judging by your system specs, that system is clearly under a year old, and I dont see why it would be a motherboard or Hard Drive problem. Right off the bat I would say its your Video Card, but wait for a couple more responces to make sure.

It could also be that your powersupply is not getting enough power to certain components. a 400 watt PSU for all that hardware might be pushin in just a bit. I might upgrade to a 500 Watt or a 550 just incase you want to upgrade in the future anyway.

 

When it boots up...can you see any evidence that it is actually going through the boot sequence!?!? For example...when the bios goes through the boot sequence...you will see the light flash briefly on the front of the floppy drive, then maybe the cd drive, then maybe the second cd drive, and you will most likely hear the the drives hit as it goes through the boot up process!!

And I know this sound stupid, so don't roll your eyes, but...I'm assuming you've checked to make sure the video card is properly seated in the slot, and then that the cable going to the monitor has a good connection to the video card!!?? If not...I would open the case and take out the video card, and put it back in to make sure that it hadn't vibrated/worked itself loose from the slot on the motherboard!! If that is loose and not making good contact to the motherboard...it can cause all kind of grief!!

But in a nutshell...just like the n00b said...I would say it is the video card, however...the board not beeping on boot-up also rouses my curiosity!!

Roger

 

What happens is that my monitor displays a box that says something to the effect of "monitor is working, but there is not incoming signal, please check your computer, or cable connection."

I do not hear any beeps so to me it doesn't seem like it is booting up. I do see the lights on the cdrw, and the dvd go on and then go off, as if it was booting, but then nothing, and the red and green light never actually come off. Usually my pc boots to the desktop in under a minute, but I waited and waited and it never stopped.

I did check to see everything was alright with the videco care, I took it out and put it back in checked the connection with the monitor and everything was fine there too. I guess I will try to get another video card and see if it works. I was hoping the issue was with the PSU, because that's the cheapest.

I'll try those two things first and in the meantime I'll keep checking incase anyone has other suggestions. Thanks again guys.

 

sshhhhhh...you didn't hear this from me, but....

Some places (Best Buy is one) will allow you to return an open video card, as long as you keep the box, all the reciepts and papers, etc., that come with it, and as long as you get it back within "X" amount of days!!

So atleast you won't be stuck with it if that isn't the issue!! That is where I would start, because without video...you can't REALLY be 100% sure of WHAT is going on!! And the corrupted video card could possibly be keeping it from even trying to boot properly!!

Roger

 

If you have an older video card, or can borrow one from a friend or neighbor, Try that first

 

Thats what I was thinking... I am going today on my lunch hour to go "rent" a video card to see if that will fix the issue.

 

Well it wasn't the video card, I put in a friends card, and its still the same problem... then maybe that would mean power supply or motherboard.... and I"m so lazy and unexperienced in changing a motherboard... oh god....

 

Yes definately do your homework before changing a motherboard, lol....It could be the powersupply...but...I dont see a reason for it to just QUIT like you said it did, while surving the net....that...and if you powersupply failed while surfing the net, it wouldnt have froze...your system would have shut down...If it is your motherboard....I guess if you are willing to splurge it will give you room to do some awesome upgrades in the future...SLI boards these days are running anywhere from $130-170. I myself, am not really sure on how you would go about making sure it IS your motherboard...but right off the bad, based on what you told me, and what your dealing with...Id say it was

 

I'll assume that the green light is the pilot light that confirms that the computer is "on". I'll also assume that the red light is the light that indicates the hard drive is being accessed.

Let's also note that the drive indicator lights on the two optical drives turn on momentarily.

That tells me that the POST is running -- at least as far as accessing the hard drive. The POST may be crashing there, leaving the hard drive access indicator on.

That suggests to me that you may have a problem with your hard drive that is preventing the POST from running to completion. Try booting with the hard drive disconnected, and post the results back here.

While you're in the case, make sure that the hard drive is spinning up when you turn on the power.

Also: is your monitor warmed up and showing a steady green pilot light when you turn on the computer? Some monitors don't warm up fast enough from standby to show the first screen from the BIOS, and your system could be crashing soon enough that you would not get the next screen, which is usually the results of the POST.

 

Great tips Rob. The green light on the mobo is on, but I was referring to the power indicator on near the power button.

Last night after I confirmed it was not the video card but before I read this thread (since I don't have a working pc at home) I tried to swap out the ram sticks, since a computer support guy at my work said it could be that, but when I did this, I got those continuous beeps until i turned off my pc. So then I tried putting the ram in another spot, and the same beeping but this time I spelled a burning smell, and I swear I heard a electric-crackly sound coming from one of the HDs (i have two).

Now with what you just told me, I think I will disconnect both, HDs and see if that makes a difference. My question to you is if I disconnect my HD, will I see the bios screen boot up? When I do these test my monitor is on and fully warmed up, this is confirmed with the monitor screen displaying the message that the monitor is working fine but no signal is recieved.

I will try the HD tonight (I almost hope that is the problem and not mobo or CPU because HDs are so cheap now). I will let you guys know tomorrow unless my pc works and I can update you from home. Thanks for all your help guys. I found this site from a friend and you guys are fantastic... very helpful.

 

I am thinking to wait for this for a bit... I just bought the xbox 360 and I'm broke... plus when I buy an sli mobo i will have to get a new card, my x800 is agp still, not pci express, so an upgrade for me will be expensive.

 

Damn....that is not a good thing at all....Your motherboard could be shorting out on the case....you could try what I did when I had this problem....I had the same thing happen...my computer worked one minute, and when I upgraded...it didnt. I didnt have the motherboard seated correctly, and I hears a shocking sound, followed by a burning....The motherboard was shorting out on the case, and something fried the registry on my Main Drive, so I was unable to boot up....I couldnt do anything....heres what I had to do.

I took everything out of my case, and assembled it all on a LARGE piece of cardboard....all the meanwhile, standing on another piece of cardboard, to prevent static from building from the carpet. I got everything put together, and booted up...sure thing...it was shorting out, and now its not, so it boots up...I then inserted a Win XP CD, and reformed my corrupted drive...got everything all installed. Then I went to my nearest Hard Drives Northwest, and asked them for 9 Brass Standoffs (those little screw things you put on in your case to set your motherboard on) and set the motherboard back inside, hooked everything up, and its ran like a dream since.

Im not saying that this is your problem, but its definately something to consider.

 

it may be too late to salvage the HD since I smelled that awful burning smell... the burning smell of all my new music and movies that have not been transferred to d: crappity!

I'm going to try first removing both my HDs and see if I get something on the screen. I have another question now. I just checked at the OEM store near me and they have SATA and the Old ATA cards roughly around the same price with the SATA being a bit cheaper actually. My board supports both, but can I be running both SATA and the old connection for HDs ( IDE I think it's called) ????

 

Removing the HD,s will allow you to see POST/mem checks/ search for CD and drives on the screen. Of course you will not get into XP. I suspect your monitor is ok. I have never seen a HD fry. Could very well be a mobo shorted. Take a good look at the board for damage. Look at the capacitors on the board (little cylinders with X on top). If the top is bulged, they are bad.
If you are adventurous, you can do as suggested and hook everything up outside the case. Great way to test components.
Not sure about sata and Ide. I suspect you can run both. wait for more posts.

Runner789

 

It might not be too late...as I said, the SAME thing happened to me, and both my drives are working just fine. I didnt loose anything. I was stoked.

 

Try cmos reset or removing the cmos battery for 10 secs and replacing,I'f someone has already posted this response my apologies

 

I'll take a look for some bulgy capacitors... I will try and take the drive out too, and if i can see something on the screen then I know it's the hard drive. I don't really want to take out the motherboard, since I'm not very experienced in any of this, I can install an HD or CD rom but that's about the extend of my knowledge.

 

All you need to do is take the ide connector off the drive. Power also if you want.

 

If I've correctly identified your problem, the BIOS screen should come up. The lack of an installed hard drive won't prevent the BIOS screen from coming up. However, you won't boot into an operating system unless you have another boot device in the system that can find an operating system -- like a floppy disk or bootable CD-ROM.

If my diagnosis was not accurate, you'll likely get the same results as before.

 

I removed the HD, and nothing changed. Still no signal. I also put in my old CPU to see if by any chance that was the problem.

I guess the only other thing is the PSU or the motherboard. I didn't find any bulgy capacitors, so I don't know.

 

SP2 Downloaded; tried to delete deleted one too many files and computer crashed.

My Computer is a Dell 4400 Pent4 XP, 1.7 hard drive 20 G hard drive, 120 G Maxtor Slave. USB2 ports, 4 reg. USB ports, cdrom, a techics external-cdr rom drive, Aol 9.0, I use a kodak camera, fugi camera, small flatbed scanner, lexmark Z32 printer. Aim, Spysweeper, adware, spybot, Norton Utilities 2005. and lots of written files and pictures.

I tried to follow all the rules for loading SP2. It slowed down my computer and did not allow for me to go into yahoo mail, download virtually anything or use any links. I originally deleted it using the delete programs in my computer. No problems ran great...constant battle cleaning out the bugs. I asked the kids Not to download any fixes from Microsoft...somehow Microsoft reloaded SP2. I tried to delete the programs again from install/delete menu and it wouldn't let me delete one of the files, saying that it was being used by another program. I've also noted that there are many files in my system 32 file and it opens at the booting of XP and has lots of files that have something to so with "style" that I've tried to delete...keep popping up in spysweeper but won't delete.

Here is where I being was def. not too bright...I have some computer skills not many and screwed royally up. I tried to get rid of the files manually at midnight. I was a little inattentive deleting Q files (Q+plus numbers) like the SP2 files and I must have deleted one too many. When my Computer rebooted it showed XP and the monitor went through set up and opened into a dark grey screen. It does not recognize the cd rom, usb ports. I had my neighbor hook up an old keyboard because mine is usb. It will go into safemode but the files that load seem to be empty and it does not show anything after booting. It even shows the line about trying to go back to a safer point...but it won't go back.
Have I lost everything? How do I reload whats missing when it does not recognize the cd-rom? One of my friends suggested that I needed to reload the OS program..How in the world do you do that? HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Re: SP2 Downloaded; tried to delete deleted one too many files and computer crashed.

You should post your own topic, but in short, just open bios, and have it boot from the CD drive. XP shouldn't have any say in the matter then.

 

Thanks...If I go throught the Bios do you think the computer will read the cd rom? will I lose my info in the HD?




Soory, I didn't know how to write a new post. I haven't figured out how to write a new post...

 

If the bios is set to boot from CD first, then it will boot from CD (ifs a bootable CD). No data or files will be lost unless you reformat.

 

Re: Starting a new thread

To start a new thread, do this:

• Get yourself to the summary page for the forum you want to post in. The "Hardware" summary page is at <http://forum.majorgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=22>.
• Find the "New Thread" button near the top of the page.
• Click on that.
• From there, it's just like what you did to post in this thread.

"Hardware" was the right forum for your post; it's just confusing to other viewers to "hijack" a discussion thread. Some consider it bad manners. Anyway -- welcome to Major Geeks.

(BTW -- Off-topic posts are also frowned upon. This post is quite definitely off-topic. I'm hoping other readers of this thread will forgive me that, because I can't see any other way of helping you.)

 

Well, both were worth a try.

At this point, I think your motherboard is the primary suspect. But that's just a guess.

To check that one out, you'll probably have to swap another in, or try the "cardboard test". Or both. Either way, you get to pull the motherboard out of the case.

It's actually not that difficult. Just a bit fiddly at times. Keep good notes on what goes where as you pull things apart. Then restoring the original configuration is a lot easier.

 

If you have a digital camera, photo's of what goes where are also a great aide.

 

-Borrow a multimeter and check the voltages coming out of the PSU (power supply) at the mobo connection. Look online for the voltage schematics.
-Check the CMOS and look for the HDDS, see if they're still listed and configured
-Disconnect all expansion cards, USB devices, printer, etc..reboot
-Try it in safe mode (F5)
-The PSU has numberous connectors for powering various devices (drives,etc). Sometimes one of these will come in contact with something on the mobo and will short it out (if not entirely then just partially). Its always best to tape the ends of these connectors so this doesn't happen.
- A tech with a diagnostic card would install it in a PCI slot and read the LED message...this will tell whats wrong with a system. In 5 minutes you'll have your answer, but obviously it'll cost you unless you can borrow one from someone.

Good luck
DCO

 

Thanks guys for all your help... much to my dismay, it was the motherboard. I took the weekend to dismantle my pc, and I "rented" a motherboard from a store here (14 return policy) and tested it. So now I'll have to either keep this mother board or get another one. But atleast the puzzle is solved. Thanks for all your help.

 

Glad to hear you figured it out. Sorry to hear it was your motherboard....oh well....ateast with a new motherboard, you can set yourself up NICELY for some Awesome future upgrades, eh?