boot problem

Computer won't boot up. The monitor is blank. I tried another monitor, same problem. I tried disconnecting each part in the computer one at a time, same problem. With nothing hooked to the motherboard but the power supply, when I try it, there is not even a beep, the green light comes on and a light on the back of the computer. It is a Compac running XP.
I also tried clearing the bios with the jumper, still the same problem.
I am beginning to wonder if maybe the motherboard has died. It was working fine and just failed to boot up.
Amy syggestion?????????

 

I tried that with the hard drive in the computer, will that do or do I need to take it out of the case?

 

The only thing that I had connected was the power supply. I disconnected the cd drive, hard drive, memory, monitor, floppy drive, modem. The video is onboard but I did try with the monitor connected and disconnected. I tried another power supply out of another computer. There are no beeps at all when powering it up.

 

Try it without the video card - a failed video card will give the symptoms you describe. If it POSTs without the video card then you'll know where the problem lies.

 

It has onboard video. I think that is what you call it. The monitor hooks to the motherboard. The only card in a slot is the modem and I have that removed along with the mouse, keyboard, cd drive, floppy drive, and hard drive. Can't even get a beep out of it at any time. I feel like something has died. I don't know if it may be the processor or the motherboard. Is there any way to tell?

 

Ah! OK not good. It still may be possible - if it is just the video circuitry - to overcome this by fitting a video card. Have you a friend or acquaintance wwho could lend you a card to try? If you cccan fit a card and it still does nothing then I would start to think TimW is right and the mobo has thrown its legs in the air.

 

I tried a video card that I know works, it is out of an old computer that I have. No change when I tried it.
A strange thing happened. The computer that I am working on belongs to a friend. I have another computer that I have had for years, it has W98 on it. It has not been started for app. 6-8 months, it just sits there blank, no beeps, nothing but the fans running. I have 2 old computers with W95 on them that have been sitting longer and they work just fine.

 

Well like I say normally no POST beeps means the video has gone kaput. If a PC has sat unused fro sometime then dust and crud can accumulatein the PC and cause poor contacts. So pull out the cards and clean the contacts and also clean the slots - just not with soap and water!!

As for your original problem if another video card has also failed to boot the PC then the next thing to check is the voltages from the PSU - PC generally uses 12V, 5V and 3.3V - if any of the outputs are low then you may get the problem you describe.

 

Clear the cmos, either by jumpers or by unplugging power supply and pulling battery out of the mother board for a few minutes, this applies to the old pc that wont boot also. ed ed

 

I haven't tried that on the older computer yet but did try it on the one that I was working on. Still nothing. I believe it is just plain dead. I don't know anything else to try. I do not have a motherboard that wil fit it. He probably will just get another computer at this point. It is about 4 years old I think. I tried to get in touch with him last Friday but cound not.
Is an E-machine any good? I see some on sale for $399.