COmputer not booting

I had my Gateway 827GM in air conditioned storage for about a year . As far as I know the computer was not jostled , dropped or anything of that nature. Now when i try to turn the computer on, the CPU fan comes on at full speed and the case fan comes on, but the hard drive "active" light never comes on, and i never get a video signal, and the speed of the cpu fan never slows down. The computer will remain in this operating condition until i do a hard kill, which only works the first time . If i restart the computer and try to hard kill it again, it immediately comes back on, but i never get a boot screen or anything . After that point, the only way to get the computer to turn off is to physically unplug the power cable . I opened the case, checked my connections which all appear to be ok (i previously applied thermal paste in the correct manner) . I pulled out the hard drive while the computer is "running" and held it to my ear and i can physically hear the Maxtor 80gig (aftermarket) harddrive running, but again, i never get any sort of boot screen or video signal at all . I also have a Radeon x700 pro . I suspect the Hard drive has gone bad, but why would it go bad when its only been sitting in a closet in an air conditioned house ? I want to get this computer running again and was wondering how to go about diagnosing the problem .
Thanks to anyone for assistance .

 

No, i did not replace the CMOS battery .
I will do that after dinner and let you know what happens. Thanks !

 

Just put a brand new Energizer CMOS battery (cr2032) . Nothing has changed. The computer is still doing the same exact thing as before i changed the battery .

 

If you get no monitor output then it can't "just" be a hard drive problem as even without a hard drive fitted you would still get the monitor showing you the BIOS output as it attempted to boot.

So, question: Does it POST ie does it give any beeps? If yes then how many? If none then try taking out the video card and rebooting. Does it beep now? If yes then the problem is the video card? If not take out the RAM. Reboot - does it POST (beep) now. If yes put back the video card. Reboot. does it still POST? If yes then you've got duff RAM.

Basically it's a matter of elimination.

 

Thanks for your help, fellas . I sold the unit to a friend for a fair price, and the money is going towards a new computer . I have been wanting some new technology anyway, that unit I sold was purchased in 2004 !
This one looks pretty nice, what do you think ?
http://directron.com/sysmmh1.html

 

Not a bad choice, i personally dont like AMD/Radeon but all in all not bad, might consider trying to build your own, might save yourself some money that way, like did

 

I am a bit intimidated by the build-it-yourself approach, as i have never completely built one. I have done numerous hardware changes on numerous different computers though, but the thought of building a $1000 or so machine myself makes me nervous.
I prefer AMD over Intel.
Maybe i just need someone to tell me it's really not that difficult, (hint hint) lol, because i'm not a stupid person by any means, im just nervous about screwing up something that costs me so much money . I guess this weekend ill look up some online tutorials on building your own, to take some of the mystery out of it and get an idea of whether i could actually do that. I am now within 2 weeks of ordering whichever computer it is I will be getting .

 

Its really not to hard friend. Just got to pay special attention to catability (sp?) and you can always make a post here on what your thinking of building and we will let you know if everything looks good.

i love www.newegg.com thats where i bought the parts for my PC. They always have great deals and amazing reviews.

Im 20 years old, never built a PC before, but was determined to do so, so i bought the parts, did a little research and managed to get everything up and running myself. If you've ever looked inside a computer before and know the basic parts(RAM, PCI, AGP, PCI-E, CPU) then you will be golden. Its a lot of fun and satisfying making your own PC

 

It is easy to build your own computer, as long as everything is compatible, as Borsung has said.

Also, if you do make an irreparable mistake, and it is very unlikely, I might add, then you can normally send the broken component(s) back without a problem.

 

Well, this was the encouragement i was looking for .
I am seriously leaning towards this system : http://directron.com/sysmh4.html
Since Directron chose the component combination, compatibilty wont be something i will have to worry about. I like AMD and I also like the performance of dual channel RAM, and the ATI Radeon HD 4870 video card with 1GB memory should be able to handle anything I throw at it, I am not a hardcore gamer, but i do enjoy a few games (mostly auto racing games) . The system is $849 plus the cost of the OS i choose. Actually, I could afford a few hundred dollars more to spend on my new system . I'm already getting excited about this, celebrate) and welcome any further suggestions from anyone, especially specific systems no more than $1200 .
Borsung mentioned the satisfaction of building your own system, and i can understand that, even if i built a system with components pre-chosen by someone else .


ps: id prefer not to have to assemble the system myself, i would really like to get it pre-assembled and ready to roll .

 

I got gotta head to work at the moment but when i get back ill try and give you some ideas that will suit your needs, my system cost about the same as what your looking to spend.

Also do you live in the USA?

 

Well ill go ahead and get started as i have nothing better to do, im gonna use newegg to price everything out, ill try and build you two different PCs. One like the one you sent a link to, and the other that is more like mine

Here you go build #1 like the one you linked to:

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103010 $99(I personally use this case for my build and it works like a charm!)

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131361 $199. (has a lot of features for overclocking and room for expansion)

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103471 $215

Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150352 $239

Power Supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153038 $149 (this thing has enough juice to power up your pc for a long time)

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227298 $59 I use OCZ for my build although im using the DDR3 models but i believe this will best compliment your build.

Harddrive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136150 $59 (was gonna go with a 1TB but it was a little bit more pricey for the extra space, this is something you can easily upgrade down the road, plus having more than 1 HDD ensures a clean back-up drive)

Disc Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135181 $20 (can snag another and make it $40)

Heatsink and fan: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118019 $44 (your lucky on this i paid $59 dollars for this exact same cooler, and this thing is a beast and keeps my CPU cool and stable.

Final Cost: $1085

Okay so comparing it to the the one you were looking at:
1) The case in my opinion is way cooler looking, and the blue LEDs are awesome and the big fans this case has keeps everything inside nice and cool.
2) The CPU is the same, but i believe this Mobo will support better Overclocking and it supports crossfire(2 or 3 video cards) for future upgrading
3) The memory is slightly faster than what is in the other, and it probably looks cooler, OCZ is good stuff.
4) Pretty sure the Video cards are the same though
5) The build in the link you provided only has a 500w PSU in there which IMO is rather low! And leaves no room for future upgrades! The 750w PSU will give you plenty of power to run multiple HDD, video cards, disc drives, and fans!
6) I kept the onboard audio on the Mobo as the primary audio device as they usually work pretty decent can always upgrade if you got a rockin sound system but thats for you to decide.
7) aftermarket heat sink and fan for the CPU ensures it wont overheat and stay cool.

Take a look at this and let me know what you think. There are some minor things i left out(like an exhaust fan which are all but 10bucks) and any other minor mods you want to make(like perhaps larger HDD or better disc drive, or even another video card

Ill end this post here and ill show you a Intel core i7 build with a geforce card
which unfortunately in my opinion would be an all around better machine specially for gaming and such

 

Alright bud here is a build thats actually similar to mine, with some minor tweaks.

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103010 $99 same as above, again i love this case it rocks!

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128374 $259. (again another motherboard that supports lots of upgrades and easy for overclocking, and the core i7 920 can be easily overclocked to 3.4ghz stable. the Mobo is also sli/crossfire ready where my board in my build is not(shame on me))

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202 $279. AMD is suppose to be coming out with its competitor to the core i7 but i dunno ive loved intel from the get-go and after having this CPU i dont think i could switch to something else. Its so fast and easy to OC. the core i7 is also the only CPU to support tripple channel memory(DDR3)

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153038 $144 same as above

Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227375 $94 This is a tripple channel kit that will work with the core i7

Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130400 $219. I mean just look at how massive this card is! it looks great and EVGA is the best company around and they got an amazing forum set up and a EVGA program called EVGA percision that you can use to manually set the fan speed on your card and also under/overclock it.

Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288 $64 (had to sacrifice some space to keep it into budget)

Disc drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106287 $22

Heatsink: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118019 $44 Same heatsink as i am using now. its flawless and works great

Misc: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118045 $4.99 Needed to mount the heatsink onto the core i7 chip.

Total Cost of the Build: $1237.90 (not including the rebates)

Alright differences/similarities between these two builds i posted:
1) The AMD one is cheaper and gives you extra cash to buy extra stuff(Like an OS and such which i forgot to mention above)
2)IMHO the core i7 build would be a better buy if your looking for performance and longevity.
3)Core i7 supports DDR3 Triple Channel Memory. AMD Build does not.
4)I have used ATI and Nvidia Cards, and as far as performance goes, ive always seen much better from Nvidia Cards and the new GTX 200 series are just amazing.
5)Both leave room for upgrades in everything.
6) I know for a fact the core i7 chip is easy to overclock and can even get above the AMD in terms of GHZ
7)Core i7 supports Hyper-Threading technology, which creates 8 threads in the CPU that your computer reads and sends information to. (i.e. if you hit ctrl alt del and go to performance you will see either 2 or 4 boxes under CPU usage History, well the core i7 shows 8 boxes, one for each thread.
8) I know personally trying to max out the core i7 seems impossible even trying to run multiple instances of the same game i can get close to about 50-60% cpu usage before my video card and RAM crap out.
9)They are both rockin Computers!

Alright buddy i hope this helps you out alot! Please if you any questions or comments feel free to post em here Good Luck to you!

I noticed you edited your post and said you didnt want to assemble anything yourself, well maybe you will change your mind about seeing the above posts and the prices and compare them to what you can find pre-assembled, it really only takes maybe 2 hours to get the pieces and parts put together then you just add the time to load the OS and what not and your ready to roll.

If you need more help on even finding a pre-assembled PC i can do that too, but its just to much fun building your own, so thought id give ya some insight

 

Thanks a ton for your input. I would still prefer to stick with AMD, though the Intel setup you posted looks pretty good. Im gonna do some more research, and i appreciate the time you have spent giving me these ideas & suggestions.
If anyone else has any input, you are more than welcome to post !

Hm - the title of this thread no longer matches the subject matter rolleyes

 

No problem Bud, if you any specific questions you can shoot me a PM or post here