HELP, just moved and computer will not start

currently on laptop - need to get my tower going. just unpacked and its not working. I turn it on, the monitor light stays yellow. the drive clicks a few times and stops. nothing happens. i know im vague here but that is literally it. all the plugs are fine. i hook up another tower and it works fine.

running xp on a custom AMD athalon that has never had a problem in 2 years.

any suggestions to help get to what might be the problem - i really dont want to bring it to geek squad for $199 just to look at it and tell me what i dont really need...

thanks!

 

I would try reseating the ram [ removing and putting back in and be sure it clicks in place] . ed

 

ram removed and replaced - nothing.

 

Might the computer been exposed to harsh handling, jarring, or even dropping, during the move?

 

Is the fan running in the powersupply, the processer cooling fan, is anything running that you can tell, will your dvd-cd rom open and close? ed

 

Purchance do you have integrated video or a seperate video card, if the latter it could have vibrated lose during the move. Are you getting any Error Code "Beeps" from the unit on fire-up??

 

This may sound obvious - but it's something I have done run into when dealing with friends computers - usually after they have taken the computer down for some reason, and find it won't work when they set it back up later. I've done it myself:

Since this is a custom build, it's possible that the motherboard had on-board video, but the builder installed a seperate video card. If this is so, make sure the monitor is plugged into the add-on video card, and not the on-board one.

 

it was handled with extreme care during the move. the fans are all going. the cd rom opens and closes. i only have one video source. usually when i would power up the puter, you can hear the hard drive loading / grinding etc. you hear it power up but thats about it.

im wondering if its either the hard drive or even the video card???

 

Just on a lark try unplugging the tower and removing the battery for a few minutes. Also disconnect power cord from the HD.

If you put battery back in and plug in tower (with HD still unplugged) and start, do you get a BIOS screen?

It seems you should get a BIOS screen even if HD is bad. If video card is bad, I would think XP should still start thus you would hear HD accessed even if it didn't show on screen.

Those are my only two ideas.

 

well i brought the tower into bestbuy (geeksquad) and as soon as the guy took the cover off he goes "your mother board is bad" and pointed out to me a blown out capacitor. looked ok to me but what do i know...

so without getting past a load up, he couldnt tell me if anything else was effected by what seems to be a surge (so much for those battery back up surge protectors)...

so now i guess a new mo board is in order - that is if nothing else was blown. is it worth it or just build a new one???

 

with it only being 2 years old i'd say a new mobo would be fine

 

how hard is it to get a new mobo and install yourself?

i have never done any type of install before - im hoping everything else is ok (video card, hd, soundcard etc etc)

 

I would get a second opinion. ed

 

well geeksquad didnt try to sell me anything, in fact he didnt charge me for looking at it either - for all of the 3 second he peered into it...

told me to go to tiger direct and just get a new mo/board...

 

A "Popped Cap" is usually fairly easy to spot, I would agree with tunered and get a second opinion.............Hey you get what you pay for, and usually with Battery back-up surge protector in place unless you got a direct hit I wouldn't think it would get past the PSU and pop a cap on the MB, thats my take. Hey if it is the MB, I would just replace it or upgrade. Hope that Helps