Topic: My Computer Simply Won't Start (Read 353 times)

fastTOE · « **on:** February 10, 2004, 11:24:00 AM »

Alright, as the topic suggests, my computer doesn't start,.... I have heard that it may be the video card but am not sure,.... when i push the power button it powers up, but when i turn the monitor on it says to check connections to computer etc... basically it seems like the computer is only getting about 1/2 the power it needs to,... cuz every once in a while it will work and it is slightly louder when it does work..... anyways, im just wondering if there is a way to tell if it is in fact the video card or if it may be a bad power supply or anything else,.... then from there, i'll worry about fixing it,.... so any help would be greatly appreciated

nthingspecial · « **Reply #1 on:** February 10, 2004, 01:13:00 PM »

I would check the video card in a buddies computer. Or swap it for another one. I think its the power supply though.

fastTOE · « **Reply #2 on:** February 10, 2004, 07:40:00 PM »

alright, thanks for the replies,.. hopefully it is just the power supply(that sounds easy enough to fix,... and they dont seem to expensive either)......
since you said my post was unclear(and i agree) ill try to clarify (if only slightly) the main difference from when the computer works and from when it doesn't is that is beeps a couple times when it works.... otherwise i'll just hear the fan (and possibly some other devices) power up and sort of "idle."... bc i also thot it was the powersupply, i unplugged all devices, such as the dvd-rom, cd-rw, floppy drive etc to try and give the mobo more power (this prolly doesnt do a damn thing, but i figured wut the heck....) anyways, that didnt help at all...

Anyways, as im sure you could alredy tell, i am no "computer wiz" or anything, but after modding my box for a lil over a year now,... i figured i'd try to fix my comp myself instead of getting rammed in the ass by the computer stores that charge $500 for a 5 minute job...

so, on that note,... any tips>

? basically any good sites or other forums dedicated to this sort of thing to help walk me through it,... any site near the level of help as xbox-scene (but for computers) would be great,...

thanks again

fastTOE · « **Reply #3 on:** February 10, 2004, 08:14:00 PM »

jm_007 · « **Reply #4 on:** February 11, 2004, 02:20:00 AM »

no, it wont work without a video card, though it should get to POST. Without a video card it will beep to tell you there is no video card and will not boot any further.

EgoX · « **Reply #5 on:** February 11, 2004, 05:35:00 AM »

2 beeps is videocard on most boards, sometimes it's just a case of reseating the card(agp is the worst component interface ever imo).

if it already works sometimes this is the most likely solution.

I would also try to locate the source of the excessive noise as the vibrations from here are likely to be what are unseating your videocard

fastTOE · « **Reply #6 on:** February 11, 2004, 12:17:00 PM »

ALright, well i do have a pci video card as of now,... but have an empty agp slot if i decide to change....

ok, when i took out the video card it didnt beep... it just did the thing it did before where it would NOT turn on,... but just kinda idle opposed to beeping and starting up....does that mean its not the video card then? and how do i then check the other parts.... thanks again

EgoX · « **Reply #7 on:** February 11, 2004, 03:47:00 PM »

All the mainboard manuals will tell you no beeps is power supply but i know from experience this isn't strictly true, but it's a starting point,

make sure the main power cable is connected securely to the motherboard, while ur in there check all other cables too, if this fails it's time to borrow a m8's PSU.

GL

fastTOE · « **Reply #8 on:** February 11, 2004, 08:14:00 PM »

alright thanks for all the help,... ill try lookin at the psu tomorrow,... hopefully ill find a good enough friend to help me out.... thanks again...

fastTOE · « **Reply #9 on:** February 12, 2004, 06:19:00 AM »

EgoX · « **Reply #10 on:** February 12, 2004, 08:55:00 AM »

The only other things that I think would cause this are things like IDE cables inserted wrong, IDE drives not configured correctly ie. 2 master on 1 canble etc & badly seated CPU, if you've exhausted the above then the power supply is a very safe bet, luckily these are cheap & very easy to fit so that's good news.

As far as your question on PCI videocards I have to confess I have never had to do this, in theory i guess if you have the required irq spare it should work but to be honest i'm not sure how the bios would handle deciding which card to use primarily or even if this would be an issue at all, I guess someone else would need to offer you the benefit of their experience here.

fastTOE · « **Reply #11 on:** February 12, 2004, 10:59:00 AM »

alright, so im pretty positive it has nothing to do with any IDE devices,... bc first of all they all seemed to look to be in order,... but second of all i unplugged them all just to see if i'd at least get beeps at startup,... and i didn't so is it safe to say all fingers are pointing at the psu as of now>?.... I'm not sure exactly how to check how well the CPU is seated,....(to be honest,... im not really sure what the cpu is,... i thot that was just built into the MOBO or something,....n00bn3ss i suppose....) anyhoot, any chips or boards sticking out of the mobo i checked to make sure they were securely seated, and they all seemed to be,... i checked all wire connections and everything seems to be fine..... so i'm guessing.... time to just go out and get a new psu.....

now onto replacing psu,... is it as simple as unplugging everything taking the old one out, gettin a new one and plugging everything in and going.... or is there some crzy stuff i gotta do>>

thanks,....

EgoX · « **Reply #12 on:** February 12, 2004, 03:50:00 PM »

MoeMan949222 · « **Reply #13 on:** February 12, 2004, 04:22:00 PM »

seriously i have had the exact same problem ....my computer was ideling and just froze ..so i rebooted and it would never show up anything on the monitor and after a minute ill hear beeps ....after losing another motherboard for testing the amd chip came out to be burnt or something ...it might help !!

fastTOE · « **Reply #14 on:** February 12, 2004, 07:09:00 PM »

Author Topic: My Computer Simply Won't Start (Read 353 times)