My PC wont start! I broke it!

firemansam · Joined: Jul 08, 2004 Posts: 50

My PC was full of dust so I opened it up and blew all the dust out with my mouth. The fan on the CPU was so dusty I took it off to clean it. I put everything back and now it won't start! It beeps continuosly (system check?) and keeps searching the floppy to boot. The monitor stays in standby (orange light). The CPU fan works on startup but after awhile of it not being able to boot it just stops.

My PC is old but its (was) functional. Here are the specs -
PIII 1.133GHZ
256 ram
40 GB HDD
Nvidia TNT2 video card.

I'm writing this on my PS3 which is a real pain. I have pics of the inside if it would help.
Any help is appreciated.

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 1546 Location: Central FL, USA

Happy Super Bowl day, Sam,

I shouldn't have to mention the obvious, but just for grinns, I will anyway.

You changed something. When you cleaned the CPU fan, did you remove the heatsink from the cpu chip? Make sure you got the fan plugged back in correctly.
If you tweak it with your finger (in power OFF mode) does it spin freely?

Remove the ram and clean it, , , re-seat it firmly.

On a PC that old, have you ever changed the CMOS battery? If not take the old battery out (with the system unplugged from the line power).
After about 30 minutes, install a new CR2032 coin type battery.
(that is, if your mobo is new enough to use that type of battery)

All this would be much easier if I have that PC here on my workbench.
Something came loose, you just need to find that 'something' and fix it.

Don't give up!

Doc

firemansam · Joined: Jul 08, 2004 Posts: 50

I moved the RAM into the 3rd slot available and now it has stopped beeping as often, but now it just sits there with the power light on doing absolutely nothing. This will sound stupid but is the heatsink the silver finned block right under the fan? If so I did remove it and it has something I could best describe as a 'contact patch' on the bottom of it. Under that I assume is the CPU which I did not touch. I also found some RAM lying around the house so I swapped it. I don't know what type it was but it did fit, however it made no difference. While it would be annoying I wish it was something simple that was staring me in the face.

I'm sad about the Superbowl too! I'm an aussie and don't follow NFL, but the superbowl was always shown on free to air channel SBS and I've never missed it. Was looking forward to it especially with an aussie playing, but today I found out they no longer have the rights, a city fta station does. I'm in the country so I miss out! Bad news all round!

goretsky · Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 11:57 pm Post subject:

Hello,

You may wish to try removing the video card and any other expansion card installed on the motherboard as well as cables and then re-seat them firmly. It sounds like one or the other may be loose.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

kenmabmcc

bern · Joined: Mar 12, 2007 Posts: 1432 Location: ann arbor

firemansam · Joined: Jul 08, 2004 Posts: 50

Another bit of info that may help. Before I pulled it apart to clean it, recently everytime I would go to start it, it would always try to boot from the floppy, then beep and repeat until I reset it. After resetting it 5-10 times it would finally boot up, but I could get it to start eventually. Not anymore though. I assumed this more than likely meant it was on its way out.

As it doesnt seem to be something simple I'm considering buying another PC. Can I put XP on a Dell PC that comes with Vista. I'm looking at getting the XPS 430 but theres no XP option.

bern · Joined: Mar 12, 2007 Posts: 1432 Location: ann arbor

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 1546 Location: Central FL, USA

To side step more problems than I can even list here, I'd advise:
Never buy a Dell. they're not nic-named D'hell for nothing. Wink

I was given an XPS 400 because Dell deemed it unrepairable. Dell gave the original owner a new one.
After I fussed with the XPS 400 for several weeks it finally just shot craps.
Minus a few salvageable parts, that P.O.C. is now in the local land fill.

If I lived to be 150 I couldn't read all the gripes that have been put on the internet about the XPS series and the bad motherboard and bad power supply problems they have had.

Since then, the replacement blew out its power supply, which I replaced with a more Generic one of considerably greater wattage.
The owner was just sick and tired of dealing with Dell. Twisted Evil

Right now all the retail stores are loaded with name brand PC's at some real bargain prices. A few companies still have some select models available with XP on them.

I set up new PC's every week and I've found ways to make Vista look and run a lot like XP. Today, there's really NO reason to try to take a PC built to run Vista and try to make it run XP. In most cases that I've personally seen, it's an exercise in futility.

Cheers Mates,
The Doctor Cool

MikeH · Joined: Nov 26, 2004 Posts: 4

I repair PC's for a living and have seen many that have died because of overheating from dust built-up.

Before you do any work on the computer, YOU MUST REMOVE THE POWER CORD from the back of the unit. There is still power to the motherboard even though the computer is "turned off".

First put the memory module back in the slot where it first was. It must be firmly seated and you must watch the notch. Plugging it in backwards or crooked will damage the motherboard. It usually takes a very firm press to get them to firmly seat all the way. The white tabs on the motherboard connector on each side must be in the side notch of the memory module or it is not in all the way.

Second, unplug the power connector to your CD, DVD, hard drive, and anything else that has the 4-pin connector going to it.

Third, remove all add-in cards from the expansion slots. If you have a video card in a slot, leave it in. Make sure it is firmly seated and not the least bit misaligned. If it is an AGP card, there is a small release at the back of the card's slot that you move to unlock the card to pull it out.

Fourth, make sure the power connector from the power supply to the motherboard is firmly plugged in. There will also be a four-pin connector from the power supply that will go to a matching connector on the motherboard near the CPU. Make sure that is firmly plugged in.

Fifth, as kenmabmcc mentioned above, go to a local computer shop (Radio Shack does NOT carry this!) and either get the silver paste or the pad for the CPU. Clean the old off before putting on the new paste or pad.

If you still get beeps when you turn it on, then lookup what the beep codes mean for your motherboard. If you get no beeps and no video, then you may have damaged the CPU by removing the heat sink and fan assembly and not replacing the thermal paste/pad.

If you get video with an error message saying not boot device could be found, then turn it off, unplug the power cord and plug the power connector back into the hard drive. Restore power and see if it boots.

If it boots, shut down, remove the power cord and replace any ad-in cards you took out and plug the power connector back into the CD/DVD and all other devices. Restore power and you should back up and running.

firemansam · Joined: Jul 08, 2004 Posts: 50

Ok, firstly thanks for all the help. Now for an update. I've tried everything you suggested previosly MikeH with the exception of the paste thing and none of it made a difference. Anyway I thought I'd give it one last go. I did everything you said but this time I unplugged the fans power and the power to the motherboard and then plugged them back in. These had never been unplugged before and I had checked several times previously that these were in. That is the only thing I did different from every other time but now I finally have the beeps back!

From what I can tell my motherboard is American Megatrends and it gives out 8 short beeps. I've searched it and apparently it means the video card has failed, so I'm now making progress.

All this has made me realise just how old the old girl is and even if I get it working she's dreadfully slow, so I'm still considering a new one money permitting. Any quick thoughts on the HP Pavilion a6760a?

Thanks again for all the help.

MikeH · Joined: Nov 26, 2004 Posts: 4

firemansam,

If you can borrow a PCI video card to try, that may tell you something. You possible could take it to a shop and see if they have a old video card to try for a couple of bucks for their time. This is an old computer and really not worth doing much else to it. It is hard to get rid of something that looks like new on the outside but old technology on the inside and you have had for awhile.

The HP Pavilion a6760a seems like a good machine. But it is like any other piece of electronics. The same make and model will give one person problems or fail early while another person will not have any problems. The same with cars also.

Good luck.

marko_tec · Joined: Jun 28, 2004 Posts: 2

wrong topic, sorry about that....

system001

Give up on XP. Since service Pack 2 Vista runs great. Then if you want you can more easily upgrade to Windows 7. Or simply wait till later this Summer or early Fall and get yourself a Windows 7 machine. I believe you will be able to get a good one for a great price. I do not see the release of W7 helping PC sales. People are still Leary after all of the time Microsoft put into Vista and then tun around and release such a dud of an OS before SP1. What ever you deside please invest in canned air. Smile

zlim · Joined: Mar 11, 2005 Posts: 2636

system001, if you read the specs of the OP's PC, Vista isn't going to run with 256MB RAM and not everyone can afford to purchase a new PC. That's why we're here to help people fix whatever they are using.

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 1546 Location: Central FL, USA

Z,
That is a great problem here and in hundreds of other forums......
Like telling someone to troubleshoot their HD when the PC won't even get past the 'POST'.

The horse has to get out of the gate, before he can cross the finish line.

When threads take off into the ridiculous, I just shake my head and go elsewhere!

So how's the world treating you these days?

Doc Cool

bern · Joined: Mar 12, 2007 Posts: 1432 Location: ann arbor

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 1546 Location: Central FL, USA

Bern, and group.......

The biggest problem I see with Vista is that it's development was turned over to a bunch of gamers, not seasoned OS developers. All the glitz and glitter, glass, etc. just serves so confuse old PC users and sucks up hardware resources, (like ram), like a dry sponge sucks up water.

After long conversations with my own Computer Guru, I made up my own mind long ago to NOT even try to install XP on any PC made for and sold with Vista. The problems with doing that, aside of the cost, are often just insurmountable.

It's much easier to shut off all the totally redundant services, make all screens and menus "Classic" and tweak the registry for improved memory and HD usage.

I thumb my nose at the nay-sayers and turn off UAC, the very first thing.
Home computer users who are familiar with 98 or XP, don't want to see UAC popping up on their screen every time they try to do something. I don't either!

If I made all my changes to Vista by hand, it would take hours, but almost everything I do now is actually performed by VBScripts or Batch files so it takes only a few seconds.

I'm testing Vista Ultimate 64 bit and after my considerable tweaking and tuning, I must admit it works well. It takes full advantage of my 64 bit processor and three gig's of ram and runs quite nicely. Actually a bit faster than XP on many operations.

So my advise to anyone stuck with Vista is to learn it, and learn how to optimize it for peak performance. The internet is loaded with tune-up tips for Vista. Check it out.
Like Black Viper's web site where you can find a SAFE list of services that can be shut down.

Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it, because....
"It works for me!"

Doc Cool

firemansam · Joined: Jul 08, 2004 Posts: 50

Just a thankyou to everyone for their help. I bit the bullet and purchased the HP Pavilion 6760. Its nice and quick but its sending me crazy at times with problems I can't seem to fix. It seems my wireless adapater, the Netgear WG111v1 is not compatible with Vista so it looks like a new adapter is on the cards and I also can't get any sound when I watch videos on the internet from sites such as youtube and msn videos. Anyway hopefully I figure it all out eventually.

Thanks!!

zlim · Joined: Mar 11, 2005 Posts: 2636

You need the latest version of Adobe Flash.
Go here http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about to see what the latest version is. I'm not sure how to check what version is installed in IE but in FF, if you type about:plugins in the address bar, you will see what version is installed.
If it isn't the latest go here http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/
to download the latest.