HELP!! My PC won't start

[charvelguy]

Re: HELP!! My PC won\'t start

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what type of computer? are you getting a beep or series of beeps indicating an error in the cmos startup?

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Mine beeps 8 times. I think I'll just buy a new PC.

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When it beeps in startup it is a code.. much like when your car computer flashes a code on the dash in a certain sequence when triggered.

[Newc]

Re: HELP!! My PC won\'t start

Yeah, 8 steady beeps is the code for "All your base are belong to us, biyatch!" [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Seriously, though, unplug all the drives and remove all the internal cards except the video card. If your MOBO has built-in video (mine did), use that instead and remove even the video card.

If the comp boots up to a screen, shut it down and put in the video card and reboot (don't forget to put the monito cable on the video card! I did that and thought the brand new video card I just bought was already toast [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img])
If you get a picture, shut it down and plug in the C:\ drive and reboot.
If you DON'T get a picture with just the video card, either the card or the slot itself is toast (broken/bad socket or connector).
If you get a screen and can get into Windows with the video card and the C:\ drive plugged in, shut it down and add the CD-Rom/DVD whatever and reboot.
If Windows loads, shut down and add your sound card and reboot. If it doesn't load, remove the CD/DVD whatever and reboot. If you get a picture, proceed to adding the sound card.
If everything loads, shut down and add whatever other internal card (modem or other PCI-slot card) and reboot.
If it doesn't load after adding the soudn card, remove it and move onto the next PCI-slot card (if you have one).

Whatever causes the system to fail, remove it and move to the next item to be sure it's not the only item having/causing a problem.

It's very time consuming, yes, but I had to do it with 8 internal drives including one floppy and a DVD drive, an AGP video card, a sound card, an IDE hard drive card, the firewire adaptor card, and a power supply that actually was faulty - was moving stuff around in the chassis and bumped the wires running into the power supply and it started up - with my hands inside the chassis [img]/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]

If you do decide to get a new MOBO, spring for new RAM and all the USB and such things installed - all I got was the new MOBO and had more trouble hooking all the internal USB and crap up than with anything else, thanks to a lack of standardization in those areas as far as connectors.

[finnman]

Re: HELP!! My PC won\'t start

Will my hard drive work with a diffrent MB?
or does it have to be reformatted.
The board I got now is a
ASUS A7U266-C. I can't seem to find on online. We built it back in 2002.
I would hate to loose all my info.

p.s. Thanks Newc and others for replying.

[jackson1]

Re: HELP!! My PC won\'t start

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Will my hard drive work with a diffrent MB?
or does it have to be reformatted.


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It'll have to be reformatted. Put it in your friends machine and backup the data you need to a DVD/CDROM and dont' delete it from his machine before you got yours up and running.

Some may say you don't need to reformat it. Read my lips: reformat it [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[finnman]

Re: HELP!! My PC won\'t start

but,
if I can find the same MB that won't be necessary?

[Kisonen]

Re: HELP!! My PC won\'t start

Hi

Some ideas, hopefully they help.
Have you tried changing the videocard?
That "Asus A7" MB is around 5 years old.
I would just scrap that old machine and spend everyting on new computer.
You can easily copy data from your old computer's HDD to new one.

[SeventhSon]

Re: HELP!! My PC won\'t start

disconnect the hard drive. see if it boots from floppy or CD. If it does, then it's your hard drive that's hosed.

[jackson1]

Re: HELP!! My PC won\'t start

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if I can find the same MB that won't be necessary?

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That's correct, but it will have to be an exact match.

With Windows, i suggest you don't ask for trouble. Not reformatting when renewing the motherboard IS asking for trouble.

But i don't see this as a big deal really. Just back up your data with the help of a friend and rebuild your new machine and then restore the data back. A Windows machine needs this cleaning up anyway now and then.

[Carbuff]

Re: HELP!! My PC won\'t start

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The MB is a ASUS A7U266-c. 512 DDR PC 2100.
My friend and I built it years ago.
No problems till today.

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Ok, Im assuming that its A7V and not U. Thats a via based board and as long as you use another via based board you shouldnt have any problems just booting up with your old windows config. Im assuming xp? If it does hang or something just do a repair install from your xp disk. you should be ok with that. Youre not likely to find any via based socket a boards at fry's these days. I would suggest ebay. You can get one fairly cheap, like under $30 from someone who has upgraded. Avoid the cheap ECS brand boards. You can get a nice abit or asus top of the line board for socket a for that price range. Avoid nforce based boards as you will then have a problem with your old windows config and it may not like your ram. Sometimes motherboards just die. Bad capacitors can cause this a lot. Thats why I suggest you get the newest socket a board that you can find. One that supports 400 fsb. The bad cap issue should be worked out by then. Also it will leave you with more upgrade options in the future, with support for sata drives, faster memory, usb 2.0, the 3200+ cpu, etc. If you do end up doing a brand new install of windows and dont want a reformat, slave your drive on another system and rename the "Windows" and "documents and settings" folders on that drive, as a new install will wipe them out and you will lose all of your "my documents" stuff. A repair install will not do that. Good luck.

[finnman]

Re: HELP!! My PC won\'t start

yup, my bad it's a
ASUS A7V266-C with XP, with T-Bird 1.1GHZ 200bus CPU.
512 DDR PC2100
http://www.avadirect.com/product_det....asp?PRID=2736
Can you give me a link to a newer board that would work?
My wife only uses it for homework and surfing.
I do have a second backup HD installed that has been Ghosted with Norton Ghost.

[Carbuff]

Re: HELP!! My PC won\'t start

http://cgi.ebay.com/MSI-MS-6382-Socket-A...1QQcmdZViewItem

This would replace what youve got with pretty much the same specs, but without much room for upgrade. I dont know how many slots you need though as this is micro atx size. It has built in sound which is ok but it doesnt have onboard lan, I dont know if you need that. You should have your friend browse with you to find something newer. And, if its just for homework and internet then the ECS board would probably be ok. Just dont get a k7s5a. you want something like this

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-ECS-K7VTA3-V8-Mo...1QQcmdZViewItem

or like this

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-ECS-KT600-A-VIA-...1QQcmdZViewItem

I had the 1st board for a while and it worked fine.

I just dont reccomend ecs boards for people with complicated system specs and needs. But for a basic machine, theyre ok.

[Newc]

Re: HELP!! My PC won\'t start

Don't reformat until you've at least tried it in the new board. I thought I was going to have to reformat, but all XP did was come up and tell me to re-register the OS and I was good to go.

[finnman]

http://www.fonerbooks.com/power.htm
Carbuff.
The KT 600-A motherboard worked like a charm.
I just got done putting it in.
I used ArctiClean and Arctic silver5 for the CPU/heatsink.
No problems booting up.
I just had to adjust some BIOS settings.
My wife and I thank you and everybody else that helped.
I took my time to make sure I did it right the first time.
Finn
p.s the above link might be useful for anyone.

[Carbuff]

Great, glad it worked out for you!