Computer problems... Need help!

slipsius · Aug 2011

Hey guys an gals. So I'm having computer issues. My pc won't start up. Or, rather, it looks like it does but nothing displays on the screen. All the fans turn on, the lights turn on, including the RAM, but nothing shows up on screen. For a while now it's been doing that on start up, but I just hit the reset button and it works. Right now it doesn't sound like the CPU is 'thinking'. And before when I hit reset it would start to think.

So my question is if anyone has an idea of what it could be. Graphics card or mobo? CPU? I'm thinking it's the mobo as I've had a graphics card die on me before and it didn't act like think. just dunno how to tell if it's the mobo or CPU.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I may have an art test soon and will need it fixed ASAP.

Thanks!

Stefan

throttlekitty · Aug 2011

Do you hear any beeps when powering on? Anything other than the single beep is an error, and the number of beeps is the error code.

And do you have another monitor or graphics card you can test with? Power supply is also a possibility, and easy to toss into testing if you're borrowing parts from another computer.

slipsius · Aug 2011

I don't really hear any beeps. I've replaces the power supply in the last year or so, so I doubt it's that. last time it fried nothing would start. It's definitely not the monitors cause I have one monitor and a tv that I use for my screens. Still watching tv and playing xbox on it. All I reallyhear on start up is the fans powering up and the first couple of noises u hear when your CPU or ram start up. Kinda like it's thinking but only for a second

PolyHertz · Aug 2011

Aside from what throttlekitty already mentioned, try pluging a different hard drive in (doesn't need to even be formatted) and see what happens. I used to see a lot of computers where the HDD was the problem when no video would show up oddly enough.

haiddasalami · Aug 2011

pop open the lid and see if the graphics card is running/nothing is burned etc. Also another thing to try is removing the CMOS battery and putting it back in. Also as PolyHertz mentioned, some motherboards have a silent boot so if your hd is gone might not be booting into anything (though usually you see a blinking cursor) Does the restart trick still work? Another thing to try is try booting with a single stick of ram and check all the slots.

slipsius · Aug 2011

Hmmm don't have a graphics card to swap it with, and all my HDDs are old and don't have the proper plugs. F... And no the reboot trick doesn't work anymore

slipsius · Aug 2011

hmmmm.... I unplugged one of my RAM sticks and tried it and it started working... i plugged it back in, and it was still working.

could 1 loose ram stick cause that?

im kinda afraid to turn it off again. haha. I guess ill see if its fixed tomorrow.

or if anyone knows of some free diagnostic programs i can run tonight, id love you forever

haiddasalami · Aug 2011

slipsius wrote: »

or if anyone knows of some free diagnostic programs i can run tonight, id love you forever

memtest is a great program to test memory. A loose ram stick can be the cause of the problem though I suggest checking all the ram sticks just in case

slipsius · Aug 2011

well, today the problem continued, but the reset trick was working again. cept, this time, when i hit the reset button, instead of acting how it normally does, it did a hard shutdown, waited a few seconds, then came on by itself.

Im thinking its the mobo... so, that being said, any suggestions on a new one?

greevar · Aug 2011

Do you get a POST screen when this happens or do you get no image on the display? If you don't even get to a POST readout (e.g. CPU model, RAM size and speed, BIOS version, etc.) then you have a RAM/CPU/Video problem. Do the Memtest haidasalami suggested, it will at least rule out RAM if it's not the issue.

slipsius · Aug 2011

i get no image what so ever.

slipsius · Aug 2011

H'ok, I did the memtest overnight, and it got to about 500% with zero errors. so, i guess ram is out.

Talking to a buddy of mine that use to work as a computer tech dude building computers, he says its not the mobo if it starts sometimes, but doesnt others. I have had an an error on one of my HDDs for quite some time, and ive been meaning to replace it anyways. nothing seemed wrong, but one of the start up screens, it said failed on one of them. *shrug* ill pick up a new one and see what that does.

i was planning on getting a new custom pc near christmas, guess ill start getting the pieces early. lol

Mark Dygert · Aug 2011

Yea old school platter drives... its only a matter of time. SSD hasn't been around long enough to see if it's any more stable but in theory, less moving parts and memory based type devices like ipods and flash drives have proven to be pretty resilient.

I would of put my money on the monitor but since that seems to be in working order I would of fingered the motherboard, possibly the connection between the button and the board or the connection between the PSU and the board.

If all that checked out next I'd give the the video card the hairy eyeball. It helps to have a few spare parts floating around to test with, or another machine you can temporarily cannibalize.

glottis8 · Aug 2011

When i had issues with my PC, i tend to go to PC Gamers forum... people there tend to narrow things down a lot faster and a lot of people there have more insight on the symptoms what they could be. I recommend that place.

greevar · Aug 2011

Your PC needs three things to get to a POST screen: CPU, RAM, and video. If any of those things are missing or failing, you won't even get to POST. I'm leaning towards the CPU since that typically results in a failed POST most often. It would be more enlightening if you had an internal speaker to get a POST beep code. It would tell you definitively which component is failing.

You may be able to eliminate the GPU as a suspect if you pull the card and scour it for any burn marks or melted parts that might indicate damage. You could also put it in a working PC and see if it works there.

It could just as easily be a voltage problem with the CPU. If the voltage is too low, it can intermittently fail to POST. Increasing the voltage may solve it, but you're better off looking into a new PSU, a new motherboard, or both.

notman · Aug 2011

It sounds like an issue I had recently, with my power supply. Like Greevar just mentioned, you may need to replace it. If you know a way to borrow one, I suggest a quick swap in to see if it will work.

Doughnut Bear · Aug 2011

sounds like a power supply issue to me, it happened to me were it would take many many times to get to boot and occasionally bsod's and i ended up getting a new psu which solved the problem

Computer problems... Need help!

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