Computer problem. Help + reps!

Hey peoples,

So my computer is not bootin up, or screen commin on.
I built it myself 2 years ago and have 1 problem since which was hd & graphics card fail.

So, can people in the know ask me some questions to try to pin point what the problem is..


Peace.

clear your CMOS on your MOBO... remove the little battery, and replace it after about 10 seconds... this manually resets your bios to default settings if you fucked with any settings recently


that or tap f8 when its trying to boot to start in safe mode...


other than that you need to be more specific.


If your computer was working for a while, and now it isn't (1-2 years)... you could be looking at a hard drive failure... your hard drive contains your operating system...... and if it isn't working right then neither will your O/S... some *bad* hard drives may fail after a year or two. Oh the woes of hard drives.

I see a lot of problems with power supplys dying, and graphics cards. could be your monitor also. start with the easy fix first, try a diff monitor, then maybe a diff power supply etc etc etc. Check you memory sticks, test all connections just make sure they are all snug.

This is all after you try SR Verde's suggestion.

Yeah just lost a 500Gig Hard drive in my laptop. fukr was only a year old. lost so much stuff, bout 75% of my music collection, Pictures, Im still in mourning......

If this doesnt work, make it sit in a corner for 3 min every year youv had it.

Well peep, she was working 2 months ago, then i switched her on last sundayand nothing, Cpu making noise but not the noise im use to.

The monitor doesn't turn on, which i know is working.
The graphics card and hd are new, 5 months old.
both did die once before, so replaced them.

The graphics card hasn't even ran a ame yet and the hd is almost empty. Both are good makes too.

Any other sugestions please,

may be stupid, but if your CPU heat sink is plugged with dust, it will over heat and shut off or restart constantly. Im assuming thats not your problem cuz you say it wont fire up at all.
For shits n giggles, did u try plugging your monitor into your MOBO monitor port instead of the graphics card?

My mobo doesnt have a port, you need the graphics card.

Maybe it take everything out of her, dust and place back in.

I dont understand it, the last time i used her she was great, left her for 6 weeks and now this..

is it actually booting... as in do you see your bios run

or is it failing when trying to run windows...... be specific about your problems if you want specific answers

"not working" could be 1,000,000 things.

what brand/model mobo... what brand hard drives, what brand graphics cards... etc.

Sr. Verde said:

is it actually booting... as in do you see your bios run

or is it failing when trying to run windows...... be specific about your problems if you want specific answers

"not working" could be 1,000,000 things.

Click to expand...

^^^This.

Sorry dude, we are trying to help. Its Sat Morning, my rugrats are sleeping in, im stoned, haven a coffee. Hope you get her workin, I hate it when that happens...

Go to another comp and download a copy of Ubuntu www.ubuntu.com Burn that to CD, and boot your comp with that disk in the cd/dvd drive. It will give you the option of running it as a "live CD", select that option. If it boots, your OS is corrupt. At this point you will be able to access/salvage any info on the hard drive. You may have to re-install an OS (I'd recommend shitcanning Windows, and keeping UBUNTU) unless you have your original Windows CD to run a repair.

Jack Harer said:

Go to another comp and download a copy of Ubuntu www.ubuntu.com Burn that to CD, and boot your comp with that disk in the cd/dvd drive. It will give you the option of running it as a "live CD", select that option. If it boots, your OS is corrupt. At this point you will be able to access/salvage any info on the hard drive. You may have to re-install an OS (I'd recommend keeping UBUNTU) unless you have your original Windows CD to run a repair.

Click to expand...

Yeah that works OK.


IF you don't give a shit about ANYTHING that was on your computer before .... pictures... music... files.... if you don't care about those you can wipe your HDD and re install an OS..


IF your computer actually can run bios were not sure if thats even the case for the op

Sr. Verde said:

Yeah that works OK.


IF you don't give a shit about ANYTHING that was on your computer before .... pictures... music... files.... if you don't care about those you can wipe your HDD and re install an OS..


IF your computer actually can run bios were not sure if thats even the case for the op

Click to expand...

I had basically the exact same scenario, BIOS/POST came up, but no-go on the OS booting. I booted with a linux Live CD and got into the computer, at which time I was able to connect an external HD and transfer the contents of the computers HD to that external. You can even make a complete back up of Windows. Where do you get that you'll arbitrarily LOSE all info?? Sure, if you just install a new OS over the old, but do you have any idea what a "live CD" is?? You run an OS off the CD rather than wiping the old one.

maybe the hard drive has failed again. have you tried booting from another drive? i have drives around my house so i can swap a new one in and see if it's dead. one of my computers has a powersupply issue and that doesn't gt any power at all so this doesn't sound the same. it could b video card but there's really no way to know unless you have another card to put in and see if it works. you could go buy a cheap one and return it if it doesn't fix the problem.

Try the easiest fix first. Process of elimination.

for about 20 bucks you can get a usb adapter to plug in any hard drive to your usb port. I have kept a few old HD around just for when I got my cable. best 20 bucks I spent.

You can get a 1 terrabyte external (USB 2.0) for around $60, less than a TB for a lot less. I got a Seagate free-agent 2 TB for $99 at Office Depot. They will automatically back up your HD. Because of that feature, I still have most of my pre-bust grow pics!!!

I see a 3TB one at tigerdirect, for 130$ that I really want to pick up.

You won't regret the move. I thought it was just a luxury when I bought it, but that auto back-up saved my pics that the "wife" deleted.
Back to OP's problem, over 75% of all comps that get brought to me for boot up issues are caused by a corrupt OS. I hate Windows.

ok people, UPDATE!

So as said before, the computer start, but doesnt sound like she usually did before. noise not as loud and NO PEEPS and the screen still doesnt boot up.

So i have been the my local pc world and they checked the HD and that is working fine, so i brought a new graphics card in the hope that it was that causing the problem, BUT NOTHING!!! same as before.

All that is left is my memorey and pentium chip and mobo?

Does this help peeps?

+reps

Do you not get ANYTHING when you power up? No BIOS screen?