Lights on, nobody home.

Funkyb

Simple
Joined
21 Feb 2003
Messages
82
My father in law, bless him has buggered his computer. You switch the power on, the fans kick in, the lights on the keyboard flash but thats it. No POST beep and I cannot get into the bios screen.
I have reset the CMOS by use of the jumper pins. I have checked the connections to the HD, floppy, CD, memory, even had a look at the processor but nothing looks out of place or burnt out.
I know I am being vague on the specifiations of the machine but its a Pentium 800mhz, graphics and sound built in 1x256mb 133mhz memory.
Where else can I look to find the fault. I don't want to have to resort to taking it to PC World if I have to!
 
no beep means something is shroting or the cpu is dead.

However the obvious tings I always miss iuntil I've tried evertging else include, loose powerplug somewher, loose ide cable, reset buton stuck in and damaged cable causing a short.

Take another look and also if possible try an alternative PSU if you have any compatible laying around.
 
take out all PCI cards and disconnect all unnecessary cables.. including IDE cables--you don't need them to reach POST. basically, just have the power supply plugged into the board and the video cable going to the monitor and see if it will post. if so, plug one thing in an try again. repeat until you find the problem component.

if you can't get it to post at all, it's probably a fried mobo or processor.
 
sounds more like a dead PSU then a dead CPU. I have had this exact same thing happen. Turn on no beeps but all the fans spun and lights worked. It was the PSU. Try swapping that.
 
Would never have thought of the PSU. I thought that if power was getting to the fans the it was OK. Its one of those odd things, I happen to have a spare PSU just floating about so I will give it a go. Will also try disconnecting everything but the monitor and see what happens. Will not be able to try until the weekend. Wish me luck because my father in law thinks I know what I am doing :-D
 
If the PSU was dead, nothing would work.

If it is a faulty connection or something, thats another story.

Disconnecting everything allows you to basically go through and check and see if everything indeed is working properly and when you connect back one at a time you can isolate the problem.

No POST could be one of a number of things but let us know how the step by step works out for you and if you notice anything peculiar going on.
 
Sazar said:
If the PSU was dead, nothing would work.

I have to disagree with that. Because i have seen a bad PSU on a computer. I was hitting the power button and the pc did nothing but spin up the fans. I took everything out, even ran the computer out of the case to ensure nothing is grounding out. After a while i changed the CPU and ram. Nothing solved it. I then changed the PSU and it solved it. So a bad PSU can casue this exact problem to occur, as i have seen it first hand.
 
Now then, it was the pcu, as I am sure you all do, I hade a spare just floating around. Wired it up and bingo. Jobs a good one.
 
Sazar said:
If the PSU was dead, nothing would work.

If it is a faulty connection or something, thats another story.

Disconnecting everything allows you to basically go through and check and see if everything indeed is working properly and when you connect back one at a time you can isolate the problem.

No POST could be one of a number of things but let us know how the step by step works out for you and if you notice anything peculiar going on.

Owned.
 
celticfan11 said:
sounds more like a dead PSU then a dead CPU. I have had this exact same thing happen. Turn on no beeps but all the fans spun and lights worked. It was the PSU. Try swapping that.

unowned?
 

Members online

No members online now.

Latest profile posts

Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
Any of the SP crew still out there?
Xie wrote on Electronic Punk's profile.
Impressed you have kept this alive this long EP! So many sites have come and gone. :(

Just did some crude math and I apparently joined almost 18yrs ago, how is that possible???
hello peeps... is been some time since i last came here.
Electronic Punk wrote on Sazar's profile.
Rest in peace my friend, been trying to find you and finally did in the worst way imaginable.

Forum statistics

Threads
62,015
Messages
673,494
Members
5,621
Latest member
naeemsafi
Back