Computer won't boot...Hardware issue?

[jubalskeiki]

My mother got a Compaq Presario NS1500NX a few months ago. I recently got a phone call from my parents saying it is having problems. It started with making the noise the computer makes if you hold a keydown too long and now it won't boot into windows at all. I have tried 3 or 4 different keyboards, both PS2 and USB. I can't even get the BIOS to accept input from the keyboard. This sounds like a hardware issue to me. We still have a compaq warranty, but we live in Hawaii and so sending it off to be repaired would be an expensive thing, not to mention time consuming. I would like to do that as a last resort. Is there something I can try before I ship it off for a month?

 

[HaMMerHeD]

Since the problem happens before any software is loaded, it is most likely a hardware problem. The only other possibility is that it is a firmware problem, but since it wont take input from the keyboard, it is effectively a hardware problem.