Computer wont boot up...Help.

D

DannyGT

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 12, 2004
Messages
177
I was just playing some WoW before I decided to hit the gym, and an hour and a half later when I came back I noticed my HDD light was solid. When I went to go move the mouse, no response. So I powered off the box and then back on...Now all I get is a solid power and HDD light and nothing happens...I cant get to bios. I cant get to anything....just sits there...fans are all spining and nothing happens...

I bought a spare HDD because I already started to hear that HDD whine when they start to go...I was planning on cloning the hdd at work (cloning machine) this week and now this...I dont hear/feel the hdd turning on, but shouldnt I at least get into the bios ? I am willing to just quickly get it back up and running but even when I plug in the new hdd it still doesnt start....eveything turns on. But all i get it solid lights and nothing.

Please help

Thanks in advanced.
 
My first guess would be a bad power supply, but try the following:

-Boot with just the bare essentials installed. Mouse, keyboad, hard drive, one optical drive, floppy, video card.

-Clear CMOS.
 
Make sure everything (cables, IC's) are properly seated in their sockets. If you can't load up the BIOS, there's a problem. Try clearing the CMOS (should be a button or something to push), and see if that helps. You might also want to look at the components on the mobo, make sure none of the caps are bulging or leaking.

Also, a little more info on your system might help. Some hardware have known problems, so posting some more technical info would be of great help. :)
 
3.2E
P4P800E-Deluxe
1GB Hyper-X pc-4000
ATi x800XT


I did what the above poster said to do and disconneted some stuff...Suprising I did start to hear the HDD start spinning so that was a good sign. But again nothing, no loading what-so-ever. How would I clear the cmos on this mobo ?
 
Shot in the dark: usually, the CMOS is run by a watch battery. IME, taking that out for a couple minutes and putting it back in will clear the CMOS. Other than that, your user's manual should have some documentation on certain jumpers to set to clear the CMOS.

As for the startup problems: I'm going to guess on HDD failure. Either that, or an IDE cable was unplugged. Or perhaps the motherboard just died.

If you can, I would do some major troubleshooting.
 
I know the hdd was starting to go...so i just finished cloning it. Also, the PSU starting making some noises yesturday too, so I'm sure thats shot too...I'm going to buy a new PSU today after work so hopefully it didnt fry anything else.
 
I have this EXACT problem with the OP, was playing WoW too! My PC would just lock up, then I would have to hard restart it. At that time, my 2.4 was @3.0 250fsb with the mem running 1:1 @500mhz 2.5-7-4-4. So I ran memtest thru one loop and noticed 2 errors. No biggie, applied more voltage, didn't seem to help. So I reset everything back to its original speeds. Now, if I'm running something semi intensive, such as Folding@Home, my pc would lock up! Mind you, I have been running this setup for over 6 months now, (and I KNOW it can't be the PSU because my old antec couldn't power up my system and it would reboot on its own :O, so that was switched out for a PC Power and Cooling 510 which instantly took care of those probs I had.). My voltages are stable, nothing has been changed, no viruses/malware etc, my PC would just freeze and even thru continous reboots, it would freeze loading the desktop. God forbid I shut down, if I do that, I have the SAME EXACT prob with the OP as in I cannot make it to POST screen or the bios =/. I have to reset CMOS(even though nothing was changed in there) and continually reset over and over until I see the POST screen. I dont wanna think its my PSU, I've only had it a few months =( I'm thinking now that my system ran more stable OC'd. I'll run memtest on the stock mem speeds to see if my mem might be the prob.

system specs:
P4 2.4C
1gb OCZ EL DDR PC 4200<----mem ONLY RUNS AT MINIMUM 2.5-7-4-4. Nothing lower, at all, I wish I was BSing =/
2x36.7gb WD raptor raid0
2xmaxtor 300gb raid0
nvidia geforce6800gt@stock speeds
Epox 4PDA2+ 865pe
SB Audigy plat
Winfast tv tuner
plextor 708A
samsung generic dvd-rom
pioneer A08XL
DD w/ TDX block, rad, pump and rez
PC Power & Cooling 510 Deluxe
Antec P160 w/ 3 120mm case fans
 
Even if an IDE cable were unplugged, he could still get to the BIOS, right? It would let him in but just say "No primary master detected". Clearing CMOS should solve it. If not, unplug the power cable from the back and leave the CMOS battery out overnight, then replace it, sometimes they're odd and that may just work. Shot in the dark, like someone else said. :D
 
It definitly was the PSU -- swapped it out with a new 450watt one and plugged everything back up and boom it worked...Thanks for all the help guys...It looks like the old one didnt even have enough power to boot it up -- perhaps just enough to spin the fans...Not sure.

But it was definitly the psu.

anyway -- I'm happy now ! :D
 
Tenks said:
I have this EXACT problem with the OP, was playing WoW too! My PC would just lock up, then I would have to hard restart it. At that time, my 2.4 was @3.0 250fsb with the mem running 1:1 @500mhz 2.5-7-4-4. So I ran memtest thru one loop and noticed 2 errors. No biggie, applied more voltage, didn't seem to help. So I reset everything back to its original speeds. Now, if I'm running something semi intensive, such as Folding@Home, my pc would lock up! Mind you, I have been running this setup for over 6 months now, (and I KNOW it can't be the PSU because my old antec couldn't power up my system and it would reboot on its own :O, so that was switched out for a PC Power and Cooling 510 which instantly took care of those probs I had.). My voltages are stable, nothing has been changed, no viruses/malware etc, my PC would just freeze and even thru continous reboots, it would freeze loading the desktop. God forbid I shut down, if I do that, I have the SAME EXACT prob with the OP as in I cannot make it to POST screen or the bios =/. I have to reset CMOS(even though nothing was changed in there) and continually reset over and over until I see the POST screen. I dont wanna think its my PSU, I've only had it a few months =( I'm thinking now that my system ran more stable OC'd. I'll run memtest on the stock mem speeds to see if my mem might be the prob.

system specs:
P4 2.4C
1gb OCZ EL DDR PC 4200<----mem ONLY RUNS AT MINIMUM 2.5-7-4-4. Nothing lower, at all, I wish I was BSing =/
2x36.7gb WD raptor raid0
2xmaxtor 300gb raid0
nvidia geforce6800gt@stock speeds
Epox 4PDA2+ 865pe
SB Audigy plat
Winfast tv tuner
plextor 708A
samsung generic dvd-rom
pioneer A08XL
DD w/ TDX block, rad, pump and rez
PC Power & Cooling 510 Deluxe
Antec P160 w/ 3 120mm case fans
Click to expand...


If you get ANY errors running a memory test, then you're memory is bad. That's not even a 2nd thought kind of thing. If you're running it out of spec, dial it down a bit and run a memory test again.

I had some bad memory, but the bad part was up in the 900MB range, so I didn't notice it unless I was doing something very memory intensive - which Desert Combat turned out to be. RMA'd the bad DIMM, got a new one, and everything is peachy now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top