hi i am runnig Millenium edition on a pc pc and it wont boot. there is no beep on boot up,which there was previously and literally nothing displayed on the monitor, its as if its off. It is not off however and i have tested it ok with another pc. There is power to the hard drive and the cpu fan spins up. power light button comes on and hard drive light eluminates as it shuld. Also ram is seated fine and has not been changed recently. i think this is probably the motherboard but i dont know. does anyone have any suggestions? thanks in advance.
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no beep at boot time, motherboard?
- Thread starter TheTMan
- Start date
Accessdabbler
Technical User
Try booting with NO ram. You should get a bunch of beeps. If you don't the problem is probably with the CPU or motherboard (what brand of motherboard? Have you inspected it for swollen or burst capacitors?).
If you do get a bunch of beeps, try putting in 1 stick of RAM. Does it work?
If you do get a bunch of beeps, try putting in 1 stick of RAM. Does it work?
- Thread starter
- #4
thanks for input folks,tried booting with no ram, got a bunch of beeps, does that mean it cant be the motherboard???? tried both slots of ram in dimm slot 0, and the original problem persistts. What i have noticed though is that occasionally i start to get the begining of a boot that appears on the vdu- ie the packard bell logo but that is as far as it gets. this seems to cooincide with the lights flashing on the dvd. when it doesnt work there are no lights on the dvd and i cant open it. I have examined dvd and aswell as power supply to dvd and IDE cable there is another small cable which plugs into a four pronged plug on back of dvd next to the jumpers. thsi cable plugs directly into the motherboard. I have taken the power supply cable fromthe hard drive which is spinning up and swapped with dvd power cable, problem persists. Have tried another dvd player, no change. MOBO looks ok no swelling or discoloration on capacitors. have i ruled anything out yet, or could it be the graphics card or motherboard still. I am not quite sure what my next step is???
any input would be gratefull.
thanks again
any input would be gratefull.
thanks again
I wouldnt be concerned about the dvd, just because the lights flash,but you could just disconnect the dvd and tyr it that way.
If the problem persists, then perhaps you might think about re-setting the cmos. Do you know how to do this?
Do you have a manual for your mobo?
Sounds like you have an old Packard Bell computer, perhaps a pentium 2 400, 350, 300? or a celeron?
If the problem persists, then perhaps you might think about re-setting the cmos. Do you know how to do this?
Do you have a manual for your mobo?
Sounds like you have an old Packard Bell computer, perhaps a pentium 2 400, 350, 300? or a celeron?
- Thread starter
- #6
no manual for mobo, and dont know what make and model, not obvious, must be written on the back. its an old packard bell imedio, i waas trying to see cpu but cant get heat sink off to see.
by resetting the cmos, i think you mean either to take the battery out or the cmos chip out and then replace. is this correct?????
ive tried with dvd disconected and problem is the same.
any input is greatly apreciated.
T.
by resetting the cmos, i think you mean either to take the battery out or the cmos chip out and then replace. is this correct?????
ive tried with dvd disconected and problem is the same.
any input is greatly apreciated.
T.
- Thread starter
- #8
ok, sorry, its not too important as to which cpu it is anyway, and i forgot, you are running win me.
Okay, do you know how to get into your bios?
when you boot you keep pressing the "del" key fairly quickly until the bios comes up.
See if you can do that.
Okay, do you know how to get into your bios?
when you boot you keep pressing the "del" key fairly quickly until the bios comes up.
See if you can do that.
- Thread starter
- #10
hello gaerbo, sorry for time to reply, been working. I am unable to get into the bios due to the original problem. IE. when i boot, 9 times out of ten, literally nothing happens. Nothing on monitor its as if its sleeping, but i know that monitor is fine and it has an independent power source. this is why i inititially thought it would be the graphics card, but then i thought that it would still boot & (beep)without a vga adapter. This is what then made me think it was the motherboard, but i still dont know what i am dealing with here. I have tried to get into bios and also to boot to floppy nothing happens, and i cant get into bios to see if floppy is first boot device or not. There is power to the HDD and its spins up when power button pushed, also cpu fan spins, but no beeps and nothing on vdu. occasionally i start to get packard bell sign but this is only for split second and then nothing happens. That said i havent reset the cmos as you advised yet, should i remove both the batterey and the chip itself or just the battery.
thanks again.
T
thanks again.
T
If i recall, back in the day of those Packard Bell, i am pretty certain this is what you have to do.
Find the spot on the mobo that says CMOS. It will have 3 pins with one jumper on it. The jumper will be on pins 1 and 2. Move the jumper so its now on pins 2 and 3.
I believe you leave the battery in and reboot.
Then when that happens you can try to get into the bios, i believe you press "delete" button, but it could be another button, it says so if you get to the first screen after the packard bell insignia.
But if you cant get into the bios, then go ahead, move the jumper like i said, turn the computer off and then back on, see what happens. Then turn it off again.
Then go back and move the jumper back to where it was before. Then try and boot. If nothing, turn off and try and boot and try and get into bios (cmos) again by pressing delete key. If that doesnt work then turn off and on again and try the F1 key instead of the delete key, if that fails try the F3 key, or the F6 key, or the esc key, or the space bar, or the enter key.
If all this fails, then go back to the beginning and do what i said about the jumper, moving it to pins 2 and 3 from pins 1 and 2 where they start out from.
But this time, take out the battery, and then repeat all the steps above, trying the delete key, F1 key, etc, etc.
Sometimes the password is set on these and this re-set of the bios clears the password if there was one.
Let us know how you make out.
Find the spot on the mobo that says CMOS. It will have 3 pins with one jumper on it. The jumper will be on pins 1 and 2. Move the jumper so its now on pins 2 and 3.
I believe you leave the battery in and reboot.
Then when that happens you can try to get into the bios, i believe you press "delete" button, but it could be another button, it says so if you get to the first screen after the packard bell insignia.
But if you cant get into the bios, then go ahead, move the jumper like i said, turn the computer off and then back on, see what happens. Then turn it off again.
Then go back and move the jumper back to where it was before. Then try and boot. If nothing, turn off and try and boot and try and get into bios (cmos) again by pressing delete key. If that doesnt work then turn off and on again and try the F1 key instead of the delete key, if that fails try the F3 key, or the F6 key, or the esc key, or the space bar, or the enter key.
If all this fails, then go back to the beginning and do what i said about the jumper, moving it to pins 2 and 3 from pins 1 and 2 where they start out from.
But this time, take out the battery, and then repeat all the steps above, trying the delete key, F1 key, etc, etc.
Sometimes the password is set on these and this re-set of the bios clears the password if there was one.
Let us know how you make out.
- Thread starter
- #12
hello,
locted two jumpers near the cmos chip, one with three prongs and one with four prongs. So tried the three pronged one. When i placed jumper ofver pins 2 and 3, the pc would not boot at all. ther was no power to anything. replaced jumper onto pins 1 and 2 and rebooted this is the furthest i have got - pc beeped went to pack bell screen and then went into ameican megatrends screen before going blank. before it went blank there was a pres f2 for setup type message and i noticed under that there was an error message about an invalid cmos checksum, then it went blank again. tried booting six times with delete, f2, etc. removed battery tried again f2 etc nothing. same problem blank screen no beep. There is no power to pc whn jumper is on pins 2 and 3 wether battery is in or out.......i am starting to loose the plot ;-) i still dont knowwhat the problem is..please help
locted two jumpers near the cmos chip, one with three prongs and one with four prongs. So tried the three pronged one. When i placed jumper ofver pins 2 and 3, the pc would not boot at all. ther was no power to anything. replaced jumper onto pins 1 and 2 and rebooted this is the furthest i have got - pc beeped went to pack bell screen and then went into ameican megatrends screen before going blank. before it went blank there was a pres f2 for setup type message and i noticed under that there was an error message about an invalid cmos checksum, then it went blank again. tried booting six times with delete, f2, etc. removed battery tried again f2 etc nothing. same problem blank screen no beep. There is no power to pc whn jumper is on pins 2 and 3 wether battery is in or out.......i am starting to loose the plot ;-) i still dont knowwhat the problem is..please help
Hello TheTMan,
Disconnect all your drives and remove all your cards except for the video. Power up with just cpu,video and memory. If the problem still persists then I would suspect bad power supply or mobo. If you video card is an add on then you might try it in a different slot or borrow one to rule it out. To clear the cmos, just pull the battery out for about 1 minute.
Disconnect all your drives and remove all your cards except for the video. Power up with just cpu,video and memory. If the problem still persists then I would suspect bad power supply or mobo. If you video card is an add on then you might try it in a different slot or borrow one to rule it out. To clear the cmos, just pull the battery out for about 1 minute.
- Thread starter
- #16
THETMAN stated:
cheers for input, yes it was f2 as you stipulate
I take that to mean he was able to access the bios already, so the bios is good and we know that.
So,TheTMan, let us know when you boot it up and get into the bios, we can take it from there and get you all fixed up!
cheers for input, yes it was f2 as you stipulate
I take that to mean he was able to access the bios already, so the bios is good and we know that.
So,TheTMan, let us know when you boot it up and get into the bios, we can take it from there and get you all fixed up!
- Thread starter
- #20
garebo, sorry i didnt make myself clear, as yet i ahve been unable to get into the bios. I was merely pointing out that i was pressing the f (function keys) and not the f key followed by a 2 or 3. I have yet to try the last ffew suggestions but i will update as soon as i havve done this. once again thanks for all the input....... iam now off to bed.
t
t
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