PC Boot Problem

[mambilla]

I have looked online and in the forums for anything that could answer my question about this problem I have, but to no avail. I am fixing up, or trying to, my friend's whacked PC. It's not of any select brand; it was custom made.
It stopped working for him after, what he thinks, may have been a virus attack. He told me that he got a virus warning every night. He and his brother are Lao-Americans, and his brother downloads virus laden songs and other things all the time.
About a year ago the computer stopped working and when he brought it over to my house recently and I looked through it for any problems or unplugged cables. I plugged all the power cables in and connected the necessary peripherals for booting, and when I observed it, I noticed that the first time we turned it on, the computer booted up and a BIOS type screen came up. I wasn't sure what the screen was asking and all of the stuff was unfamiliar. It had gone into this screen automatically after the boot instead of booting normally and giving me the option of going into BIOS. I was going through the screen and choosing options and I decided that it would be best to find some information for the problem online. After I had been looking away from the monitor for about five minutes, I noticed that it had returned to its usual state: the monitor power is on, the monitor power light is blinking, the red light stays on constantly, all of the drives are unresponsive (floppy and cd), the keyboard lights stay on (all 3) when the PC is started up, the monitor is unresponsive to mouse and keyboard action, and everything seems to be running normally otherwise.
I bought a 30 Maxtor Diamond Pro 8 Hard Drive for the computer today, thinking that a virus was the problem and that it had completely ruined the old hard drive. I installed it following all the instructions, adding in the new cable, and placing the jumper into the Master position. I made sure that the cd rom drive was in the slave position as well. After fiddling with the thing, I find that it does the exact same thing as it did with the old HD. The red light stays on and everything is unresponsive. Can anyone help me with this? I am confused since, to both my friend's and my surprise, the computer booted up somewhat the first time I powered it on. I am fixing this computer as a partial birthday present for my friend, and I'd like to get this thing up and running as soon as possible. Thanks a lot for any help you can provide.

 

[BadBigBen]

Clear CMOS firstly, either by jumper or by removing the battery... replace CMOS battery with a fresh new one...

Check the MoBo's manufaturers Internetsite for a BIOS update... reflash the BIOS if the Clearing of the CMOS didn't work proberly...

check that all connectors are seated correctly...

unplug all RAM and reseat them... clean if necessary...

unplug all CARDS and reseat them... clean if nessary...

information: not all BIOS look alike...

Pleez post information on the System...

i.e. Mobo make and type, RAMs, CPU, cards, etc... everything that is usfull... that way it can be narrowed down to the problems...

Ben

 

[mambilla]

I tried the Ctrl-Alt-F-G method and that did nothing; still have unresponsive keyboard so I don't think anything would the keyboard would do any good anyway. My brother said that the red light meant that it was attemping to process with the HD, but I don't know.

ABout the system. WHat I know for certain is that the casing and perhaps the motherboard were originally intended to be used as/with a server or one of a mass of servers.

The apparratus is equipped with a two Pentium P3 processors. Apparrently the sound card has been removed. The Video Card is a Quantum 3 Voodoo 3 3500. RAM: 2 Crucial PC100-222-620 MT99350 s of undisclosed capacity, 1 INT PC-100-222-320 of 128 MB , & 1 Corsair PC-100-322-6120 RAM chip of undisclosed capacity.

The old HD was a Quantum Fireball lct 10. The new HD is a Maxtor 30 GB, 7200 rpm, Ultra ATA/133.

The power supply is a TK Power. The model is PRM400.

There is a label on the motherboard saying that, by the FCC, it is an Intel Type L440GX for home or office use.


The computer was custom assembled/made for my friend's family, at most, 2 years ago.

 

[mambilla]

I cleared the CMOS, or did what should have cleared it I think, by both removing and putting back in the battery, and changing the jumper.

How can I reflash the CMOS or go the the internet site if I can't even access the computer or the drives in it? The cd-rom drive doesn't even respond when its buttons are pushed.

I've checked all the connectors and they all seem to be seated properly. Problem remains.

I unplugged and checked the RAM and they seemed to be fine and seated properly. Problem remains.

I unplugged the video card and placed it in another PCI slot, as I did before. Problem Remains.

 

[mambilla]

Oh, and I also forgot, I also have the Boot Jumper set to Recovery Boot.

 

[BadBigBen]

Mambillia,

Firstly I would try an new PSU (power supply), it sounds almost as if the old one just barely provides enough juice to light up the system...

Remove the jumper from the Recovery Boot (or set it back to Normal)... Boot it from there...

if this fails strip PC down to barebones... MoBo, Videocard, one stick of Mem, one Processor, just HD and FD... remove any front panel connectors except HD light and Powerswitch and try this...

there is a possibility that the CD is damaged and could make the system hang (possibly could also be jumpered wrong)... another possibility is that one of the PIII CPUs is damaged and hangs the system...

I am not up to date on Dual Processor MoBos...

Ben

 

[mambilla]

ok. today i read in a computer magazine on their method of how to "custom build your own computer." They suggested doing all of the bare bone, necessary things and attempting to run the computer from there. In order to attempt this, I have removed ALL drives (cd, floppy, Hard), removed one of the two P3 processors, the video card, and 3 of the 4 memory chips. The magazine article said that you could do this to test the computer and go through the BIOS setup and that's it. Well, I have done this, and still there is no monitor reaction, and no keyboard reaction (all 3 of the keyboar lights stay lit after powering on). I have not yet tried the new power source method, but the power sources that I have found are no less than 60 dollars, which - after buying a new HD as well as some other things from CompUSA - is not on my budget. I would consider using another power supply from another computer in this household, but it would be arduous work (taking out, putting in, taking out and putting back in the original again) and would make a mess. My small room is already taken over by this endeavor. Any additional help that can be provided would be great. Thank you very much for the help thus far. May we have better luck in the near future.

 

[mambilla]

Ok. Yesterday I tried the power source idea. I found that the computer would run with no auxilliary power and no fan hookup (although those were originally hooked up). I tried hooking up a power source from a 1995 Sony Vaio Desktop into the computer, but it wouldn't turn on. The power source idea is the biggest lead I have into why the thing won't work. Reasons for this decision: the monitor and keyboard worked initially on being turned on after many months of inactivity. I think that the power source could have held a slight charge or something of that nature after all that time and as a result was able to power up the system properly. My reason for coming to this conclusion is that the monitor and keyboard were responsive for about the first five minutes of activity, and then when I went back to it I noticed that the monitor was blank. I figured that this could be the only reason why the computer, without any disturbance of the internal components, could work one moment and not the next.
I am confused, I must say, as to why the power source from the Vaio did not power the system AT ALL; the power source has about half the Amp input as the original power source in the system I am trying to recover, but I would think that it would at least enable the system to be turned on. The Volt intake and production is identical between the two power units, but the amp intake and output is far lesser (around half overrall) in the Sony Vaio power box in comparison to the original power source in the system I am attempting to fix. Any additional help or opinions on the matter would be great. Thanks.

 

[BadBigBen]

Hi,

Firstly let me excuse myself for not responding earlier... Easter and all kept me a bit busy...

look a PSU could put out enough juice to power the fans and nothing else... ergo it is busted but seems to function which will lead people into thinking that the PSU is working wilst it is not...

when you go barebone on a system, you should take the MoBo out of the case, plug the videocard in, plug in the Keyboard and Mouse, one CPU and one stick of mem, attach the HD to the primary IDE... last plug in the PSU... either attach the Powerswitch to the correct jumper or shorten the jumper for powering on the MoBo...

if it starts... press DEL to enter Setup (BIOS) load the default Values (usually F5), safe on exit... and reboot... and go from there...

if the MoBo doesn't fire up... recheck all of your connection... or replace the PSU with another one that you can optain with around 300w (the more the better)...

let me know what happens thereafter...

greets Ben

 

[HKinNYC]

In the mean time, I would check the other components by putting them into another system to see if they all work correctly to narrow down any problems with the individual components.

If the memory, HD, vid card and so forth works on another system, than it could be the motherboard that is bad.

Make sure the HD is slave to a primiarly drive, so as to not execute any existing virus on the HD.