Startup Problems - Can't Access BIOS

[csxkidd]

Hi,
This is going to be kind of lengthy, but I seriously need some help before I pull my hair out, lol.

I have a Compaq s4020wm. It has an AMD Athlon 2400Mhz processor. I started having problems a few months ago and asked some questions in the forum and was told that it was probably my motherboard, so I got a new one and am still having the same problems.

It all started with my PC not wanting to start up. I would turn it on and nothing would happen. I could tell nothing was loading in the PC and my display wouldn't even light up and I couldn't even access the BIOS. I would keep turning the PC off and back on and finally it would attempt to load Windows, but would hang up while the little scroll bar was going back and forth right before Windows would startup. I would keep turning it off each time that it froze and finally, after about 20 attempts it would come on and stay on and work fine for as long as the PC was on.

While it was on and working, I ran tests on everything from the hard drives to the motherboard, the memory, processor and everything that I could test and it all came back fine. But once the PC was powered down, it would have to go through the same process of slowly doing a little better each time it was started up.

I tried a new PSU, resetting the CMOS and replacing the battery and that didn't help. Now I've bought a motherboard(all of this stuff is pretty cheap for this computer, and I'm giving it to my mother in law because it's actually a good PC) and it is doing the exact same thing.

When I power on the computer, the fan will come on, but nothing loads and my monitor will not even come out of sleep mode to acknowledge that it's hooked up to something. It's the exact same thing as before, except now it doesn't matter how many times I try to start it up, it will go nowhere.

Will a new processor fix me? I can get them off of Ebay all day for about $25. I don't want to give up on the computer if it's something I can fix cheaply. I have a Gig of RAM in it and it's super fast to be 4 years old. The motherboard I bought is a perfect match. I got some advice from this site also on which one to get. I don't know what else to replace except the processor.

Thanks for you guys time.

 

[BadBigBen]

If a piece of equipment had given me this amount of headaches I would have sold it on eBay and be rid of it...

check all the capacitors for bulging or leakage...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

check out the above article, it will tell you what to look for (both mainboard and GFX card)...

but if you wish to try it, then go ahead and get that processor and try it, all you loose is the 25 bucks if it isn't the problem...

the case could be shorting things out, so try it on a table top (non conductive surface, e.g. cardboard box)...



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[G0AOZ]

Is the new PSU you tried, man enough for the job? With problems like this, it's always a good idea to try it with a PSU of a greater Wattage rating than the original.

Do you get the same startup problems when EVERYTHING except video card (if not on-board) is completely disconnected?

Do as BadBigBen suggested and try firing up the motherboard out of the case.

ROGER - G0AOZ.