Pentium PC- Screen is Blank

[Guest]

I just purchased a new Athlon 1 GHz machine, but I've decided to keep my old PC as well. I have been upgrading the older PC off and on since 1990 (it was originally a 486!), so just about everything has been replaced. In its current configuration it has an EPOX P55-IT motherboard with 64M RAM, a Pentium 75MHz CPU, a Toshiba 3401 SCSI HD, a Pro Audio Studio sound card with an onboard SCSI controller, and a Diamond Stealth 64 Video card. Since I blew the budget on the Athlon, I didn't want to spend anything upgrading this old system. But I did want to at least upgrade the 28K modem to a 56K model. I researched most of the 56K modems and they all seemed to have a minumum required CPU speed in the 125-133 MHz range. So I decided to buy a 166 MHz CPU on Ebay (the EPOX motherboard documentation says the P55-IT will support a CPU up to 166 MHz). I pulled the old CPU out, put the new one in, put the old cooling fan back on, changed the motherboard jumpers according to the documentation, and booted the machine back up. Nothing but a blank screen. I tried putting the old CPU back in and changing the jumpers back to the original settings. Blank screen. It's not the monitor because I hooked up my new monitor, with the same result. I even went out and bought a new video card on Ebay. Blank screen. It won't even boot off a diskette. I can hear the SCSI HD make it's usual boot-up sounds, but the screen shows absolutely nothing. Could I have bumped a cable by accident? At this point I think it's the motherboard, which I really don't want to replace if possible. If anyone has any advice whatsoever I'd really appreciate it!

 

[Guest]

My friend had a similar problem, and it turned out to be the motherboard... Whenever you turn on the computer, do you hear a POST beep? If not, I think that is a pretty good indication it is a motherboard problem. Also, do any of your LEDs light up (i.e. HDD or PowerLED)? One other thing you may want to try (which was the problem with my friend's machine) is to replace the CMOS battery. It seems like an old machine and the battery might have died on it. I hope these suggestions help, good luck on your problem.

Joseph Stedler, MCSE
Systems Engineer/Network Administrator

 

[scarecrow]

Put the old cpu it and see if it boots. If it does write down the bios info and check out the manufactures web site to see if you have the latest bios version. The motherboard may support upto 166 but if it's an older bios that does not support upto 166 if won't work.
There should also be directions on there website on how to flash the bios.
Let us know how it works out.

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[scarecrow]

Sorry, I read your post again. Check to make sure everything is firmly in place. I've had a similar problem before when the the bios was not firmly in place. Are there any beeps upon boot? If so make a note of what it is like
beep-beep-beep, beep, beep, beep-beep-beep

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[Guest]

The battery is an idea which hadn't occurred to me... the internal clock HAD been losing more and more time recently, so maybe (hopefully!) that's the ticket... I've triple checked the CPU, cables, and cards, and everything seems to be in place. Can I get a battery at most computer stores, like CompUSA? Thanks for all the input!

 

[scarecrow]

You sure can. Just take it with you and match it up.

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[Guest]

Well, it's not the battery. And no beeps during boot-up....

 

[Guest]

Well, I'm sad to say if you put everything back into the machine the way it was before the upgrade, and it still doesn't work, then it probably is the motherboard... The CMOS battery was the only other thing I could think of. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

Joseph Stedler, MCSE
Systems Engineer/Network Administrator

 

[Guest]

Carefully, and make sure you earth yourself first, touch the chips on the board with your finger, I had a board that fried a chip, and the only way I could tell was when I touched the chip,it was so hot I burned my finger