System Never Fully Boots Up

[JWK]

Hi,

My friend, in another country, needs help with his computer. I'm trying to help him out by posting here. This is what is happening:

"You turn it on, all the fans start up, LED's come on but nothing else, the screen doesn't get the signal to come on, the hard drive light doesn't look like it's doing anything."

Does it beep on bootup?

"No beeps, nothing"

I've asked whether he did something to his PC, after which, it stopped working but haven't had a reply yet. I know he was having problems after installing SP2 for XP Home. I know the CPU & Graphics card are reasonably new. He had power supply problems when fitting these but the new power supply seems to be ok.

Would some one please tell me what could be wrong or what tests/info are needed. I don't know the full spec but what I do know I've listed below.

Thanks for any help. Sorry if this isn't really the right board but I couldn't find a 'general system problems' one.

Ape

Spec:
Gigabyte GA7DXR
AMD XP2400+
Powercolor 9800 Pro
512 PC2100 RAM
Win XP Home + SP2

 

[endyen]

Does it shut itself off? Time to try the old back to basics routine. See if it will start with cpu, hsf, mobo, ram, graphics card, psu. Nothing else for the first time. Then add one thing at a time, until it fails.

 

[Chemical]

Hey

the thing that pounders me is that the system isnt even beeping it should beep atleast a once. If he feels comfortable ask him to take of his HSF and check the pins on his cpu. I'm thinking it might be fried.

AthlonXP 2500+ Clocked To 3200+
Sapphire 9800 Pro 128MB
Asus A7V600
Maxtor 120Gig SATA 8MB Cache
1 Gig Crucial Ram (PC3200)
SB Audigy LS
Logitech Z-650 Speakers

 

[JWK]

I will ask him. I presume motherboards only beep when there is a problem as I know mine never beeps normally. Not being funny but is it an easily audible beep or very faint? I presume it's from an onboard speaker.

 

[skinnyjoint]

hey chemical i notcied you had a 2500 clocked to a 3200 what are your temps and what hsf do you have i did that with my 2500 but it was running a lil warmer than i wanted it to. i dont mean to hijack this thread i am just curious

 

[MaximumGoat]

i had similar problem, turned out to be last thing i thought; it was the power supply, if one of the rails has gone then the computer can do what you have described

.

 

[Chemical]

Hey Skinnyjoint well it depends on how hot it is in my house =P. But when im just surfing the net and stuff its around 35-39C and when im playing games it jumps to around 43-47C again it depends on how hot it is in my room. During the winter i keep my window open and just put a sweater on hehe. I am using a Thermaltake K7 Volcano 11+ Xaser Edition I keep my fan max at all times it's a little noisy but megh who cares its speed is at 4891 and also i have 3 intake fans, 3 output fans and in intake fan on my powersupply.

AthlonXP 2500+ Clocked To 3200+
Sapphire 9800 Pro 128MB
Asus A7V600
Maxtor 120Gig SATA 8MB Cache
1 Gig Crucial Ram (PC3200)
SB Audigy LS
Logitech Z-650 Speakers

 

[skinnyjoint]

hmmm well im around 50 c i think i always lose track of c but it stays around 100 to 105 f. newayz i run a thermaltake silent boost. and i dont know i just think my chip should be running cooler but i thought i would compare with you i only have 2 intake fans and 2 exhaust fans. also you got the saphire 9800 you like it? i was thinking of getting one ive been an nvidia fan for a while but there pissing me off so i was going to get a 9800 pro thought saphire might be a good choice let me know what ya think. thx man

 

[Crashman]

I've seen a lot of systems act that way when the IDE cable is reversed.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[JWK]

Well, the PC didn't shut down, it just sat there. So, my friend had to take it to a shop & they changed bits until it worked. It was a piece of bad RAM.

I didn't know RAM could go bad. I know he has had it for about 3 years.

Anyway, just wanted to thank you all for your help & post the solution incase anyone else gets a similar problem.

Ape

 

[Crashman]

I've seen RAM go bad. I've seen it go bad from heat cycles, where it develops cracked circuits that open whenever the system warms up. That can happen over years of use.

I've also seen RAM damaged from bad capacitors on the motherboard. And from power surges.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>