(okay, so I am Wilma Flintstone with a dinosaur)
6-7 year old Presario
AMD Athlon Proc.
14gig HD
W98/IE6
First - the mouse was "hijacked" (zipped across the screen then disappeared) so I cleaned it, but it wasn't really dirty
Then - the computer wouldn't allow me to do anything, not even ctrl-alt-del
I do a hard restart - starts to boot but doesn't.
All I get is the red "Compaq" screen that appears before Windows boots.
I opened up the computer and cleaned out the bunnies, plugged in and restarted - same thing.
I checked out the cables and found a split but had an open plug before it so I used that - same thing, so that wasn't it.
I have 2 fans and they run fine, overheating doesn't seem to be an issue either, though it may have had a hot moment, who's to know, I never noticed a "hot smell".
I removed my hard drive and placed it into our newer computer, plugging it into the slave port (it only had one available spot to plug it in, unlike my older one with many extra connections). I plugged in the power and started it. I booted up with my hard drive not with the newer drive (128 gigs, XP). But it booted up okay and I played with some of my programs - the ones I was on when it crashed. I didn't lose anything on the HD so that's ok.
So my questions are - would it be a cable, processor or mother board?
And how do I get the newer computer to boot in XP with my 98 HD in it and copy off my 6 gigs of needed graphics and material? I'm really good at backing things up, which is what I was preparing for when this happened (I am a graphics designer and was finishing a collection).
I would like to keep using this computer so much as it still runs or is cheap to fix. This is the first hardware failure I have had (other issues were caused between the keyboard and chair - sometimes me, sometimes kids). This computer has been a great buy although I get slammed for buying a Compaq. All computer companies have their lemons. I do notice that some things on the internet I can no longer get upgrades for or access, oh well, that's why we bought a new one. I can still make my graphics on this one and burn them to CD. So despite being antiquated, I want to keep using it if I can.
Thanks in advance for your time!
6-7 year old Presario
AMD Athlon Proc.
14gig HD
W98/IE6
First - the mouse was "hijacked" (zipped across the screen then disappeared) so I cleaned it, but it wasn't really dirty
Then - the computer wouldn't allow me to do anything, not even ctrl-alt-del
I do a hard restart - starts to boot but doesn't.
All I get is the red "Compaq" screen that appears before Windows boots.
I opened up the computer and cleaned out the bunnies, plugged in and restarted - same thing.
I checked out the cables and found a split but had an open plug before it so I used that - same thing, so that wasn't it.
I have 2 fans and they run fine, overheating doesn't seem to be an issue either, though it may have had a hot moment, who's to know, I never noticed a "hot smell".
I removed my hard drive and placed it into our newer computer, plugging it into the slave port (it only had one available spot to plug it in, unlike my older one with many extra connections). I plugged in the power and started it. I booted up with my hard drive not with the newer drive (128 gigs, XP). But it booted up okay and I played with some of my programs - the ones I was on when it crashed. I didn't lose anything on the HD so that's ok.
So my questions are - would it be a cable, processor or mother board?
And how do I get the newer computer to boot in XP with my 98 HD in it and copy off my 6 gigs of needed graphics and material? I'm really good at backing things up, which is what I was preparing for when this happened (I am a graphics designer and was finishing a collection).
I would like to keep using this computer so much as it still runs or is cheap to fix. This is the first hardware failure I have had (other issues were caused between the keyboard and chair - sometimes me, sometimes kids). This computer has been a great buy although I get slammed for buying a Compaq. All computer companies have their lemons. I do notice that some things on the internet I can no longer get upgrades for or access, oh well, that's why we bought a new one. I can still make my graphics on this one and burn them to CD. So despite being antiquated, I want to keep using it if I can.
Thanks in advance for your time!
