Computer not booting

[swker98]

Hi guys, i got a compututer to fix, i plug it in it boots, but only the orange Harddrive stays lit but the power light is totally off, no post or beep or monitor display, and the keybnoard lights do not come on atall

the fans spin up, the light on the Mobo is lit green,

the only thing i know is thaht

its a 2 years old,
I think its a compaq
P4
2x?? of ram
300watt powersjupply,
a stand alone vid card

all connectors are connected

if you guys can help. ill be well apprecated,

thanks

 

[swker98]

update

switched out the cmos battery to reset it, no avail

then i unpluged the cd and dvd drive, i got the Intel screen (intel mobo), my dad hit the hard drive a few times, then it went to a ram cound, system counted 512 mb ram, when it finished counting it gave me 3 beeps and said system boot halted, system falure

here are the updated specs
its not a compaq as i thoght, its a custom biult, because its missing 6 standoffs and they told me it was


2ghz P4
2x256mb ddr ram
80gb Wd hard drive

the stangwe thing is i can only get into bios once, now i can only get it to count the ram and tell me a boot falure


thank you

 

[KingCody]

i don't understand how "6 missing standoffs" would indicate a custom built machine vs. a compaq.... but anyways...

sounds like you either have a bad hard drive or a dying power supply.

you need to find out who makes the mobo, then google for the beep codes to see what the problem is

also... tell your Dad not to "hit" the hard drive, if the hard drive is not broken, then hitting it will surely break it, a hard drive is a precision, delicate component, not an old TV

 

[swker98]

lol,

im gonna try running an oldhardrive that i know works to see if windows comes up, there really no way of knowing what model mobo i have, its an intel make but i cant see any model on it,

is it true WD has a 3 year warntey?
hitting the HD helped somehow because it seme to got it to spin up, strange indede,
good thing i have a spar psu and harddrive to test,

does it mean anything if the hard drive light is "stuck" on

well i knew Compaq woulnt miss all those standoffs snice most is done by mechine


ite
if anybody has any other ideas tell me

thanks

EDIT: just tried booting ansd it does the same thing as when i first got it, only the HD light is on, and all fans spin upbut no post

Edit again: i turned it off back on off back on off back on and i got it to POST and do a ram count
then i get the beep,beep.......beep, "boot falure:system haslted"

 

[Tedster]

reseat your cables, check your power connector. retry. if it still fails, swap out your drive with one that works. put the suspect drive as a slave and check it- if it fails then, you know that drive is bad.

 

[swker98]

update, i swaped out the HD, Psu and the psu cable, reset cmos tried both memeory sticks seportaly

i still get the same exact symtoms

If the comp has been off for a while i get the hdd light on stedy, fans spin up no power to the cd drives ttho, leve it like thatffor 2 minutes it fires up and i get the memeory cound the n the BEEP BEEP BEEP
BOOT FALUTRRE< SYSSTEM HAULTED

the boards an intel D845WN
p4 2.0
512mb ram
tried bothj 300 and 380 watt psu
can this be a bnad MOBO>
if you can help me

thank you

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Normally depending on the bios.

3 Beeps=Base 64K RAM failure

There is a failure of some sort within the first 64 KB of system memory.

The first bank of memory probably has a bad memory chip in it somewhere. It is possible that there is a failure related to the motherboard or a system device as well.

Regards Howard

 

[swker98]

yup i looked the beeps up, thats what it means, now why would it do that if i swaped out the memory and tried both sticks seporertly, also when im only running one stick i get a splash screen for about 2 seconds with 2 beeps saying F1 to enter bios then 1 beep saying system boot falure

would that ram problem cause the one hardrive light to stay stedy on and the system not to boot for 2 minutes?

the only time this comp has ever been opned is when it was built i belive, no bluging capotroars or any sighns of phyical damage

thanks howards

 

[howard_hopkinso]

I`m starting to think it`s a mobo/cpu problem.

Have you tried running with just 1 stick of ram in a different dimm slot?

Regards Howard

 

[swker98]

just tired that ram idea to no avale,

what do you think is cauzing that 2 minute delay system startup
when the hdd light come on fans spin up and it only boots 2 minutes after that, also when i had that one ram stick in Dimm slot 1 the computer ramdomly turned off in the middle of the ram count and when i opened the cd drive


i also have a strong suppision of the mobo being at fault here, but i had that wityh the psu to...........
any ideas

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Try a different psu, if you can.

If that doesn`t work, then I`d say the mobo is bad.

Regards Howard

 

[swker98]

update, i swaped out the HD, Psu and the psu cable, reset cmos tried both memeory sticks seportaly

i still get the same exact symtoms

If the comp has been off for a while i get the hdd light on stedy, fans spin up no power to the cd drives ttho, leve it like thatffor 2 minutes it fires up and i get the memeory cound the n the BEEP BEEP BEEP
BOOT FALUTRRE< SYSSTEM HAULTED

ok then i guss its a bad mobo, im gonna give it back and maybe have the builder fix it because they may have a warntee or someting or a spare board


PS, i got a little prob on my own with my rig
when i do a cold boot, like when its off for 2 hours or more, i have to always restart to get it to boot into windows, i boot up and windows xp loads for like 10 minutes and it wont go any ferther, just satuys of the xp laoding screen, thwe hdd light stays sload and not much noise form the hdd ,then i reboot it and it goes within 30 seconds, and only the second time do i hear the hardvie clicking away and the light flashing away

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Sorry swker98. I overlooked that you`d already tried another psu.

As to the problem with your current system. Can you boot into safe mode ok, or do you still get the same problem?

Regards Howard