No boot screen, really slow boot and operation, no left click or start menu

[hellokitty[hk]]

When my friend turns his computer on (the only time so far), everything works fine except the screen stays black and it takes about 15 mins to load to load, but after he logs in, everything is slow and he can't left click. Its not a mouse problem because when he drags, it makes the selector box.


This happened after shutting down with an unusually long shut down, and GENTLY moving the computer.

He doesn't want to open it or try to reset the because he's worried about messing it up more.

They keyboard and mouse seem physically fine, just the left click issue.

He just tried turning it on just now, and could not login because the motherboard kept beeping and couldn't do anything except move the mouse around.

Does anybody know a reasonable cost for a professional repair?

 

[Sharam]

"reasonable cost" depends on the store or the technician, my business, I do free diagnostics, other places charge $30.00 and up.

But the question is, how can we troubleshoot a computer when we have no information other than what you have provided which says not much in regards to hardware.

If the "gentle" move upset the hard drive, you would experience problems. First thing to do is open the case and make sure all data and power cables are in tight as well as the RAM and any add-in card.

Full system spec and a bit of history as for the age of system would help.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

Um...i tried to get him to reseat everything, reset CMOS, but he is worried about opening his case, which he actually doesn't really know how to do.

I would be able to guide him into checking system specs if it worked.

 

[Sharam]

You need to explain to him he has no choice but to make sure everything is OK inside, he needs to unplug the power supply and just confirm the data and power cables are in, the vid card and ram are in tight and the CPU heat sink is not loose.

No CMOS reset or anything ... yet

Explain to him that nothing will go wrong by him checking these, he is not going to remove anything, just push on them to see if they are loose or not.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

its like 4-5 years old. nothing new inside except an ATI graphics card, intel pentium 4 and windows XP. around the power button it says dimension 3000.
hey i have to go but tell me everything you figure out.

Ok...thats what i got...and yeah i'll try again tomorrow I guess O.o.

Sounds like a BIOS and hdd error at the same time O.o.

 

[Sharam]

Keep us posted, the motherboard beeping has to be addressed, without making sure everything is in tight, he should not try to turn the system ON in hopes of getting in or the problem going away by itself, if he still not co-operating, have him "move" the system "gently" again ... may be things fall back in place again

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

Oh yes, i almost forgot, he did open it up, clear the cmos, and reseat everything...no difference???

 

[Sharam]

Well, it does sound like he has to get it to a known good computer shop; If he was or becomes brave enough, you can ask him to post his full system spec here and we will do our best to assist him with checking his hardware before moving on to Software and infection.

Proprietary systems as in this Dell Dimension are built with power supplies just enough to run the system and perhaps minor upgrades as in adding additional hard drive, RAM and some add-in cards. Most, with my experience can not even take an upgrade from a CD-ROM to a DVD-RW let alone an ATI video card (if it was added to the original config and a power hungry one at that, the Dimension 3000s I know, have on-board video with no AGP slot, sounds like a ATI PCI card) don't get me wrong, the power supplies used are usually of decent quality with proper calculation for required output based on the advertised configuration, most recent systems however, have PSUs that can take 2 DVD-RWs and a video upgrade and more.

Let's take a long shot and ask him to remove the add-in video card and use the on-board, remove all optical drives, any other hard drive other than the boot drive and the floppy drive as well as any other PCI add-in card then try to boot, I advise him not to attempt to boot the system up any more fully loaded.

He might just need a power supply replacement and with Dell, we have to be very careful since some older models have proprietary power supplies and motherboards in which case if a standard power supply is used, the motherboard and possibly more components will be destroyed. It is possible for 2 Dell Dimension 3000s to have different power supplies and boards so we have to check be sure. On a positive note, most 3000s I have seen, use standard design, we sell Dell replacement PS for under $30.00 Canadian.

The video card and the motherboard are questionable also, but the test above can prove quite a bit.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

So we took the computer to a tech repair place. they took off half a gig of viruses. so thats what was wrong lol.

well...thanks VERY much, I considered viruses until he described the boot up process and said he has antivirus and there's no porne xD.

 

[Sharam]

At least when you take it to a tech, he or she can see the problem, here we have to rely on how well the symptoms are explained..

If he wants to make sure he is %100 clean, he can take the 8 steps in the Virus and Malware removal forum.

Thanks for letting us know.