Reformatting wont work odd letters appearing

[rev_olie]

Hey

Ive just aquired a PC from my brother and have been swapping parts from my old one to the new one. How ever when it came to getting ti going it just doesnt seem to let me install windows. I have the windows XP disk but when i put it in it say booot from CD and whan you press Y it comes up with these crazy lettters going from the top lft to bottom right of the screen. The bottom 2 are an a turning into a love heart and also a small white box. What is going on. It doesnt have windows on atm i dont think but ive never been able to get into it and they cant remeber what it had on it to begin with. Any Help wpuld be great

 

[k.jacko]

maybe a bios virus?

 

[AlbertLionheart]

either that or a bad component somewhere, perhaps? reset the BIOS and try booting with the minimum of stuff connected to the main board.

 

[almcneil]

Sounds like you didn't connect the CD/DVD drive properly or some other device. Download the MoBo manual from the manufacturer and check your connections and settings. If it's still a problem, check the compatibility of the CD/DVD drive. If the problem still persists, try another CD/DVD drive.

 

[rev_olie]

hey thanks for the response. I downloaing the User manual now but how do you reset the BIOS exactly?

 

[AlbertLionheart]

remove the battery for a few minutes or better still, find the jumpers which are designed for the purpose and short them for 10 secs or so - no longer! reboot and you will find the BIOS settings back to basics so then your best bet is to use the optimum set if there is an option available.

 

[Cinders]

You probably have a broken motherboard. sorry. Replace with a new one if you can.

 

[Nodsu]

And why can't it be bad RAM or a BAD video card, which are much cheaper to replace? Hell, why can't it be a scratched CD?

 

[AlbertLionheart]

The only way you are going to find out what this is without either expensive diagnostic kit or a new board is to spend some (more!) time diagnosing the problem. You will need to try the following:
Take the board and PSU out of the case and connect them. Take any RAM and cards off. Connect a speaker if not on board - leave the chip and CPU fan connected. Start by shorting the pins for the power button. If you get POST (Power On Self Test) beeps, the board has a fighting chance. Now fit the RAM - restart in the same way - should be beeps but different - they vary according to the board make. If you get beeps, fit the graphic card and the monitor - get beeps? Connect the hard drive. Beep - just one? Thats what you are looking for. Now keep connecting bits until either it stops or it works. Now fit the whole lot back into the chassis and reconnect one piece at a time. When it stops anywhere in this process you have found what is stopping it. Cheaper than buying new boards!

 

[Cinders]

I had a similar problem a few years ago and it was a bad board.

Excellent advice AlbertLionheart. OK rev_olie do what Albert said to do.

What comprised the new computer, and what pieces came from the old computer? Did the old computer work without problems? Do you get any memory errors during post? Did the computer your brother game you work without problems? If you have a working computer then please download and burn to CD the appropriate file to test your memory.]/url] Let the program run throught at least seven complete cycles. Errors on this test can mean bad motherboard and/or bad memory; no errors usually means good motherboard and good memory.

 

[rev_olie]

right ok got the cd rom is conected and have got the board instructions and that is all good and also took out the battery and reset the bios and can get anywere without the cd working now because of the OS. The memory i know works because that came from the old pc and have tryed it again today in the old pc and that was fine also the cd rom was tested again and it was fine. When my brother had it about 6 months ago it was all working fine except the old user took the HD out nad so he gave me a newish one. also i used memtest and it completed fine for 8cycles (one for look) so yer anything else i can try lol. Also how do i short the pins seeing as thought i have tryed everthing else. Also could this have anything to do with the HD or even the CD its self?

 

[AlbertLionheart]

Hi
just because the RAM works on one board does not mean it will work with another.
Also, bad CD drives can stop a boot so this is why I suggested you disconnect everything and reconnect one thing at a time.
Taking the board out of the machine eliminates problems with bad switches, shorts under the board and bad cables.
To short out the pins, look at the board where the front panel connections are. Look closely (use the manual as well) to find two pins marked pwr. With the cable taken off, touching the two pins at the same time with a small screwdriver has the same effect as the switch - it shorts it and tells the logic on the board to change from on to off and off to on.
I am not sure where you are now with find out what is going on - give us an update?

 

[Nodsu]

The memory does not have to be "fine" if a computer boots with it. It is probably fine after you have run several passes of memtest on it. Did you run memtest on your old computer with the memory?