Win98 begins boot, then black screen

[josbd]

I have a mate who has an old pc he is attempting to sort out for his kid.

I have no idea how old the system is, but it sports the original Win 98, NOT SE onboard.

When the system is beginning to boot, the screen goes black.

I asked him to boot in safe mode, and within seconds of the pc booting: black screen. I can't get any information about what is on the screen at the time it blacks the screen out, because it happens too quickly.

It sounds to me as tho this is a dead duck, and I was going to suggest a new HDD, but if anyone has any suggestions, I would be more than happy to receive them.

Thanks guys!

 

[RealBlackStuff]

If that oldie was standing around for a while, take all the cards, memory etc. out and clean the gold/silver contacts with an eraser. Clean out any dust-bunnies from fans etc. (don't use a hoover!).
Then first try to boot from a bootfloppy.
Also, the mobo-battery could have died or is very low.

 

[josbd]

I shall get him on the case, so to speak! Cheers!

 

[kraugie]

Also make sure the processor fan is going, could be a heat problem.

 

[josbd]

Good point, prob worth replacing heatsink and fan etc.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

As long as the fan works, no need to replace anything.

 

[josbd]

Ok, all cleaned up, fans whirring nicely, installed Win98SE, and bingo! Happy pc. so thanks to all for your help, I much appreciate it!

 

[patio]

Congrats and good job. We love success stories !

patio.

p.s. May i aalso suggest the unofficial Service Pack for Win98. It has some nice features and comes highly recommended from folks i've talked to. Better USB support, memory management and other goodies. Travel Here... for a looksee.