HELP!! Computer won't boot up!

[dijit]

Hello, and I thank you in advance for reading this post.

A couple of weeks ago, my sister's computer died. It refuses to boot at all... won't even go into memory test. It's just a blank black screen and all you can hear from the computer are the fans.

First I thought it was the RAM, so I bought some cheap RAM to test it. Didn't work so I returned it to the store.

Then maybe the CPU? Nope.

Since I'm tired of buying parts, I've come to the help of the forums. My next guess would be the mobo, and I'm here to ask for people's opinions. The weird thing is that when the HD is hooked up to the mobo via an IDE cable, it won't make it's usual boot-up noises (I hope you know what I'm talking about). But when I disconnect the IDE cable, the HD will make its usual sounds at boot-up. I've tried a few HDs too, and all the same result.

Any suggestions would help

 

[bozo1]

First thing for troubleshooting such problems:

Open the case - reseat ALL components - RAM, ALL PCI cards, AGP video card, IDE/Floppy cables, drive power cables, etc. (I would even remove any external devices connected - keyboard, mouse, printer, USB devices, etc.)

The next thing *I* would suspect, given your descriptions, is the powersupply. Assuming nothing else changed, no new case, processor, PCI cards, etc., and things just crapped, that would be my first guess. When switching powersupplies die, it is common for one of the voltage rails to die with the other ones being fine - meaning that some components may power up (drives, fans, whatever) but the voltages that other components need may be dead.

I would next try another powersupply if possible.

Again, I'm *assuming*, based on your post, that nothing here AT ALL has changed between the time it worked and the time it died. If that is not the case, undo what you changed.

 

[dijit]

Thank you bozo. I will try changing the PS

 

[KaGee]

Silly question.... but did you reset the bios?

If you don't know how, refer to the mobo's manual on clearing the bios.

A messed up bios can cause similar problem.

 

[dijit]

Thanks KaGee, I'll give that a shot too before I go out and buy anything else

But I won't be able to do anything for a few weeks because I'm away from home.