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Computer Problems

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 4:17 pm
by evilmonkey
Yup, I'm dealing with good old fashioned hardware problems. You see, what happens is, sometimes my computer won't start. By not start, I mean the fans start whirring, all the lights come on, all the CD drives work, but there's no video, and ore disconcertingly, no Num Lock light, and the keyboard doesn't work at all (no numLock, no casLock, no nothing). The light for thehard drive stays/blinks on for a while, thenjust stops. This can happen at random boot-ups, but especially after the computer has been on for a while. Never happens at restarts, only if the computer has been off for a few hours. I'm thinking something somewhere keeps frying, but I'm not sure what. Oh, and I have reason to believe the internal speaker is disabled because I'm not hearing any BIOS beeps.

Specs:
P4 2.8 GhZ
512MB RAM
Mobostar (asRock) X533 mobo, VIA chipset
ATI Radeon 9200 128MB
80GB 7200RPM HDD
DVD-RW, CD-RW, and external DVD-ROM drives
crapload of attached USB devices (webcam, printer, scanner, external drive, mouse, you name it)

So what could my problem be?

Thanks! :D

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 4:30 pm
by Charles256
after it being on for a while would lead me to believe it's getting too hot..i.e., need a new fan..but after long power downs.....hmm....is your powersupply running rampant? does it happen EVERY time after a long powerdown?

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 5:37 pm
by pickle
If you're not hearing any BIOS beeps, there's a good chance your motherboard or BIOS is buggered. The keyboard flashing is part of startup BEFORE windows, so if that's not even happening, its before the OS even starts to load.

Do you have another computer you can put the hard drive into? If so I'd do that and try restarting to make it duplicate the behaviour. If you can't, it's probably your motherboard. You could also try flashing your BIOS, but I'm not sure how do to that (Google probably does though).

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 7:24 pm
by evilmonkey
Oh, I didn'tmention the best part. After about 10-20 hours of not touching the computer, it starts up as if nothing ever happenned. Strange indeed, and it's making me mad because I can't rely on the computer. Pickle, I sincerely doubt it's the hard drive or an OS problem, this is hardware...And I'm not hearing BIOS beeps because while the computer was still on warranty, I fried the mobo (I was an idiot back then :roll: ), and my formal complaint was "two bios beeps and nothing else". I have a feeling they replaced the mobo, but made darn sure I couldn't complain about the beeps again. :roll:

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 7:34 pm
by Burrito
The "beep" is part of the POST sequence.

most mobos have an error "beep" code if the system doesn't POST correctly (ie 4 beeps means video card is bad etc). You should check the documentation for your mobo and find out what no beep means.

I'd tend to lead toward overheating as well, although that doesn't make a whole lot of sense given that a restart doesn't cause the problem as the system POSTs then as well.

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 5:44 pm
by evilmonkey
Well, I found the culprit. Following the advice I heard years and years ago when I put together junked 486's, when the computer fails to start, check and double-check that everything is lodged in its proper place. I have a modem in my computer I never used, and it came loose, and caused this whole problem. Still weird behaviour, and on closer inspection I noticed that I don't have an internal speaker at all (which will really be annoying if something does happen to my BIOS), but for now, I'm good to go. :D

Thanks everyone.