sue mccartin
April 22nd 03, 02:15 PM
A couple of suggestions here:
When you press the power on, just before the memory counts
are you getting a single beep? If you are then your
hardware is passing the first batch of hardware tests done
at bootup. It means that your cpu is being detected, your
memory is being detected and your video card is being
detected. If you are getting any other pattern of beeps
besides one then something is wrong in the harware (loose
video cards are a large culprit as are loose cpus).
1. Pull your video card and clean the contacts with a
pencil eraser or crc contact cleaner and reseat.
2. Check your cpu cooling fan. Many newer motherboards
have schemes built into them that will prevent the system
from booting if the cpu temperature is too high or your
cpu fan is not running. Pull your fan off the cpu, check
the lock lever to be sure it's fully down. If you pull
the fan be sure to reapply silver compound sparingly
before you put the fan back on. If you pull your fan and
it looks like someone dumped gum all around your cpu chip
then you may have had some idiot put standard cpu silicon
grease on your cpu instead of the silver stuff recommended
for newer cpus. Clean off the gummy mess (that will cause
overheating)with crc or alcohol and put on a thin layer of
silver compound
3. Sounds like you've already pulled and reseated your
memory but do it again. If you have multiple chips in
your system try booting with only one, I always recommend
buying memory sticks in pairs or at the least sticking
with the same manufacturer; mixed memory brands can cause
problems especially if one is single sided and others
double sided. You may also wish to try moving your memory
around in the slots, i.e. if you have three slots skip
slot one and put the first chip in slot two.
4. The dude that suggested going into your bios and
loading defaults made a good suggestion. Try that. There
are still "bios" attacking viruses going around. Try
removing the button cell battery from your motherboard for
a few minutes (or look for a jumper marked cmos clear) and
then reinstalling. These batteries only last about three
years so if you board is getting to that age and you've
never changed the battery go get one (Walgreens carries
them, it's a common hearing aid battery) and pop that baby
in there; yes a dead battery can cause your system not to
boot.
5. If none of the above fixes your problem you could have
a short someplace. If you're brave pull your board out of
the case, sit it on a wood table or non-conductive surface
with all the cables hooked up, one hard drive plugged in
and the video card and see if it will boot like that. If
it does then you know you have a short someplace in your
case. Look for extra standoffs installed that aren't
needed. I also believe in using those little cardboard
washers on every screw. One last suggestion, if you are
using a AGP video card (who isn't these days), I've seen
boards get into a weird state where they won't boot with
an agp card but they will boot (and it usually cures the
problem too) with a pci video card (I keep an old junkie
pci video card around for this emergency) which will let
you get into the bios and reload your defaults.
I hope that one of these suggestions fixes your problem.
>-----Original Message-----
>Hi,
>When starting up my machine, once the memory is counted,
>nothing else happens! Devices don't get detected,
>nothing! I've checked the memory and it is good. The
>keyboard doesn't even get detected! Can someone shed
>some light on this behavior?
>
>.
>
When you press the power on, just before the memory counts
are you getting a single beep? If you are then your
hardware is passing the first batch of hardware tests done
at bootup. It means that your cpu is being detected, your
memory is being detected and your video card is being
detected. If you are getting any other pattern of beeps
besides one then something is wrong in the harware (loose
video cards are a large culprit as are loose cpus).
1. Pull your video card and clean the contacts with a
pencil eraser or crc contact cleaner and reseat.
2. Check your cpu cooling fan. Many newer motherboards
have schemes built into them that will prevent the system
from booting if the cpu temperature is too high or your
cpu fan is not running. Pull your fan off the cpu, check
the lock lever to be sure it's fully down. If you pull
the fan be sure to reapply silver compound sparingly
before you put the fan back on. If you pull your fan and
it looks like someone dumped gum all around your cpu chip
then you may have had some idiot put standard cpu silicon
grease on your cpu instead of the silver stuff recommended
for newer cpus. Clean off the gummy mess (that will cause
overheating)with crc or alcohol and put on a thin layer of
silver compound
3. Sounds like you've already pulled and reseated your
memory but do it again. If you have multiple chips in
your system try booting with only one, I always recommend
buying memory sticks in pairs or at the least sticking
with the same manufacturer; mixed memory brands can cause
problems especially if one is single sided and others
double sided. You may also wish to try moving your memory
around in the slots, i.e. if you have three slots skip
slot one and put the first chip in slot two.
4. The dude that suggested going into your bios and
loading defaults made a good suggestion. Try that. There
are still "bios" attacking viruses going around. Try
removing the button cell battery from your motherboard for
a few minutes (or look for a jumper marked cmos clear) and
then reinstalling. These batteries only last about three
years so if you board is getting to that age and you've
never changed the battery go get one (Walgreens carries
them, it's a common hearing aid battery) and pop that baby
in there; yes a dead battery can cause your system not to
boot.
5. If none of the above fixes your problem you could have
a short someplace. If you're brave pull your board out of
the case, sit it on a wood table or non-conductive surface
with all the cables hooked up, one hard drive plugged in
and the video card and see if it will boot like that. If
it does then you know you have a short someplace in your
case. Look for extra standoffs installed that aren't
needed. I also believe in using those little cardboard
washers on every screw. One last suggestion, if you are
using a AGP video card (who isn't these days), I've seen
boards get into a weird state where they won't boot with
an agp card but they will boot (and it usually cures the
problem too) with a pci video card (I keep an old junkie
pci video card around for this emergency) which will let
you get into the bios and reload your defaults.
I hope that one of these suggestions fixes your problem.
>-----Original Message-----
>Hi,
>When starting up my machine, once the memory is counted,
>nothing else happens! Devices don't get detected,
>nothing! I've checked the memory and it is good. The
>keyboard doesn't even get detected! Can someone shed
>some light on this behavior?
>
>.
>