[Kayleigh]

I am so hoping that someone can help me. Here's the problem. I have a Celeron 1.2mhz. I used to have a Geforce4 64mb video card in the computer when the problem started. I'd turn on the computer, the lights would come on in the front, do its beep and I'd hear the hard drive working. The keyboard lights would come on also. The monitor would be on and the light green, but no picture. This was happening intermittently at first then I couldn't get it to go on at all. I figured it might be the video card, since I heard something about the GeForce having driver problems. I got the latest drivers, and reformated the computer. It seemed to work for a while but all of a sudden nothing, black screen again. I then changed the video card. Worked for a day then the same black screen. I opened the computer, unplugged the hard drive, thinking that may be the problem. Nothing. I can't figure it out. It works sometimes but mostly it doesn't. Anyone have any ideas? I'm pulling my hair out with this one. Oh yeah, the computer has been used on three different monitors, so I think it is safe to say that the monitor is not the culprit.

Edited by Kayleigh, 02 February 2004 - 12:06 PM.

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Welcome Kayleigh

Do you ever see any BIOS messages when restarting? If so, I'd try replacing the motherboard battery. If not, I'd suspect a faulty power supply.

[admin]

Welcome Kayleigh

Do you ever see any BIOS messages when restarting? If so, I'd try replacing the motherboard battery. If not, I'd suspect a faulty power supply.

[Kayleigh]

Welcome Kayleigh

Do you ever see any BIOS messages when restarting? If so, I'd try replacing the motherboard battery. If not, I'd suspect a faulty power supply.

Thanks for replying so quickly. No, I do not get any BIOS. Just a black screen. The first monitor I was using, the light on the front went from green to yellow and remained yellow. The monitor I am using now stays green but flickers intermittantly. When I turn the computer on it only beeps once. I think I've tried everything, but do you think it may be something other than the power supply? Since already forking over for a new video card (which I have to say, will be a great upgrade if I could get the PC working) I'm kind of hesitant to make more purchases unless I'm really sure. Is there any test I could perform on the power supply (that won't get me electrocuted) that would tell me it was faulty? Since the PC comes on sometimes would that still make it the power supply?

[admin]

I'm kind of hesitant to make more purchases unless I'm really sure. Is there any test I could perform on the power supply?

There's really no way to test a power supply, except with a special power supply tester. A local computer shop could do it for you.

The most likely cause of the problem you describe is a power supply. You probably have some sort of hardware failure. It could also be the system memory, motherboard, or a component connected to the motherboard. If you can get your system to boot using a bootable floppy disk, you could try memtest86 to test your system's memory.

Proper troubleshooting requires removing everything from the case. Bench test the system with only the motherboard, CPU, memory, and video card installed. If it still doesn't boot correctly you've got bad RAM, motherboard or power supply. Swap with known good components until the bad one is identified. If it boots correctly, begin replacing the remaining components until the offender is identified.

[Kayleigh]

I'm kind of hesitant to make more purchases unless I'm really sure. Is there any test I could perform on the power supply?

There's really no way to test a power supply, except with a special power supply tester. A local computer shop could do it for you.

The most likely cause of the problem you describe is a power supply. You probably have some sort of hardware failure. It could also be the system memory, motherboard, or a component connected to the motherboard. If you can get your system to boot using a bootable floppy disk, you could try memtest86 to test your system's memory.

Proper troubleshooting requires removing everything from the case. Bench test the system with only the motherboard, CPU, memory, and video card installed. If it still doesn't boot correctly you've got bad RAM, motherboard or power supply. Swap with known good components until the bad one is identified. If it boots correctly, begin replacing the remaining components until the offender is identified.

Thank you so much for all your help. I'm going to try all that you've suggested, and I'll let you know what the problem was. Thanks again, now I know that if ever in the future I have a problem that I can't figure out, I know where to go.