[Solomon Winter]

Heres the deal... The computer Im checking out is an older P3. In the past, it would occasionally lock up and after being turned off manually, it wouldnt power up again for a while. My sister said the last time this happened was 2 months ago, but it hasnt powered on since. Im not sure whats wrong with it.

Ive completely removed everything unneccesary from the motherboard. The only things connected now are the RAM and cpu. I tried to power it on... nothing. Switched power supplies... nothing. At this point what should I try next? Any suggestions? Im trying to get her to trash it and get a newer computer, but if it can be saved it would be nice.

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Howdy and welcome to GtG:

All you have left to check is the the Ram, the CPU and the mobo..

Can you get a different stick of ram??

Have you access to another compatible CPU??

Murray

[Murray S.]

Howdy and welcome to GtG:

All you have left to check is the the Ram, the CPU and the mobo..

Can you get a different stick of ram??

Have you access to another compatible CPU??

Murray

[Solomon Winter]

Thank you for the fast reply.

Sorry, but the only other computer in the house is running on an Athlon 1600 and I dont have any spare parts here.

Another thing... I switched out the power supply because it came on once simply by being plugged in. The thing was only the CD roms and keyboard LEDs came on, but the hard drive didnt sound like it was spinning and the monitor wouldnt show any info from the computer. The hard drive activity light came on too, but stayed solid.

Any ideas?

[Murray S.]

You should have gotten a POST screen even if the hdd wasn't working..

If the monitor remained blank, then the CPU, the mobo, the ram and/or the video card are toast..

That being said, you should have gotten a POST Code beel error which would make me believe the mobo is shot!!

Murray

[Solomon Winter]

Thanks. I guess Ill just have to hunt down another P3 motherboard. Should be pretty cheap.

One final question; If everything else was working perfectly except the CPU, what should I expect to see after power up? Or what about the ram?

[Solomon Winter]

Thanks. I guess Ill just have to hunt down another P3 motherboard. Should be pretty cheap.

One final question; If everything else was working perfectly except the CPU, what should I expect to see after power up? Or what about the ram?

Quick clarification: "What should I expect to see with only the CPU/RAM/mobo installed and the CPU or RAM was bad?"

[Murray S.]

If the monitor wasn't hooked up or the video disabled.. Nothing.. You should get a POST CODE Beep error though that would indicate a video problem..

If the video was all working, then you should get a POST screen and then an error saying no boot device or os was found..

Murray

Edited by Murray S., 26 June 2005 - 12:10 PM.

[bytescomputers]

you would get a series of beeps to tell you what the problem is,
this varies depending on the bios chip.

some boards have post reporter which may give a signal to the speakers rather than the internal beeper, in which case you may not hear anything atall.

[Solomon Winter]

Cool. Thanks guys. Im going to look into replacing the motherboard...

Have a good one.