[gaco56]

Hi all. I'm new to the forum. I'm no computer expert; but I am also not a novice. I learn as I go.

My son has a computer that is not a brand name. It's about 4-5 years old. It has Win 98SE as the OS. It has 256 MB Ram, and a Pentium II MMX 450 Mhz processor. It had a Western Digitial 4.6 GB HD. I recently installed a WD HD with 20 GB. The video card is a TNT2 Model 64 32 MB card. I have his computer wireless networked to mine via a Linksys wireless card.

The computer has been running pretty good. My son, due to the computer's limitations/age does not have alot loaded onto it. He uses it to browse the 'net, and to play a couple video games he likes.

We've tried to put Windows XP on it and keep getting various blue screen error messages. A buddy of mine, who works on computers, took a look at it, and thought it was due to not enough memory. So he put 512 MD Ram in it. That didn't work.

We ran into some snags when we put the new and bigger HD in it. It was acting erratically when trying to re-load Win 98SE....meaning that after partitioning the new HD - the format process and the Win 98 setup was moving real slow. After numerous tries it would finally load in OK.

He thought it was the processor going bad, so I bought another one on the 'net. It's the exact same type of processor that is originally in it - a Pentium II MMX 450 Mhz processor w/ HS fan. I was told that as long as it's the same type of processor that it was easy to replace. Just power down, unplug the old and plug in the new. I have done all of that. The HS fan is attached to the processor, so I plugged it into it's slot, and then plugged in the new processor. But when I power up the computer I get nothing on the monitor screen. In fact, the power light on the monitor stays yellow instead of green. So I am getting nothing- zilch!

I have rechecked all the connections, and insured that all my cards are seated properly. I even tried to put the old processor back in, but it now does the same thing. I have the new one back in. I reset the BIOS to default by switching the pins and putting them back, and then unpluging the battery. That too has not worked, so I've done all that I know how.

Any help would be appreciated.

Edited by gaco56, 10 July 2005 - 06:35 PM.

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If this is a Pentium II cartridge type processor, it can sometimes "appear" seated in the connector when in fact, it is not... even if the locks look engaged! If the old processor worked before, then chances are it didn't die simply because you were bouncing between OS's and installing a new harddrive.

Try pulling the new processor out and putting the old one back in. Unfortunately, you will have to use a bit of force to fully seat the processor (if slot type), so be extra careful you do not exert so much force as to crack the motherboard.

Do you get any post beeps when you try to start the computer???

As far as installing XP on a PII system, you may be out of luck. The best thing to do is run the XP configuration utility to check if your hardware can support XP.


makai

[makai]

If this is a Pentium II cartridge type processor, it can sometimes "appear" seated in the connector when in fact, it is not... even if the locks look engaged! If the old processor worked before, then chances are it didn't die simply because you were bouncing between OS's and installing a new harddrive.

Try pulling the new processor out and putting the old one back in. Unfortunately, you will have to use a bit of force to fully seat the processor (if slot type), so be extra careful you do not exert so much force as to crack the motherboard.

Do you get any post beeps when you try to start the computer???

As far as installing XP on a PII system, you may be out of luck. The best thing to do is run the XP configuration utility to check if your hardware can support XP.


makai

[Tyger]

If you cleared the BIOS by switching the jumper you'll also have to go into Setup and enable the default BIOS. While you're in setup you might want to make a thorough check of the settings.

[gaco56]

If this is a Pentium II cartridge type processor, it can sometimes "appear" seated in the connector when in fact, it is not... even if the locks look engaged!  If the old processor worked before, then chances are it didn't die simply because you were bouncing between OS's and installing a new harddrive.

Try pulling the new processor out and putting the old one back in.  Unfortunately, you will have to use a bit of force to fully seat the processor (if slot type), so be extra careful you do not exert so much force as to crack the motherboard.

I tried putting the old one back in and now I'm having the same problem. So I put the new one in again. But it could very well be as you say - a seating problem. I'll re-check it.

Yes. It's a cartride/slot type w/heatsink attached.

Do you get any post beeps when you try to start the computer???

NO. I get nothing but a blank screen and the power light on the monitor is yellow. I listen, but don't even hear any of the typical sounds you hear when the computer is initially loading up.

I'm hoping it may be as simple as not having it seated properly.

A guy at work told me to pull the video card and re-insert it. I'm gonna give it a try.

As far as installing XP on a PII system, you may be out of luck.  The best thing to do is run the XP configuration utility to check if your hardware can support XP.
makai

I had XP in there before I replaced the harddrive. I personally think it's due to the fact that I don't have enough RAM in it now. Because one of the sticks turned up bad (which I discarded), and I haven't bought any more because I thought the 256 I currently have would be enough, but I'm not sure. That's something I'll tinker with once I get this thing back up and running.

Edited by gaco56, 11 July 2005 - 06:09 AM.

[makai]

I guess I was unclear about the post beep. On first initial power up, the bios will check ram, video and processor. If everything checks good, you will hear 1 short beep, then the computer will continue booting.

If you don't get this single beep, then either the ram, vid card, or processor didn't return the expected reply to the bios.

Do you get a single beep when you attempt to boot?

The fact that the monitor light is yellow does indicate that there is no monitor signal coming from the vid card. However, this could be because the computer hasn't reached the point during post where the vid signal gets enabled. It could be a vid card problem so swapping it may remedy the situation.

makai

[gaco56]

Thanks for everyone's help. It turns out it was a seating problem. The processor is firmly in the slot, but the clip on the left side was not firmly engaged to securely hold the processor in place.

All is back to normal. Thanks again to all.