[smc1969]

i bought a pc running amd duron 750mhz processor from friend. i had it for 2 days then went on the blink,on the screen it said A--p or something like that now it only boots to screen that tells you the processor,other times it doesnt go that far,just blue screen or doesnt even turn on monitor,unless i shut down for 10 minutes then it will only go as far as the boot up screen again .please could you tell me what the problem is is it fixible or is gubbed.cheers anyone can help plz. smc

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Hi and welcome to Geeks to Go. It is probably fixable, but you will need the windows install cd (bootable cd) to do diagnostics. Do you have that? Can you boot into safe mode? Press F8 while booting up and try.

[austin_o]

Hi and welcome to Geeks to Go. It is probably fixable, but you will need the windows install cd (bootable cd) to do diagnostics. Do you have that? Can you boot into safe mode? Press F8 while booting up and try.

[smc1969]

it wont even go to boot screen any more and yes i have the boot disk

[austin_o]

Ok, put the cd in the drive and restart the computer. If you don't see the "boot from cd" option displayed on the screen, you will need to get into the bios and change to boot order to boot from cd first. This is usually done by pressing the delete key when boot up starts. It may be some other key on your system. Check your documentation if the delete key does not get you there.

If you can get it booted, you can try a repair install. See the guide at the top of this forum at http://www.geekstogo...ws-XP-t138.html

Edited by austin_o, 18 December 2005 - 09:08 AM.

[smc1969]

cant get that far as pc will not let me open cd drawers or use keyboard,it just comes up blue or freezes at switch on screen

[austin_o]

Do you hear any of the fans running? How about the power supply, it that fan running?

[smc1969]

yes the power is on ,fans are running too,

[austin_o]

Does this pc have a reset just below the power button on the front? Have you tried re-setting that? The time has come to decide you you want to approach this. If it was working ok and then suddenly stopped, it could be a lot of things. One way to approach it is to swap key components the computer needs to boot. It needs the power supply, motherboard, cpu and fan, memory, hard drive, cd drive, video card, monitor, keyboard and mouse. One way to approach is to remove all of the ram, boot up and if you DON'T hear beep codes from your motherboard, it has died. That would be a quick and dirty test on the motherboard. If it passes this test (you hear beeps) then start swapping the other components with known good ones to rule them out as the cause.

You might want to strip down to just having those components listed above connected. That is, if you have a second hard drive or cd drive, disconnect them until you get this to boot. Once you figure out what the problem is and fix it, you can re-connect them.

The beep test on the motherboard assumes your system speaker is working. If it is not working, it is not a valid test.

Edited by austin_o, 18 December 2005 - 12:22 PM.

[smc1969]

yes it has button below power but it connected to a wire saying speaker but not plugged in anywhere,the beeping you are talking about comes on when pc starts up then monitor comes on some times that is

[austin_o]

Could post your full system specs? This will better enable folks to help you. Also count the number of beeps you hear. Based on the BIOS manufacturer beep codes we can isolate the problem. Since you hear beeps, that is good. It is an indication that the motherboard is probably ok.