Need help asap
 

My friend has a computer problem...need help asap

Computer was working fine, then went to put some ram in, after putting the ram in, they could turn the computer on, and it wouldnt do anything. "No Signal" on the monitor, but the computer would be on. Took the ram OUT.....put the normal ram back in, and it would start, restarted again, and went into the bios and changed

OS/2 Onboard Memory > 64M
from disabled, to enable ( not sure why? )

now, it wont start up with the regular ram either. Any help on how to get it started again?

Go back into the BIOS and undo whatever you did.

Then try it.

Can't get to the BIOS.....When they turn the computer on, the computer is on, and everything, but nothing comes on the monitor. :crazy:

If you enabled the onboard video, just plug the monitor into the onboard videocard slot (not the PCI or AGP one). From there you can turn that back off and go back to using the add-on video card.

try resetting the cmos?

yea reset the cmos jumper on your motherboard.. its a small little 3 pin jumper should be very close to your cmos chip.. i think its usually like j14 of 15 for some odd reason..

Resetting the CMOS didn't work, and there supposedly no onboard video card ( I'm not there to see it in person ). Any other suggestions?

A boot floppy disk?

Once the computer is on, the monitor will not even come on. It says "no signal".

Are there any error beeps when you turn on the computer?

If there is, try remembering what they sound like, so that you evaluate them against the following chart: http://www.sysopt.com/biosbmc.html

Have you made sure the memory is seated properly? I've had a machine power on but fail to get as far as the bios screen. I had no video, no beeps and only the power supply fans as any indication the system was running. It turned out the memory was improperly seated.

That's what I keep thinking ( the memory isnt seated correctly ). I'm having to try and figure it out online, and over the phone, as I can make it to their house right now. They're kind of new to computer work, so it's kind of tough. I'll see if they hear the beeps, and try that out. Thanks for the help guys. :thumbsup:

take the memory OUT, then turn it on. go to the bios and undo all the changes it made.

Took all the memory out, and restarted, still did nothing. :|

Oh yeah, it doesn't even beep. I'm stumped. :hmm:

If theres no memory in it at all and it still doesnt provide a POST beep when you turn the power on, theres a more serious issue than the memory or bios. Most likely theres a motherboard issue now and its probably dead.

This seems like what has happened. Hope not though, that sucks when you buy new memory and end up having to get a new motherboard as well...

Let us know if you can fix it.

Take all the hardware out (with the exception of the processor) and try to boot the machine. If you get beep codes start putting stuff back in one piece at a time until you can get into the bios and reset the settings.

If still no go, then take the motherboard out and set it on a piece of cardboard or some other non-conductive surface and try and power it up. If it works, put it back and try again following the same steps as above. If it doesn't work, take the processor off and try. If it works, the processor is probably gone, if it doesn't work, the motherboard is probably gone.

Thanks, I'll try that.

In the case that it doesnt work, it's pretty much set that it's the motherboard. I believe the processor is an AMD Athlon XP 2000+. So would they be able to just buy another motherboard, and use the same processor, and all the parts?

Still haven't licked it huh? At this point, I concur with the others. It must be your MOBO. You're probably out of luck if hrdwareguy's suggestion doesn't work.

Yeah, just ordered a SOLTEK Socket A motherboard, to hopefully just be able to move the processor/ram/hard drives/etc over, and it work.

Thanks for the help. :thumbsup:

did you try reseating the video card?

Yep. Also took it out completely, and still never got any type of beep sequence.

well, first of all, make sure your friend has an internal speaker, otherwise there will be no beeps. i don't have one in my comp (case didn't come with one).

if he does have the internal speaker, then i'd suspect the mobo or psu.

Yeah, I know there has to be an internal speaker, when they first put the ram in, it made a beep sequence ( dont know what it was though ), but after that one, it didnt do it again, so I'm guessing the motherboard went out or something. They've already ordered a motherboard now, so HOPEFULLY it will fix everything. :thumbsup: