push computer power button, little happens

[ehawk]

Hi,

I have a friend who is having computer problems. I said I would post this to get some input.

He has an E-monster 550. The computer was getting a little cantankerous, so he backed up all of his stuff and encouraged his girlfriend to do the same. She didn't. Now when he pushes the power button, the power light comes on, the fan comes on, the monitor lights to show it's there, but nothing else happens..it just hangs. No loading of anything. Pushing the power button again doesn't cut the power. If he unplugs the computer with the button in the on position and plugs it back in, things will start to happen (loading, fan, etc.) for a few secs, then everythng shuts down, as if the power were cut..

Some other people suggested replacing the power supply, which he did. Doesn't help.

Your input is appreciated. :)

[Hayl]

could be the cmos battery

[Lemming]

Is there actually anything on screen? Or is it just the monitor is on with no output?

[sharth]

i got that a while back. broken mobo was the problem for me.

[ehawk]

The monitor comes on with the little bouncing box, showing the monitor's on...something like "Monitor's working, but no input...check your connections"

As far as troubleshooting this, what are the costs of the CMOS battery and motherboard (approx.)

Thanks for all of your help so far

[sharth]

Originally posted by ehawk
As far as troubleshooting this, what are the costs of the CMOS battery and motherboard (approx.) Before that, I would recommend taking out all un-necesary pieces of hardware out of the machine (modem / ethernet, etc...), just to check that they aren't fubaring the system. A precaution.

[ehawk]

He removed all connections, perhaps not the modem yet...has removed CD drive, floppy drive, just in case they were interfering somehow...

Perhaps the BIOS chip is kaput? He wouldn't even be able to flash the BIOS if it doesn't boot....

Thanks again....

[mdwatts]

Originally posted by ehawk
The monitor comes on with the little bouncing box, showing the monitor's on...something like "Monitor's working, but no input...check your connections"


Take out the video card, clean the connections and blow the dust out of the slot, reseat the video card ensuring it is properly inserted, reconnect the monitor cable and then try powering up.

[retoon]

First of all, its not the cmos battery. The only error you get with a bad 2032 is either a checksum error, or inaccurate representation of the time in the bios. They are like $3.00 for a two pack if you want them though (2032 battery). Ok, do you hear any beeps at all? Try takling out all pci devices, your video card, disconnect all hard drives, and basically narrow the entire machine to the ram, motherboard, and processor. Then trow in the video card. Do you hear any beeping coming from the motherboards speaker? If so, there might still be a sign of life, if not then new mother board might be neccessary. If its the motherboard, your data shouldn't be lost seeing as it is on the hard disk. ou can mount the hard drive into a seperate machine and extract the files you need. The reason we are saying take all pci cards out is because, not that it happens very often, but occasionally there is a short that won't let the system start up. If you have known good parts i.e. a video card lying around, try swapping that out, same goes for ram. A new motherboard depending on the processor you want to use can be anyhere from $30.00 to $400.00

[ehawk]

Thanks for your input. I probably won't see this guy again for about two days, but I will pass on all of this information to him next time I see him.

[bandwidth_pig]

Sounds like a motherboard gone south to me. I have had similar problems in the past and the resolution has been:

1. New power supply (which you already tried).
2. New motherboard.

I would look at number 2.

[Rickdog]

Have him make sure he has one proven stick of ram and try to boot, if it doesn't POST, I would verify the video card, and if that's still good, the mobo is probably crispy. You might want to verify the cpu, but I've never had one go bad, so I don't suspect that unless the fan went out and it was run hot. (Bad ram will give a no POST)

New cmos chips often cost more than the board is worth, so you can end up sticking money in a dead horse.

[retoon]

another diagnostic tool is to see whether or not the leds on your keyboard are lighting up at time of boot. if they light up, that means the processor is fine.

[bwkaz]

Hmm... sounds like the video card to me...

Could be the motherboard too, but try (as mdwatts said) reseating the video card. Also have him try another (known working) one.