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New Cable Modem Equals Dead PC?

C

Carbo

Diamond Member
For the past month of so, I noticed that when I shut my cable modem down, it would take about twenty minutes to reconnect. It's leased from Comcast as part of my monthly plan. It was an older model and I figured after about 4 years of service it was toast. So, I called Comcast tech support and arranged to have their guy come out to the house, test out the problem, and do what was called for.
So, the grumpy SOB arrives, tests the signal and the modem and declares the modem is bad. Great. Simple swap for a new one and he's outta here and I'm back online. Well, first, he doesn't have a modem in his truck, if you can believe that. So he has to split and for an hour and a half to go back to the office and pick up a modem.
Returns, at dinner time, and proceeds to install the new modem. And then the problems begin. For some reason he unplugged my printer and scanner from the back of the case. He said he needed a USB port for the modem. WTF?? The modem doesn't run off a USB port!
He realizes the modem won't run off the USB and manages to hook it up correctly. Only then he can't get the PC to work. The monitor is a blank: zip, nada, nilch, zero. Nothing on the screen as the monitor refuses to come out of sleep mode.
He calls his support and they tell him to plug the printer and scanner back into the USB ports. He does, and the PC boots until the Gateway screen comes up. The mouse, keyboard, and both CD drives are recognized. Then, the screen goes blank and I can't get any further than that.
Took my daughter's monitor, plugged it into my system. Same results.
Any ideas? Did this dope do something accidentally? Or is this some coincidence? :|
 
Update......
I can boot up and get the first screen with the Gateway logo. Keyboard and mouse are detected. CD-ROM and burner detected. Then, when I should progress to the next screen where the hard drive is detected, I get nothing but a blank screen.
I can't even F1 into the BIOS. Motherboard issue? Hard drive issue?
 
can you boot from a floppy? (if that's the boot order....)

was it a USB card or is the usb built in? if so, remove the USB card and reboot.....also remove the sound card, reboot, then the NIC reboot...etc. sometime reseating the cards will fix a problem...or a card went bad.

maybe the bios went wacky....can you do a reset? usually by shorting two pins together (you need your motherboard manual...or tell us what computer you have)

it could be the hard drive....can you hear it moving?

oh..and some cable modems can be either USB or ethernet...so the guy wasn't totally out of line...just confused 🙂

good luck
 
Hm. I've seen omething like this before. A shuttle I have under my guardianship refuses tto get past inital memory check screen if a USB device is plugged into the front faceplate.

He needed to conect the modem to the USB port? I hope this isn't a case of a cable modem that uses a USB-shaped power cord... I remember hearding about CD-burners that used a ps/2 shaped power cord [Zap]. First, I would try physically removing the CMOS battery for 5 minutes. Don't skimp. Do it, and then reinstall it and power on and see if that works. A friend of mine with a HP had that funky problem out of the blue before.
 
well, look at the bright side. if the tech really did mess up your pc, you can call comcast up and demand a new pc since their "tech" f'd it up. 🙂
 
Update: pulled out the hard drive and tested it in a second PC. It was detected and I was able to access all my files. Ran WD's utility and the drive came back error free.
So, that leaves me to believe I have a hosed motherboard. Any suggestions, clues, ideas, dances to make it all better?
Or, do I go to Hot Deals and look for a Dell deal?
 
did you reset the bios like I and CheetahMk2 suggested? if you can't find how, give us the motherboard info...that will clear it. remove cards, etc.....
 
I haven't reset the BIOS because I don't know how.
The PC is about a five year old Gateway Performance 500. The mobo info I have is: Intel motherboard model Jabil BX Motherboard R0, Part number 4000504. Here is the link from Gateway support: here.
Thanks for the help. Much appreciated.
 
look in there for what looks like a watch battery. pull that out, unplug the pc, and let it sit for about 5 minutes, then put it back in and power it on. after the 5 minutes, i usually power on the pc without the battery in once before putting it back in. anyway, then the CMOS should be cleared.
 
Threw out the old battery and replaced with a new one. Unplugged the battery for 7 minutes, and set mobo to configure mode. Same deal. Cannot get into BIOS or recognize the hard drive.
Any other suggestions? Is it mobo dirt nap time?
 
are there any beep codes during bootup? does it beep when you press F1 to try to get into bios?

maybe try that recovery mode (see jumper in previous post)...and have the bios on a floppy...I guess this is the bios available:

bios

have you unplugged, disconnected everything possible? cds, sound cards, usb connectors, everything except the hard drive and power supply (and keyboard I guess)

maybe a ram stick went south.....hmmm....how many do you have? can you swap them out?
 
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