PC doesn't boot...

[MaxDSP]

Yesterday, my PC at home got an explorer.exe error and froze up, so I shut it down and tried to start it up later. I hear everything inside the PC whirring away (fans, hard drive, cdrw, etc, but the monitor just sits there with the green light blinking. I checked all the cables but nothing was loose. If it was my vid card crapping out (GF2 GTS) wouldnt I get POST beep errors or something? Wouldn't I also get a NO SIGNAL message on my monitor if it was the vid card also? Maybe it is the monitor but I didn't have enough time this morning to swap this one with another one I have in the basement.

The monitor is a Samsung 955DF I think, bought it brand new less than a year ago. The spare monitor I'll use is a KDS Avitron AV7TF.

PC stats: 950MHz Athlon, 256MB PC133, 2x 40GB 7200 RPM Maxtor, Lite-On 52x CDRW, 250W PSU, ECS K7S5A mobo, GeForce2 GTS 32MB video card, onboard NIC/sound, Win2K Professional (patched with all critical updates).

 

[farmercal]

Are you getting the POST beep? If not, then you might want to reset your bios. Just a thought.

 

[MaxDSP]

Originally posted by: farmercal
Are you getting the POST beep? If not, then you might want to reset your bios. Just a thought.

No beeps at all

 

[MaxDSP]

any other suggestions before I head home to *try* to fix it?

 

[farmercal]

According to this site (first one google found) on one motherboard no beep indicates a bad power supply. It list everything by BIOS, so look yours up and see what it tells you
Beep Code Site

 

[MaxDSP]

Originally posted by: farmercal
According to this site (first one google found) on one motherboard no beep indicates a bad power supply. It list everything by BIOS, so look yours up and see what it tells you
Beep Code Site

My mobo has either the Phoenix or Award BIOS...I'm pretty sure it's not IBM. I really hope it's not a board failure

 

[JohnnyCache]

unplug your monitor then back in or take out the card and reseat it. I have had
to do this before, not sure if it will help.

 

[MaxDSP]

Update: I swapped the video card and turned the PC on. I got a BSOD but after another restart it went up to the white win2k loading screen and froze up there. Third restart, POST did not start until about 30 seconds after I pushed the power button, and I got a message saying "CMOS/GPNV Checksum Bad". Is a weak or drained CMOS battery probably the cause of all the problems or would there be anything else? I'm picking up a CR2032 on my way home to see if it solves the issue. The mobo I have was manufactured in December 2001.

 

[MaxDSP]

Update 2: Swapped the CMOS battery and cleared the CMOS but PC still doesn't startup, sometimes I get a BSOD and other times it just freezes at the Win2K loading screen. The strabge thing is that when I push the power button, everything inside the PC starts whirring away, but the mobo does't POST right away, since there is no POST screen on the monitor. It takes from 30 seconds to a couple of minutes to start POST. Maybe this is pointing towards a dying mobo...

 

[TTM77]

have U try getting a new pc?

This migh also be a hard drive failur. I had that in the pass.

If it accually show U something then it's not power supply. And I don't think it's motherboard either.

If I were you, worst case senarrio is take out everything.. PCI cards/ all hard drive/eveything that plugs into the mother board. You can leave plug in keyboard + Video card + Ram.

Bios should boot up and stay there and everything stable. If no, try new video card, try switching the RAM position (yes it matter).

If the Bios is stable, now U can plug things in one at a time. The Hard drive U might want to plug in last.

Goodluck.

 

[shimsham]

try a different power supply. mine did the same thing when it died. all the fans and drives spinning, but no post.