Please help with my p.o.s. computer!

[beatniks3]

hi everyone,

any help would be great. i have a crappy compaq deskpro 2000 with a pentium 133 processor. (pls don't laugh at me. i am a poor university student) Yesterday I was going to install a new internal zip drive that i got and when i turned the computer on it does nothing but show the amount of memory and 'compaq 2000' in the corner. no beeps. the harddrive powers up. it does nothing else. i have checked all connections and everything seems fine. i have not yet removed all the pci cards to test the motherboard, but i will do that if i have to. just to avoid confusion, the only thing i did was take out the single headed ide cable that i had connected to my cd-rom and replace it with a double headed one. does anyone have any advice? (besides throwing the computer from my third story window!) I need this computer to work. I have several papers due next week. thanks in advance. this forum is the greatest. beatniks3

 

[nickdakick]

Did you make sure the Zip drive is set to "slave" ? Two master drives won't go along very well.

 

[beatniks3]

thanks nickdakick for the reply,

i am sorry i did not make it clear in the first place. i have not even installed the zip drive in the computer. the package said to install the software first so i just switched the ide cable from a single header to a double header. i was going to install the software and then put in the zip drive. but the darn computer won't go beyond the memory check and the message 'deskpro 2000.'

 

[Timothy]

Chnage the cable back. If it boots now, it's because Compaq Deskpros use a different kind of IDE cable called a "cable select" cable. Replacing it with a normal cable will do what you are describing.

Aren't Compaqs fun?

 

[beatniks3]

i will try that after work, thanks. i don't know if that is the probelm because i have switched the cable before. in fact, now that i think of it, the ide cable that i am trying is the one that came with the computer.

thanks, and please more replys.


what do they say across computer land?
I hear the screaming in one loud voice 'COMPAQ IS SUCK!'

beatniks3

 

[beatniks3]

could someone, even if they can't add any suggestions, please explain the right steps to take to test the sytem. what i mean to say is, should i remove all the cards (pci) and ide cables and start from there? I would just like to add that my video is intergrated so i would not remove it. should check my cpu? would a clear cmos do anything? i really really need this computer to work. it is so much more comfortable to work in one's home. thanks again. any advice is welcome. i am not a complete computer idiot or newbie, but i am easily stumped when the situation goes beyond my experience. i might have to call in the 'expert,' my old roommate who is in computer science. beatniks3

 

[beatniks3]

please help!

 

[jasonlee123]

.....waiting to hear if replacing the IDE cable worked.......

 

[Vampire]

Are you sure you oriented the cable properly? There should be a red stripe along one edge of the cable. This stripe is supposed to match up with pin 1 on the connector. Check it both at the HD end and the HD end. Good luck.

 

[beatniks3]

hi again,
well last night after a short talk with my old roommate i fixed the probelm. he suggested to reseat the ram. i did it and it worked! i have no idea why, but i am so happy that it worked. thanks to everyone who offered advice. beatniks3

 

[Souka]

Great to hear.

Kinda wierd that the memory count worked, but resetting the ram fixed the problem....oh well....