Antique PC

danIT · 01-11-2006, 07:02 PM

Ive just visited a member of staff's house to fix a PC, its an old P3 with windows 98, it wont boot up. He moved it from one room to another and now wont boot up.

Screen turns off when connected to PC working on another PC, so monitor o.k!

CD-ROM will not eject when IDE cable is connected to mother board but when IDE disconnected will light up and eject as normal.

Have disconected everthing apart from hard drive inside, and still no boot so not anything to do with floppy or CD-ROM.

Leaves motherboard and Hard drive. Didnt have any spares at the time,

but hard drive and power light stay on together (static) so i suspect it maybe the hard drive which is the problem rather than the motherboard, as it still supplys power everywhere else. Any ideas things to try thursday evening lol?

Cheers!

NetworkGeezer · 01-11-2006, 07:23 PM

Try disconnecting the harddrive just to see if the monitor problem is related to the drive failure.
Do you get POST splash screen.
Can you get into the BIOS.
If you reconnect the CD-ROM can you boot into a live LinuxCD?

Better hope its a motherboard problem because the question will be "..backups?"

danIT · 01-11-2006, 07:31 PM

no bios screen, no post splash screen, didnt try to boot off CD didnt have everything with me at the time, im thinking fingers crossed its hard drive becasue there is a backup!!

GrumbleDook · 01-11-2006, 07:45 PM

Any POST beeps? Without doign the sucking eggs bit ... have you checked a) the power from the PSU to the mobo? b) the PSU is working right? and c) that the battery is on the board ok?

danIT · 01-11-2006, 07:50 PM

lol

yeh PSU fine, checked and wokring fine, no beeps though!

reseated battery, could be battery?:

Ric_ · 01-11-2006, 07:53 PM

solid hard disk activity light tends to suggest hard disk problem - this sympton also occurs when the IDE cable is upside down. Neither of these things will tend to stop the POST screen appearing.

Try resetting the CMOS just on the off chance otherwise a trip to the shops may be in order for a new mobo.

GrumbleDook · 01-11-2006, 07:56 PM

Using a multimeter, test to see if you get a signal out of pin 1 of the IDE ports ... or if you get anything from the speaker connection. I once had a sleaker die in a case and couldn't work out what the other post errors where.

When you say that the PSU is ok have you used a multimeter to check or tried it on a differend mobo?

It seriously sounds like the mobo to me though ...

danIT · 01-11-2006, 08:02 PM

yeh multimeter tested, to be honest im suprised no ones said buy a new computer and pop the hard drive in it!

DMcCoy · 01-11-2006, 08:07 PM

plug the keyboard and mouse in the right way round? I do remember 440BX boards wouldn't boot if the 2 ps/2 ports were plugged in the wrong way :P

Gatt · 01-11-2006, 09:01 PM

Have you checked the jumper settings on the IDE Devices
Are the CDROM & HDD running on the same IDE Cable, have sometimes encountered drives not working if set to Cable Select, and the IDE connectors are not connected properly.

john · 01-11-2006, 09:44 PM

Try it without the HDD connected but the monitor, keyboard and mouse. If still no go, then new mobo time so its either ebay or get em a cheap IBM from Dabs for a few hundred quid and they will be happy as larry for 5 years.

mac_shinobi · 01-11-2006, 10:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danIT

yeh multimeter tested, to be honest im suprised no ones said buy a new computer and pop the hard drive in it!

Yeah get an apple mac, and an external hard drive caddy, slap the hard drive inside the hard drive caddy ( obviously ) Then connect and enjoy

If they dont wanna spend much cash then a mac mini would be a good starting point considering they already have a screen and a mouse and keyboard

Welcome, Register for free! or Login below:
User Name		Remember Me?
Password

01-11-2006, 07:02 PM	#1
danIT Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: UK Posts: 533 Thanks: 17 Thanked 14 Times in 11 Posts Rep Power: 9	Antique PC Ive just visited a member of staff's house to fix a PC, its an old P3 with windows 98, it wont boot up. He moved it from one room to another and now wont boot up. Screen turns off when connected to PC working on another PC, so monitor o.k! CD-ROM will not eject when IDE cable is connected to mother board but when IDE disconnected will light up and eject as normal. Have disconected everthing apart from hard drive inside, and still no boot so not anything to do with floppy or CD-ROM. Leaves motherboard and Hard drive. Didnt have any spares at the time, but hard drive and power light stay on together (static) so i suspect it maybe the hard drive which is the problem rather than the motherboard, as it still supplys power everywhere else. Any ideas things to try thursday evening lol? Cheers!

01-11-2006, 07:23 PM	#2
NetworkGeezer Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 1,194 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Rep Power: 0	Re: Antique PC Try disconnecting the harddrive just to see if the monitor problem is related to the drive failure. Do you get POST splash screen. Can you get into the BIOS. If you reconnect the CD-ROM can you boot into a live LinuxCD? Better hope its a motherboard problem because the question will be "..backups?"

01-11-2006, 07:31 PM	#3
danIT Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: UK Posts: 533 Thanks: 17 Thanked 14 Times in 11 Posts Rep Power: 9	Re: Antique PC no bios screen, no post splash screen, didnt try to boot off CD didnt have everything with me at the time, im thinking fingers crossed its hard drive becasue there is a backup!!

01-11-2006, 07:45 PM	#4
GrumbleDook Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Kettering, Northants Posts: 5,118 Thanks: 54 Thanked 206 Times in 110 Posts Blog Entries: 1 Rep Power: 55	Re: Antique PC Any POST beeps? Without doign the sucking eggs bit ... have you checked a) the power from the PSU to the mobo? b) the PSU is working right? and c) that the battery is on the board ok?

01-11-2006, 07:50 PM	#5
danIT Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: UK Posts: 533 Thanks: 17 Thanked 14 Times in 11 Posts Rep Power: 9	Re: Antique PC lol yeh PSU fine, checked and wokring fine, no beeps though! reseated battery, could be battery?:

01-11-2006, 07:53 PM	#6
Ric_ Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Lancashire Posts: 5,578 Thanks: 30 Thanked 151 Times in 132 Posts Rep Power: 44	Re: Antique PC solid hard disk activity light tends to suggest hard disk problem - this sympton also occurs when the IDE cable is upside down. Neither of these things will tend to stop the POST screen appearing. Try resetting the CMOS just on the off chance otherwise a trip to the shops may be in order for a new mobo.

01-11-2006, 07:56 PM	#7
GrumbleDook Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Kettering, Northants Posts: 5,118 Thanks: 54 Thanked 206 Times in 110 Posts Blog Entries: 1 Rep Power: 55	Re: Antique PC Using a multimeter, test to see if you get a signal out of pin 1 of the IDE ports ... or if you get anything from the speaker connection. I once had a sleaker die in a case and couldn't work out what the other post errors where. When you say that the PSU is ok have you used a multimeter to check or tried it on a differend mobo? It seriously sounds like the mobo to me though ...

01-11-2006, 08:02 PM	#8
danIT Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: UK Posts: 533 Thanks: 17 Thanked 14 Times in 11 Posts Rep Power: 9	Re: Antique PC yeh multimeter tested, to be honest im suprised no ones said buy a new computer and pop the hard drive in it!

01-11-2006, 08:07 PM	#9
DMcCoy Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Isle of Wight Posts: 1,958 Thanks: 2 Thanked 123 Times in 113 Posts Rep Power: 32	Re: Antique PC plug the keyboard and mouse in the right way round? I do remember 440BX boards wouldn't boot if the 2 ps/2 ports were plugged in the wrong way :P

01-11-2006, 09:01 PM	#10
Gatt Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Rochdale Posts: 2,299 Thanks: 90 Thanked 46 Times in 34 Posts Rep Power: 22	Re: Antique PC Have you checked the jumper settings on the IDE Devices Are the CDROM & HDD running on the same IDE Cable, have sometimes encountered drives not working if set to Cable Select, and the IDE connectors are not connected properly.

01-11-2006, 09:44 PM	#11
john Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Northern England Posts: 4,386 Thanks: 92 Thanked 51 Times in 46 Posts Rep Power: 24	Re: Antique PC Try it without the HDD connected but the monitor, keyboard and mouse. If still no go, then new mobo time so its either ebay or get em a cheap IBM from Dabs for a few hundred quid and they will be happy as larry for 5 years.

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)

Thread Tools	Search Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search Thread: Advanced Search

Register now for FREE and post messages!
Username: Password: Confirm Password: E-Mail: Confirm E-Mail: Birthday: Image Verification I agree to forum rules

General Chat forum sponsored by