PC not booting and no video

Hi,

On the monitor, the power light is on? - what colour if any?

Have you another PC nearby that you can connect the monitor to, to check if the monitor is working properly.

If the monitor works okay on another pc, and your pc sounds like it is starting okay, is the video on-board or a separate video card.

If the monitor doesn't work on a different pc, have you a spare, or can you lend one to test on your pc.

If the results indicate the video card has failed (either on-board or card) then a replacement video card is required. AGP / PCI ?

let us know how u get on,

cheers

The monitor does work with other towers. When I turn on the the emachine tower I don't get any video. I hear it turn on but I don't here a beep nor harddrive noise. Just fan noise. It's onboard video. I tried a new video card in a slot and it still wouldn't do anything. To me it seems the computer would at least boot and give a post beep or something even if the video wasn't working. Please help.

I don't know if this has already been answered but this is most likely the cause. First test that ps in a different pc just to verify that it is not kaputz. If the second pc boots, either get a pci diagnostic card for that pc or bring it in as something on the board is either shorting out or the power is being lost. Most likely cause will be a short.

I'm thinking power supply as well. Another indication you can look for is if the pc beeps when you turn it on. A single beep indicates that everything is ok. Length and number of beeps will indicate different things that you can check with the manufacturer (or google) to find out what it is.

If you are getting no beeps at all, just the fan, I would take a compatible power supply from another pc if available and try it on the one that doesn't work.

If you are getting a series of beeps, look up what they mean and troubleshoot that.

The first thing you need to do is open the case and see which fans are operable. Is CPU cooler fan running, power supply fan, exhaust fan?

Does hard disk spin up? Listen closely.

Will tray on CD drive open and close?

Post a comment with info and then I'll see what I can do.

Dalton

I checked it again with the case open. I noticed that when I pressed the power button on the tower that it sounds like a normal computer turning on. I noticed the cpu fan was running at normal speed. I noticed the lights on the front of the tower blinked (CD Drives) only right after I turned the computer on. The Harddisk light stayed on for about 30 seconds while it was trying to think. I checked to make sure the CD trays opened and closed with the button...they did. Still no video and I didn't hear any beeps.

The power supply is bad. It supplies two and sometimes three different voltages, 5 volt,
12 volt and sometimes 18 volts. All thre are interlocked so the failure of any one and no
boot. In this case it is probably the 5 volt
that is bad. the 12 volts is used mainly for the hard drives and may allow the drive(s) to spin
up but will never come ready. If the 5 volt fails you won't get any beeps or display.

Aaron I would also check the connections on your motherboard. Make sure all of your power connections are firmly seated. Sound like may have power connection problems on your motherboard

Disconnect hard drive also (disconnect all drives sound familar). It is not needed for a basic boot.

How nany sticks of RAM?

If will not boot with only mobo, video, RAM, and CPU installed, narrows it down considerably. Then problem is either RAM, mobo, or CPU. Swap any components you can. If 2 or more sticks of RAM, try booting with each stick.

If not RAM, most likely cause is motherboard simply because they fail much more often than CPUs do.

Dalton

Follow Dalton's advise by stripping the board down to just the CPU, video card (a known working one), know working RAM and a good power supply. Before starting the machine un-plug it and remove the CMOS battery and set the CMOS/BIOS jumper cap to the clear/configure position. Wait for about 5 min then restore the jumper cap to normal position and re-install the CMOS battery. Try starting the machine. If it fails then you can consider replacing the CPU.

Check the main board for any of the little transistor cans having dis-colored or damaged wrapings. Give the board a good sniffing, check for the tell-tale scent of burnt electrical parts.

Make sure the monitor connector doesn't have any bent pins.

I've seen many devices that cause a PC to "spin fans". The best thing to do is to strip the PC down to its essentials (Ram, Mobo, Video, CPU) and check to see if it posts. Something as simple as a PCI modem can cause this sort of problem.

Also, try changing your ram module slot. I had exactly the same problem with a gigabyte board and it was the RAM burnt out one of the slots.

Can you check the cable from the monitor to cpu?
When the cable is always bent, and being on for long hour that may cause heat that can damage the cable.

Well with all the info you have recieved should think you have sorted it by now. But iff you have not try the following.
First buy yourself a digital meter.
Disconnect all peripherals hard drives etc.
With the machine switched on check the power to see if something is dragging one of the lines down.
Try the memory modules in another PC.
If ok, and power ok try replacing the cpu, only problem with changing the cpu is if the motherboard is faulty it could take out the new cpu you put in. I recently had to replace my cpu the pc kept switching off after a few minutes, I spotted it by looking at the cpu temperature which was way too high. any best of luck sherlock.

Regards Cliff

I have the same problem, my computer froze up one day and i restarted it and it turns on, the hard drive spins, power light goes on and the hdd light turns off after bout 35 secs, an has no video, no beeps, no nothing, the cd trays open, and the cpu fan spins and thats about it...

FATHOM, DID YOU EVER FIGURE OUT WHAT WAS WRONG WITH YOUR T2482? I HAVE THE SAME COMPUTER AND THE SAME PROBLEM? IF IT WAS THE MOTHER BOARD DO YOU HAVE A SUGGESTION AS TO WHAT MOBO IS A GOOD REPLACEMENT. I DON'T WANT TO BUY THE SAME ONE IF ITS JUST GOING TO GO OUT AGAIN. THANKS FOR YOUR HELP.

This question was closed by the author

I had the same issue.. First problem was that my Brand new PC speaker was not posting audio errors. I fixed that, and then got constant beeping which pointed to my brand new memory not working. Replaced Memory and all is well..

if windows XP when showing the boot setup screen hit F8 then select safe mode