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  • #2172778

    Compaq Evo D5s HELP!

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    by djonesalex ·

    I am trying to figure out what is wrong with this Evo. When I power it on the lights on the front show green but I don’t hear the fan kick in or anything. The lights just light up and nothing happens. Then if you try to hold the power button to shut it off nothing happens. It just sits with the green lights on. I made sure all the connectors from the power supply were connected along with everything else. I opened it up and the lights on the mother board are on. When I boot up the computer nothing happens on the monitor either it just stays black like its off. I know the monitor is good because I tested it on another computer. Could this mean I need a new motherboard or a new power supply? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

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    • #2812014

      Yes

      by mcleanit ·

      In reply to Compaq Evo D5s HELP!

      I’ve seen symptoms like this cause by things ranging from a dead RAM stick to a malfunctioning power supply. Could also be an overheating protection mechanism. In fact I recently came across a similar issue just today.

      Take out all the nonvital hardware. If there is more than one stick of RAM, remove one and leave the other in. If that doesn’t work, swap it out for the other stick and try again. That checks RAM.
      If not, then there’s a good chance (but no guarantee) that it’s the power supply, and that should be checked next. For a power supply or overheating fault, try pulling the power cable from the back of the computer for 10+ seconds, then plug it back in and see if that works. You can also buy a power supply tester quite inexpensively.

      Then I would test the functionality of the power button at the front. I’m not 100% sure how the D5s behaves normally but the lights might just show power but not that it’s actually “on” and I’ve seen power buttons fail (on my own home computer I had to swap my reset and power on buttons – the reset button is nonfunctional)
      Beyond that, a dud motherboard is not as common but it happens and the symptoms fit as well as the other issues.

    • #2811912

      Update

      by djonesalex ·

      In reply to Compaq Evo D5s HELP!

      I pulled the RAM and tried them all individually but it didn’t make a difference. I did notice that the power supply fan spins when I turn on the computer but the heat sink fan does not. I’m thinking it could be the video card and not a power issue at all..? Also I pulled the processor out and noticed the thermal paste was very old and crusted. Could it be that I need to clean and apply new paste to the processor?

      • #2811843

        The video was my first thought.

        by charliespencer ·

        In reply to Update

        I’d try another video card, at least long enough to determine if you can see even the boot screen. If you can see that, then shut it down and deal with the heat sink fan.

    • #2811846

      Maybe

      by mcleanit ·

      In reply to Compaq Evo D5s HELP!

      All you can do is try. A dead video card could do it. If the VC is missing, the system would likely emit a beep code, but if the card is faulty it might not. Could still be the MOBO though.

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