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Computer not booting

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by stealth_kong

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I'm hoping you guys can help me out, because currently I'm stumped. Recently my sisters computer crashed on her and i said i would take a look at it. Its a Gateway, other than that off the top of my head i cant think of any other specs. She said it turned off on her during a thunder storm and now when she tried to boot it up, the screen is simply black. No boot screen appears at all, but the monitor does seem to come on. At first I had thought it was a problem with the cpu, but now i think it may be the motherboard. I thought it might be the video portion was fried, but im not sure. Do you guys think this is the problem or, if not, what might it be? thank you for any answers.

5 replies

by jellimonsta

What happens when it is turned on?
Does it appear to get power and any lights come on? If not, it's the power supply.
Does the HD appear to spin? If not, it's the HDD.
If both of those appear fine, are there a series of beeps that you did not mention? If there is a long beep and 2 shorter beeps that is video, if there are 3 short beeps that may mean the RAM was fried.
You have a good chance any or all of them were fried due to storm. I would recommend a surge supressor.

by stealth_kong

The power light and the HDD light come on, and when the power button is pressed, the monitor turns on, but the boot screen never comes on and it freezes this way. No beeps are made at all, and thats part of the reason why i'm having such a hard time figuring this one out. What do you think it might be?

by jellimonsta

You mention the HDD light come on, but do you hear the drive spinning at all? I would assume you do not hear a drive fault (clunking/ clanking) as you did not mention it.
Do you see anything at all on the monitor? Does the monitor light turn amber after a short time signifying it does not see a signal from the PC?
It could be a dead MB. Is it using onboard video? Does the monitor switch to 'No input detected' at all?
Have you tried reseating all cables/ connections.

Also, have you got the install CD that you can see if it will at least boot to CDROM?

[edited to add a couple more things to try]

by rob miners

if the PC han't been moved elsewhere. Turn the power to the PC off at the wall and disconnect the other end from the PC. Wait for a minute and plug the lead back into the PC and turn the power on.

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