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from working PC to not..!!!

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by ameliapumo

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i have five PC's connected to network, 2 of which are old ones used for testing etc. The PC in question is a pentiom 2 with 200mhz speed and a 10GB hard drive - running w2k advanced server. It was only used as the server - I.e. no other programs ran on it. However, it so happened that this particular PC is the only one with a CDRW drive on it. I wanted to burn a data CD (only ever used 4 times before for copying music d's) and it would not work due to lack of memory. So I diusconnewcted the CDRW and put into another PC.

THIS IS WHERE THE PROBLEMS START!!!

All I did was remove the CDRW by disconnecting the two cables (Power and long one??) and replaced with another CD drive - putting the 2 cables into same places)

The PC wouldnot boot

Tried all usual things - cables pushed in properly, minimal booting, changing bios etc etc. to no avail.

Went to various web sites, and found a similar problem on Microstar (Motherboard manufacturer MS-5158) web site. The solution was to reset bios (using jumper switch), if no good update bios etc, and if still no hope reset CMOOS (Using jumper)

Did all this, but now PC will not start.

It has power to all drives (H/D, floppy and CD), the fan goes round, and the Network card LED flashes, but nothing else. The monitor does not start up, and I can't get into the BIOS configuration screen - even though monitor has no display, pressing necessary keys has no effect.

HELP!!!!!

18 replies

by thechas

With power FULLY off, remove and re-seat both the RAM and the CPU module.

Check / replace the CMOS back-up battery. It could be nearly dead and that can cause corrupt BIOS settings.

Make sure that the video card is fully seated in it's slot.

Now, I assume that power was OFF when you swapped the drives. If not, you may have damaged any number of components.

Chas

by petrahz

If u'r PC still wont start.
Is it connected to the same IDE as another device?
If yes check the jumper setting on the two devices. I havd the same problem on an old PC when 2 devices had the same jumpersettings. (slave / master).

by dkahlbaum

The first thing u should have done, is to disconnect the replacement CD drive. It may have been pulling the voltage down on the whole system due to a fault. Playing with the bios should be a last resort. If the system then fails to boot, disconnect & remove all cards & HD's except the video. (It would be good to replace the existing one with something else, maybe even an 8meg or less, just for testing) Leave the floppy drive & use a dos or win boot disc. U may have done damage to the bios, however I suspect the replacement cd caused the fault.

Rgds, Dave.

by ameliapumo

After submitting Question, finally got PC to boot, but now it will not regognise any drives atall (either original ones or new ones).. It boots, does memory check, does Detection (primary master/slave, secondary master/slave,) and regognises none (even if putting oroginal drives back in). Also says "bad checksum error" I've tried both option (continue with bad checksum or reconfigure), but it will still not get past detecting as described above

by rcom

As Chas mentioned this may be a good time to replace the CMOS battery.

The cables may have become damaged from being in a bent position and the movement inside the case was just enough to make an open in one of the connections. So try different ribbons cables.
Connect the hard drive first if it boots then go to the next drive etc.

Again your movement inside of the case may have made the video card or memory slip up out of the slot.

Put the CD drive on the secondary connector by itself set the jumper to master.

You may have created another problem related to a failed flash. If you saved the original you can restore the BIOS.

www.msi.com.tw/html/support/bios/note/boot.htm

by pittng

Yes, it may be the CMOS Batterry.
Do the following:
1. Get a multi-tester. Remove the battery. Test if it is below or the same as the indicated voltage as shown on the battery itself. Replace it as required.
2. Attach the IDE cables properly. The primary master drive setting should be "master" in the jumper and at the same time the primary IDE cable should be attached to it. The primary slave drive setting should be "slave" in the jumper. The same should be done to the secondary master and slave drives.

by otl

Had good burn in time (pentiom 2 with 200mhz speed) And you finally gave it a power surge, by turning it off to remove the CDRW and powering it back up. The cheapest component or bad solder connection could not handle this and died. Sounds like problems with master buss (motherboard), not letting bios know what is connected to it.

If no video now, then is not even seeing video card or addressing it. Looks like MB went out to lunch and probably will not come back.

5 systems 2 are test, test each component (HD/RAM/video/removable media) to try to determine the bad one(s). If all periferrals work in other systems MB/buss is the problem.

by ameliapumo

Tried to contact - to no avail.

Using 'cut and paste', (as you did (pentiom!!!) please contact me to advise as to what you mean by "Had good burn in time (pentiom 2 with 200mhz speed) "

Discovered fault was due to copper wire falling out of jumper pin on bios (as comment posted) and also video card having a short in it!!

Thanks for advice anyway

by jeneric9

definitely check/replace the battery as explained and then move to the other options. This is a common problem...jeneric9

by ameliapumo

After comment added, and reading answers, I was about to try necessary advice. Disconnected replacement CD Drive, re-booted.... and back to original problem - nothing.

Anyway, tried all usual things and still no response from PC

by ameliapumo

Thanks for everyones help - I have now discovered that when moving PC around, the jumper on bios reset had become dislodged - Although I already checked this, I didn't realise that the copper wire inside jumper had actually fell out of the plastic casing, so all my testin, pushing bits in and out ect was to no avail.

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