50 replies to this topic

[appleoddity]

Well, I'm not sure what to tell you.. Pull the CMOS battery back out, and try the computer without that battery in.. Maybe it got put in backwards or something?

[SpyderMars]

I never really pulled the battery out. I had a hard time trying to take it off and then i read the post about how resetting it probably wouldn't of done anything so I just left it alone at that point

[appleoddity]

Well, that's a drag. The fans are spinning up, and the power light is coming on when you press the power button, right? Do you happen to see any hard drive activity during the next couple minutes it is on? (The HD light should flash, or you can hear the telltale ticking of the hard drive as it is accessed)

[SpyderMars]

Yup. It lights up and the fans do go on. And I think I hear a faint sound coming from the hard drive.

[appleoddity]

Yeah, the hard drive WILL make a smooth, constant whirring noise, but I need to know if their is any activity. Please observe and see if the hard drive light begins to flash, or if you hear the actual scratching/ticking noise coming from the hard drive like one that is being accessed. This tells you the different between a computer that is not POSTing, and a computer that is booting up properly but just not giving you any video.

[SpyderMars]

Nothing comes out but that whirring sound.

[appleoddity]

The system is not POSTing for some reason, it appears. I'm sorry, but I'm just not sure what else to tell you on this one. Its a good expiremental computer though.. Hopefully, you're not too disappointed if it is messed up. I guess just keep research and playing with it and maybe learn on it all at the same time. Usually, to narrow things down to the motherboard you will want to unplug everything from it that doesn't need to be plugged in. In your case, pretty much the ATX plug, and the front panel switches are about all you need plugged into this board.

[8210GUY]

I can't help but feel guilty here, a simple CMOS reset should not cause such issues, and the fact you struggled with it concerns me, more so as your failed attempt may of played a part in the current issue, so I'm sorry about that it should never of happened.
Now with all the checks you have been taken through there is very little left to try, at least without being able to swap parts for known good ones etc to prove each component in turn, now I can't but help come back to the battery, as you say you failed to do this, I have to wonder if you upset it enough to be behind this, they really throw some massive curve balls at you when they do play up, so if your up for it I'd like to talk you through doing the battery again, this time I will show\explain what your facing, and hopefully you will then be able to achieve this with relative ease.

Now in the following picture(s) you will see a close up of the battery, they show clearly a metal lip, it also shows the jumper next to it in this case, but not all are right next to it, but thats another matter at this stage, I need you to concentrate on that metal lip.


This should help pinpoint what I am on about, now you will need a thin strong object, a thin flat head screwdriver is what most use, now there is only a few mm of this lip showing, what I need you to do is gently but firmly push the top of it toward the plastic side wall, it may take a couple of goes, and you may well find the screwdriver gets in the way a bit as well, but what you should see is as the clip gets pushed against the wall the battery will start to lift from that edge, and ultimately when it has enough room it will come free and lay loose at which point you can pick it up easily, the image hopefully shows what I mean about pushing it to the wall.


With the battery out put another one in, they are cheap and always good to have a spare, and given the probable age of that system it may well be a dead battery, which in turn could be causing all these other problems, but theres no guarantee, one can only hope, but putting the new battery back in is much easier you'll be pleased to hear, insert the back edge into the plastic housing with the edge up by the clip you released it by, then simply press down gently and it should just pop in, you will have no doubt if it goes in right it's that obvious, I really hope this allows us to get back to the original problem, if it doesn't then as above there is little to try unless you have spare parts to swap about, so I really hope this works for you, and with this you will be able to do this now, good luck.

[jephree]

Well I put the memory back, I pulled the CPU out and pushed it back in and unplugged and re-plugged the ATX power cable and the monitor still stayed black. Oh and here's a pic that you asked for. Hope it helps

Take a close look at the top of all those cylinders/capacitors especially those right next to the CPU.

Do you see any yellow "crud" on the top of any?

[appleoddity]

Well I put the memory back, I pulled the CPU out and pushed it back in and unplugged and re-plugged the ATX power cable and the monitor still stayed black. Oh and here's a pic that you asked for. Hope it helps

Take a close look at the top of all those cylinders/capacitors especially those right next to the CPU.

Do you see any yellow "crud" on the top of any?

That was why I asked for a zoom in around the CPU area. The capacitors look fine.

[SpyderMars]

Take a close look at the top of all those cylinders/capacitors especially those right next to the CPU.

Do you see any yellow "crud" on the top of any?

Yup. That seemed fine. Oh and I removed the battery and will try to buy one later on today. Lets see how that works

[SpyderMars]

So I popped in the new battery, but the monitor still stayed black

[8210GUY]

Do you have any other hardware to try in place of whats there ? And do you have a PSU tester ? My bet is whatever is wrong is easily sorted, but without access to more parts and testers it is a helpless case, and obviously spending money on something of that age it not something thats a wise move, but thats relative to the persons situation, are you able to borrow comparable parts to try ? or do you know someone with a PC with similar hardware that you could put the video card from this system into to test ?

[SpyderMars]

Are you able to borrow comparable parts to try ? or do you know someone with a PC with similar hardware that you could put the video card from this system into to test ?

Unfortunately I don't .

And do you have a PSU tester ?

I don't. I don't know what it is. Where can you get one and how much do they cost?

There IS something that I've been meaning to ask. There's this wire that you can kind of see there sticking out, well it's been bothering me ever since I've tried starting up the computer right after I opened it up. I remember unplugging it and having a hard time finding out where it goes again. The reason I think it's funny is because the wire seemed a little bit to long just for it to be plugged in somewhere nearby. Can anyone tell me what that particular wire is, what it does and is there something to this little hunch or am i going crazy?

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[appleoddity]

It looks like your CD-Rom audio cable and it certainly DOES NOT loop around and plug back into the motherboard like that. Remove it completely. Those cables were required back with Win95 and 98 so that analog audio could be played from a music CD in the drive. It would pump the audio output from the CD-Rom directly into the sound card. Windows XP reads it digitally and does not need the cable, and Windows 2000, I suspect, is the same. This certainly could be a problem if you have gone and plugged this cable into a fan power connector or a USB header or something.