Old Computer Problem

Hi everyone, I have an old HP computer that was running on Windows ME. I took it out of my storage to see if the computer would still work. I put on a monitor and a keyboard with a mouse and turned it on. The pc turns on to the first screen that says HP in blue. after that it does not do anythnig else. I tried getting into the settings but it seems to freeze and then nothing works. I notice that the lights on the key board wont light if i try to enter setup or something. What can be wrong with this computer? I thought it could be the HDD but I can not even get into the bios setup or any other setup from there. the computer just seems to freeze. Can it be something in the motherboard that is not making the computer boot up? Thanks,

How old, and how long has it been in storage? MotherBoards have a battery about the size of a shiny nickel (US coin) They are used to "hold" the BIOS CMOS settings which are responsible for initiating the activity of the machine. If the machine is older, or if it has lain unused for a long period of time, the CMOS battery may have gone dead. You can get a replacement for about $2.50 (US) at any Computer/Electronics and many Office Supply stores. Lotsa things could have gone bad, but a good first step is to replace the battery. Keep us posted with your progress. Best Regards

Hi doug, I believe this computer is from like 2000 or maybe just a little newer. The operating system that is running on is a Windows ME, I believe that the operating system is 533 mhz and is carrying 64 mb of ram. If the battery were to be dead wont the system not boot up at all? Because the computer turns on to a Blue screen that displays the HP sign but it freezes after that? Thanks,

Try replacing the battery. ___________ Or …… If you can use the F8 key while booting (tap repeatedly until you get a Boot Menu) Select - Safe Mode Then go into Device Manager to see what warnings (yellow or red) may be present. Do you still have the ME installation CD? If you can get into BIOS (various keys at boot time F1, F2, F10, ESC, DEL) <– I don't know which for that machine Then set your Boot Order so that Optical Driver (APCI or CD ROM) is first Followed by Floppy Followed by Hard Drive Insert your ME CD and reboot. I don't remember if the ME CD is "bootable" without a Floppy StartUp Disk, but give it a try with the CD only, then select Repair Installation. If you have an ME StartUp Floppy Disk, (you can download and create one from a different computer, at bootdisk.com) Then set the BIOS Boot Order to Floppy Then CD ROM Then Hard Drive Put the Floppy Start Up into Drive A and reboot. Should boot to a DOS prompt with option: "Boot with CD ROM Support" <– Select this one Next: At the DOS prompt enter the Drive Letter for the CD ROM (probably D:\) then press Enter If you know the Setup command from the ME Installation CD, enter it at the DOS prompt. (you will be at risk of losing any saved DATA and Files on the machine (but probably will not)) If you don't know the Setup command, enter: D:\DIR — then press Enter This will give you a listing of the main features on the ME Installation CD. One of them will be: Install.exe or Setup.exe Back to the DOS prompt enter the Setup.exe or Install.exe, to initiate the ME Installation CD to reinstall Windows ME. Best Regards

hey doug, I changed the battery and that was not the problem. The computer turns on goes the the blue screen displaying the HP sign and just stops after that. I rebooted it and try hitting the function keys and for f1 all it does is the blue screen displaying the HP sign comes up and in the bottem it says entering setup but it freezes there. Then i rebooted and pressed escaped and a black screen comes up, the one that usually will come up when you turn a pc on with the bios info. It reads the CPU info and the system ram but then after that it does not do anything else. in the bottom it says to press f1 to enter setup but the pc is frozen so the keyboard wont even work. i think this black screen is like the one that displays everything that the pc has installed but all that comes up is just the CPU info saying that is an Intel Celeron processor 667mhz and the the ram ability. Any suggestions? If i were at least able to get to the bios I would do what you to me so it can boot from a cd but the computer just freezes.

Your problem is sounding more hardware/pre-windows load, and less a matter of installing an operating system (though that may come later. ____________- Can you get the the Boot Menu by continuously taping F8 when restarting the machine. You have to keep tapping F8. If you can, tell us what options are available to you in the Boot Menu. Best Regards

well the thing is like i keep saying the pc freezes as soon as it turns on so none of the function keys work. It will try to initial the setup but it just gets stuck there and wont go pass that phase. I took the computer all apart now and I am going to put it back together now to see if maybe that had something to do with it.

hey doug, I put the pc back together and still nothing. The pc boots up shows the hp logo and then just freezes. I was thinking that it might be that my harddrive got corrupted somehow, but would my haddrive have anything to do with me not even able to get into bios or my setup? can anyone help me with this situation? Thanks

I think you were on the right track to break down the machine to only basics. Make sure all fans are working and the processor is seated right. Try starting it up with 1 stick of ram at a time. If you still have the problem try starting with the other stick. If you don't find a problem with your ram take out all pci and agp cards and disconnect everything except the harddrive and leave the graphic card in if you have one . Then try starting it up. If it starts and run fine with just the harddrive, you can start hooking everything else up 1 at a time and start the computer up each time you connect something. If none of this helps find the problem let us know. If you happen to have a spare hard drive you can substitute that in. With the new Hard Drive, start the machine with a Windows ME StartUp Floppy - Selecting "With CD ROM support" If you have a spare Graphics Card, try substituting that in. ———– Power Supply is also suspect in your described symptoms. The only way that I know how to check the Power Supply is to substitute in a known-good one. There are various testing equipment offered at websites, but I have not used any of them. Power Supply can usually be returned for refund if you buy one and it doesn't help. (ask first) best regards