Comp shows vid card and mobo info then nothing

[watcher6342]

My sons comp quit on him last week and i have no idea what is wrong. it will show his vid card info and his mobo info and that is it. I tried re-installing the win 7 os, but nothing happens. i think maybe the cd rom is bad, but shouldnt it boot up anyway? i dont know if or how to boot from a usb drive. Could that be a way around the problem, or does it sound like maybe the hdd is bad? Any help will be appreciated. thanx

 

[severedsolo]

Hi watcher 6342,

You say you tried to reinstall Windows, did the machine boot that far? or did it just go as far as the first Motherboard and Graphic card screen?

If the latter, then the machine is failing the POST (Power On Self Test) this means that you have some faulty hardware somewhere.

First and foremost, you have already identified the CD drive as possibly bad. If it is causing a problem then the machine may well refuse to POST because the SATA controller cannot initialise properly. It seems to me, (and I admit I don't have a massive amount of knowledge in this area, beyond what I have just said) that the first course of action would be to try unplugging the CD drive from the SATA port.

 

[watcher6342]

thanx. it only made it as far as the vid and mobo screen. why should i unplug the cd drive from the sata port? will it bypass that part and then go onto something else? i know that the hdd is the first boot and the cd drive is the 2nd. will unplugging the cd drive cause it to try booting different? i figured it would be hardware, but knew i needed some help, so i came here. i have learned a great deal about comps just skimming through these and other forums. if it is failing post, and it is some type of hardware problem. is there a way for me to use a usb drive to get into it and troubleshoot it? is there a program i can use? ive read that it could be cd drive/ hdd/ memory/ processor or mobo. i was hoping to find a way into the comp so i could figure it out without having to buy a bunch of parts. its only about 10 months old and its my 3rd build.

 

[severedsolo]

Hi again watcher, sorry for the slow reply. This thread slipped under the radar on my "Threads I posted in" page and I forgot about it.

If, as we suspect it is the CD drive failing, then unplugging it may cause the PC to boot. If it doesn't have to initialise the faulty hardware then within theory the POST Should succeed.

You are absolutely correct in that it could be almost any hardware that is failing, but as I said, as you have already identified one piece of potentially faulty hardware, then that is a good place to start. If that doesn't work, then I would try unplugging all (non essential) hardware piece by piece and hope you find the problem. Including one Ram stick, and then swapping if the one still in fails POST as well.

Im going to put my neck out a little bit, I could be wrong, but I reckon if it's displaying Mobo and GFX card data, it's unlikely to be those. Of course it is entirely possible that just one aspect of the mobo is failing, such as the Sata Controller or the memory slot's though.

On your other question, Unfortunately, if the machine is failing POST, then no, you can't get in to troubleshoot. What you may be able to do though, is unplug the HDD, and try plugging it in to a different machine, if that machine can read the HDD, then at least you know it's not that failing the POST. At least then you can take backups too.

I have also made a post in the private Senior Members forum to ask someone with a little more knowledge than me to take a look at your post, as I said, I don't have a massive amount of expertise in this area.

Hope it helps

 

[Ageeb]

I don't have a suspect yet as to what might be giving you grief, but I have some questions that could help draw me in, and hopefully others.

My sons comp quit on him last week...

Hard lock? BSOD? Reboot? Power down?

I tried re-installing the win 7 os, but nothing happens...

Does monitor go into standby mode?
Any HDD activity lights?


Have you tried to enter the BIOS screen during boot?
Do you have power to all the fans during bootup? Especially CPU...
Are you getting any beep codes at POST?

My personal course of action would be to make sure all connections are proper and snug.
Check for dead shorts anywhere, peek behind mobo, tie up loose molex connectors, etc.
Observe fans on bootup and listen for devices initializing.
Clear CMOS and reset to factory defaults.

If this doesn't give you any leads, it might have to come down to a combination of reseating hardware and/or swapping with available alternatives.

Hopefully your responses will trigger some ideas from some of the other members in here. Good luck and go slow, more will be around to offer their advice.

-Ageeb

 

[TVeblen]

First let me point out that you have a hardware problem. Trying to reinstall Windows or attempting any type of software fix is the wrong direction to go.

There are two separate problems to consider:
No Boot: the computer will not start the BIOS routine - you cannot access the BIOS screens.
No Startup: The computer boots the BIOS routine - but does not initiate the operating system start up.
How we proceed depends on which problem you are having.

You usually press the F2 or DEL key on your keyboard while the PC is first turned on to enter the BIOS. Can you enter the BIOS?

You can disconnect the power cables from your hard drives and CD/DVD drives and then start the computer as a test. The BIOS should POST and run it's routine and then either nothing will happen (black screen - blinking cursor), or you will get an error message (no OS! no boot disk! Duh!!).

If this is exactly what you see happen when everything is connected then you could have a hard drive failure or loose connection.

If you can not get into the BIOS then we need to look in another direction.
Please post back with some info.

BTW: if your DVD drive is set second in the boot order the installation DVD will not initiate. You must have the DVD as the first boot device for bootable CD/DVDs to work. There is probably nothing wrong with your DVD drive.

 

[watcher6342]

i have been able to get it to bios and i have reset cmos. but it will go no further. i did not know that having cd drive in 2nd position would cause problems. i will put it in first pos. and hdd in 2nd and see what happens. thanx for all your help.

 

[watcher6342]

ok , i put cd drive in 1st pos and hdd in 2nd pos. no change. i then disconnected cd drive and still no change. what next?

 

[watcher6342]

since changing boot sequence, i have been able to get win 7 64 bit to START booting and formatting.will hope it takes and starts. will keep you updated.

 

[TVeblen]

The reason to put the CD/DVD drive first in the boot order is so you can boot from CD/DVDs - like your Windows 7 DVD. If you can get far enough you could run diagnostics from it.

Like I said, If it boots and runs the BIOS routine, but then will not start Windows then you could have a failed hard drive.

First check and double check all of your connections to and from the hard drive. Unplug them and plug them in again.

Then check for power to the hard drive. Can you hear it spin up when you turn power on? Does the CD drive light up? Can you boot a CD/DVD?
Try connecting the power cable from the cd into the hard drive and vice versa.

If the drive is getting power and spins up then we can try some diagnostics and (hopefully) repairs. Let us know.

 

[Ageeb]

edit: deleted for redundancy.

 

[watcher6342]

got it working for now.... thank you all for all your help, you were fantastic.

 

[TVeblen]