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From: Bob M on 18 Apr 2010 12:44

> On Thu, 15 Apr 2010 23:06:19 -0400, B__P typed this message:
>
>> I have a store bought PC that I've upgraded extensively. I put in
>> several new hard drives and a new vid card. Everything was fine for a
>> while.
>> Then I moved and the damn thing stopped working. Well, kind of......
>> It turns on, reads the model of the video card and the vid card's mem
>> the screen goes blank and it hangs there. Being only a partial Nim, I
>> CONSIDERED the possibility that something came lose.
>> I pushed all connections together tightly, where they went into the
>> drive, where they met the mother board, I took the mem out and put it
>> back in. I pushed and jiggled the vid card. Nothing seemed messed up.
>>
>> Rebooted, same problem.
>> Tired more stuff - actually exhausted my small Nim knowledge base with
>> no luck.
>> I pulled out all the added drives(?WTH? worth a try.) Same problem.
>>
>> Incidental info:
>> This computer was a work in progress and as such the side is off so I
>> can get to stuff and add stuff when needed. That being said, anything
>> could have happened to it after the move from being pissed on by a goat,
>> invaded by a small daemon or even struck by lightning.
>>
>> As I lie here typing this, I can see the ghostly blank screen just
>> staring at me.
>>
>> All I can thing left to try is to remove the Vid Card and see if it
>> boots.
>> If I've missed something and someone can suggest a different thought
>> process or other things to try, please let me know.
>>
>> Bonnie


Bonnie. The same thing happened to me a few years ago. I was
moving from one apartment to another. I made the mistake of letting one
of my friends that was helping me move carry my computer up the stairs.
He dropped the computer on the steps. After I set up the computer in my
new apartment I was getting the same problem you are. At the same place
in the boot sequence. Turns out that when my friend dropped my computer
it jarred the hard drive just enough that it would no longer work. Once
I replaced the hard drive my computer worked just fine.
Without looking at a picture of your computer screen and only going
from your description it appears that your boot sequence stops at the
time the computer is looking for a hard drive. Might be what your
problem is.

Bob
From: Andy on 20 Apr 2010 05:55


<B__P(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:ak1ps5lin17gbn2o6hp63csmhaiba2lpks(a)4ax.com...
> Andy,
> Thanks for the suggestion.
> But if it was the battery, wouldn't it still boot but just lose the
> cmos info and you'd have to put it in manually each time?
> Not arguing the point, just wondering.
> Anything is worth trying at this point.
> Bonnie
>
>


Hi Bonnie,

I only suggested the battery because a couple of days ago my PC wouldn't
boot either. I'd power up and switch on and everything spun to life but the
monitor stayed blank (no signal) and the HDD light would stay solid for 5
seconds then go out.

My fix was to replace the CMOS battery.

My PC was home-built 4 years ago.


Andy




> On Fri, 16 Apr 2010 09:55:31 +0100, "Andy" <andy(a)NOSPAMmanyplay.com>
> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>><B__P(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
>>news:5bkfs5pmc7qmd2v77jmva5p8pddopbacc8(a)4ax.com...
>>> I have a store bought PC that I've upgraded extensively.
>>> I put in several new hard drives and a new vid card.
>>> Everything was fine for a while.
>>> Then I moved and the damn thing stopped working.
>>> Well, kind of......
>>> It turns on, reads the model of the video card and the vid card's mem
>>> the screen goes blank and it hangs there.
>>> Being only a partial Nim, I CONSIDERED the possibility that something
>>> came lose.
>>> I pushed all connections together tightly, where they went into the
>>> drive, where they met the mother board, I took the mem out and put it
>>> back in. I pushed and jiggled the vid card.
>>> Nothing seemed messed up.
>>>
>>> Rebooted, same problem.
>>> Tired more stuff - actually exhausted my small Nim knowledge base with
>>> no luck.
>>> I pulled out all the added drives(?WTH? worth a try.)
>>> Same problem.
>>>
>>> Incidental info:
>>> This computer was a work in progress and as such the side is off so I
>>> can get to stuff and add stuff when needed.
>>> That being said, anything could have happened to it after the move
>>> from being pissed on by a goat, invaded by a small daemon or even
>>> struck by lightning.
>>>
>>> As I lie here typing this, I can see the ghostly blank screen just
>>> staring at me.
>>>
>>> All I can thing left to try is to remove the Vid Card and see if it
>>> boots.
>>> If I've missed something and someone can suggest a different thought
>>> process or other things to try, please let me know.
>>>
>>> Bonnie
>>
>>
>>Hi Bonnie,
>>
>>If your PC is over 3 years old, there's a chance that the CMOS battery has
>>gone flat. It's the silver, round, coin-like battery you should be able to
>>see on your motherboard. You can buy a replacement at Maplins for �2.99
>>and
>>the most popular type is CR2032 but it's better to actually take the old
>>one
>>out first to check the model number.
>>
>>Andy

From: B__P on 19 Apr 2010 12:37
Andy,
Thanks for the suggestion.
But if it was the battery, wouldn't it still boot but just lose the
cmos info and you'd have to put it in manually each time?
Not arguing the point, just wondering.
Anything is worth trying at this point.
Bonnie


On Fri, 16 Apr 2010 09:55:31 +0100, "Andy" <andy(a)NOSPAMmanyplay.com>
wrote:

>
>
><B__P(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:5bkfs5pmc7qmd2v77jmva5p8pddopbacc8(a)4ax.com...
>> I have a store bought PC that I've upgraded extensively.
>> I put in several new hard drives and a new vid card.
>> Everything was fine for a while.
>> Then I moved and the damn thing stopped working.
>> Well, kind of......
>> It turns on, reads the model of the video card and the vid card's mem
>> the screen goes blank and it hangs there.
>> Being only a partial Nim, I CONSIDERED the possibility that something
>> came lose.
>> I pushed all connections together tightly, where they went into the
>> drive, where they met the mother board, I took the mem out and put it
>> back in. I pushed and jiggled the vid card.
>> Nothing seemed messed up.
>>
>> Rebooted, same problem.
>> Tired more stuff - actually exhausted my small Nim knowledge base with
>> no luck.
>> I pulled out all the added drives(?WTH? worth a try.)
>> Same problem.
>>
>> Incidental info:
>> This computer was a work in progress and as such the side is off so I
>> can get to stuff and add stuff when needed.
>> That being said, anything could have happened to it after the move
>> from being pissed on by a goat, invaded by a small daemon or even
>> struck by lightning.
>>
>> As I lie here typing this, I can see the ghostly blank screen just
>> staring at me.
>>
>> All I can thing left to try is to remove the Vid Card and see if it
>> boots.
>> If I've missed something and someone can suggest a different thought
>> process or other things to try, please let me know.
>>
>> Bonnie
>
>
>Hi Bonnie,
>
>If your PC is over 3 years old, there's a chance that the CMOS battery has
>gone flat. It's the silver, round, coin-like battery you should be able to
>see on your motherboard. You can buy a replacement at Maplins for �2.99 and
>the most popular type is CR2032 but it's better to actually take the old one
>out first to check the model number.
>
>Andy
From: B__P on 19 Apr 2010 12:39

Nil,

Why the PS?
I have a couple I could try to swap out and see, but what makes you
think that is the thing?

Bonnie


On Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:03:28 -0400, Nil
<rednoise(a)REMOVETHIScomcast.net> wrote:

>On 16 Apr 2010, "Andy" <andy(a)NOSPAMmanyplay.com> wrote in
>alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt:
>
>> If your PC is over 3 years old, there's a chance that the CMOS
>> battery has gone flat. It's the silver, round, coin-like battery
>> you should be able to see on your motherboard. You can buy a
>> replacement at Maplins for �2.99 and the most popular type is
>> CR2032 but it's better to actually take the old one out first to
>> check the model number.
>
>The battery holds the BIOS configuration from session to session. Even
>if it was dead, she should still be able to enter setup and choose some
>reasonable settings that would allow the computer to boot up. The
>settings might be lost when the computer was powered down. Also, the
>battery should last for much longer than three years (but, of course
>"should" doesn't mean "does". I've had computer last for decades
>without needing a new battery.
>
>I have a feeling her problem has to do with the power supply.
From: Mike Easter on 19 Apr 2010 14:36
B__P(a)hotmail.com wrote:

> I'm going to pull the vid card see what I get then

Good idea.

You have added: vid card with 256 ram, a SATA card, 'some' drives, and
maybe something else.

Maybe your PS is overloaded on one of its rails.

The original equipment came with a celeron D 333, 512ddr2 (able to up to
4G in 4 slots), and it sounds like the vid, lan, sound, and modem may
have been integrated in the mobo, with a PCI-E 16 slot, and a 100G IDE hdd.

I'm pretty sure the eMachine people didn't put much 'extra' PS on board.

There aren't any more docs at eMachines than these specs
http://snipr.com/vmbxh

Before I just start swapping parts, I like to try to do enough
troubleshooting to point to some particular part or another. In this
case, my troubleshooting would start with less parts.


--
Mike Easter
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