So my desktop PC won’t boot after last night, or it is booting but I can’t see it. I might have done this to myself, and I’ve accepted that I ruined it somehow. But just in case there’s a chance someone with more knowledge and experience can help me, I’m asking for help here. Help?! Even if I’m correct and it can’t be fixed, I’d like to know what I did so I can avoid this in the future.
I built this computer myself about five years ago. It’s a Windows machine, XP with all the latest updates. I’m not really a computer expert, but I’m not a complete beginner either. I built the PC using a guide, which was my first experience with the hardware side of the process. It’s an AMD x2 processor with an Nvidia graphics card, an Asus mobo, and 4GB of RAM. The video card is only a year old and I recently updated the drivers. The RAM is less than two years old.
So last night I decided I wanted to try to install a secondary hard drive to my machine. I shut the machine off, dusted it out with a can of air, and plugged in the secondary HDD. My primary is hooked up via SATA, the secondary was plugged in via IDE. I touched no other cables or pieces of hardware.
When I started the computer next, Windows booted properly (because the LED display on my keyboard loaded and the Windows startup tone went off) and I heard the familiar chime from plugging in new hardware. I couldn’t see any of this because both of my monitors were still on standby. Either my mouse wasn’t working (moving it didn’t activate the monitors, but they should have come on during startup), or the monitors weren’t working. I shut the system down and removed the secondary hard drive, seeing if that would fix the monitors, and ever since then Windows won’t boot. No LED display, no startup tone, absolutely nothing. MOnitors still stay on standby the entire time. I’ve tried several combinations of hardware setups, nothing different ever happens. So what did I do?
I’m not experienced at all and I might have done something completely stupid that even a novice knows not to do. But I can’t imagine what could have caused these problems. Any ideas? Thanks for getting this far and for any help you may have!
I can’t see anything on my monitors. Tried another monitor and it didn’t show anything either. I don’t know of anything else I can do to see what’s happening when the PC starts up… Mobo has no onboard video, so if the video card shorted or something, I can’t tell. The original SATA HDD is still spinning when the machine turns on, from what I can tell.
After the initial problem (windows booted, no video), I uninstalled the second HDD and started the computer up with the same exact configuration as before I did anything (this is when Windows never booted and I still had no video). I didn’t change any jumpers on my original SATA drive (I don’t think it even has any). My original install of the IDE drive had the jumper set to “slave.” I have no idea if that was the right call, but a website I checked said it didn’t really matter what it was set to anymore(?) so long as the primary drive is SATA.
Thanks for the help, again, I appreciate it. I’m really curious what I could have done so catastrophically wrong. But also, I want to know if I install my original HDD to a new desktop, if this same thing might happen again. I’m scared
Did you make sure you use proper curse word protocol when it comes to computer problems? If my memory serves me correctly, for a computer to all-of-a-sudden stop working after installing a new piece of hardware, protocol states that you are 1) to utter two full sentences full of foul language cursing the computer, 2) then you are to go watch TV for an hour, thinking of how very satisfying it would feel to inflict great bodily harm upon the computer if you really could do without it and when you come back to the computer if it still doesn’t work, you 3) utter at least one more foul language-riddled sentence at it.
Do all of this in addition to actually trying to diagnose the problem. I think there is a rule out there somewhere that states the more frustrated you are with a computer problem that the more simple the solution is. So if the solution is simple and you’re getting appropriately pissed off then you should be able to figure it out.
The first thing I would do is power off and unplug the PC, take the new HDD out of the picture entirely, re-seat the graphics card, and see if it fires up.
It’s kind of funny how upset I get about this stuff. Nothing makes me more angry and full of mindless blood rage than computers that stop working for no real reason at all. I get unbelievably mad, and then an hour or two later, the problem fixes itself and I look like a moron. This time I was just stunned and puzzled. Maybe the thing is toast because I didn’t break anything as is my habit, like you say. Do you know if its too late? I’m positive I can throw this thing fifteen yards. If I hit twenty, maybe it will fix itself AND grow a Blu Ray drive.
Yeah, all the fans (that still work) power up. The HDD spins (I think I feel it spinning) and the couple LED lights I have on the thing power up. Power supply fan spins too.
I haven’t had the second HDD in the last… six or so times I’ve turned it on. But I never unhooked the video card, so I’ll try taking it out and putting it back in.
Also make sure you don’t have any USB devices plugged in. I know that if I boot up my PC with any sort of flash drive or external hard drive plugged in via USB, it’ll try to boot from that first, and it’ll take about 20 times as long to boot up.
If you have a multimeter lying around, check that the rails coming from the power supply are all still live and providing the correct voltage. If one dies you may see some signs of life but no boot screen. It’s happened to me more than once.
Well, I got to square 1.5? System powered up, I even got a Windows start up tone, but the monitors never came on and my LED on my keyboard never showed anything other than the “Logitech” default screen when the software hasn’t loaded. I let it sit there while I was typing this up and it must have restarted, because I just heard another Windows startup tone (no shut down tone), and now my keyboard LED is fully loaded. I can see how many unread emails I have! Monitors are still showing nothing though. Can I safely assume something happened with my video card now? Or could it still be a motherboard problem?
I tried starting it once yesterday with no USB devices, but to no changes. Now I have a keyboard and mouse plugged in via USB. I’m sure I have a multimeter around, but I have no idea what it looks like or how to use it (would be my step-dad’s). No flash or external drives were plugged in when this happened and none are plugged in now, but I did double check, thanks.
Since the mobo apparently diverts power properly, the error is most likely in the video card. Do you have a spare you can test with? This is a very stupid question, but have you checked the video cables and that the power for the GPU is seated properly?
A multimeter looks like this. You might be able to use it to check that the power is diverted correctly from the PSU to the GPU.
Since you get a Windows startup tone, I think we can discount the following:
CPU
HDD
Mobo
Peripherals
PSU
What might have happened is that you interrupted the process of updating the computer’s firmware when you turned off the system. (Or the firmware update process of adding new hardware might have become corrupted, frozen or looped.) This is a problem easily solved on a Mac - with the Firmware Recovery CD - but somewhat harder on a XP system. What you can try is insterting and trying to boot from the Windows XP CD. Hitting F6 should take you to the recovery console or the select function. The computer should load the rudimentary firmware to use your displays from that.
If you get the screen up by doing that, come back and we’ll talk about what to do next.
If not, it’s most probably a PSU to GPU error. (I.e. the graphics card doesn’t draw the necessary amount of power from the power supply.) There may be no damage on the card, but the onboard battery might have to be flushed. Or the connector may have been damaged. You told us you’ve already tried to resocket the GPU, so I suggest you either try with a spare card if you’ve got one lying around, try to boot the computer with the case door open so you can see if the GPU fans go active or the LED lights blink. If the GPU starts, then it’s probably a signal fault to or from the GPU - retrace and resecure all the cables going to and from the GPU and check the socket for damages or dust.
If you can, post full system specs and I’ll have a looksie and see if anyone I know has had the same problems.
Do you get absolutely nothing on screen at all? Not even a flicker?
Try pulling the power plug from the monitor and waiting a minute or two before plugging the cable back in. This will let the capacitors in the monitor discharge. While you’re waiting for the capacitors to discharge, remove the IDE drive. If you want to use it, put it in a USB caddy.
To clarify, yes, I was talking about the CMOS battery. The CMOS battery can be taken out, left out for aproximately two minute and re-inserted to flush the CMOS.
Regarding the “firmware” comment, remember that the BIOS is a firmware interface. However, I’ll admit to the wording being unusual - I’m transliterating from the Norwegian tech terms. What I’m trying to say is that the BIOS might have encountered an error while trying to mount the new HDD and may need to be flashed. Booting from an OS CD may - or may not, I have never tried it on a Windows system - help.
There’s often a jumper on the motherboard so you don’t need to remove the battery. However, given the age of the PC, it’s just possible that the battery has failed - they often have a 5 year expected lifespan.
BIOS would not have tried to update itself unless it was manually reflashed with a utility. I don’t know about Macs, but mounting a new hard drive should not mess with the BIOS at all. Besides which, the motherboard BIOS is separate from the GPU BIOS. Booting from an OS CD won’t matter, but there might (MIGHT) be a reflashing utility that you’d run from a USB drive. You’d have to check the motherboard manufacturer’s website. I wouldn’t recommend that, though, as I doubt that’s the problem.
