PC wont start up

[ajackson269]

Hi guys one of my friends has given me a pc which wont start up it seems brand new. When i first turned it on it just beeped so i removed some ram and now it begins to start but while booting it says " ERROR READING OPERATING SYSTEM" or something along thoughs lines any ideas guys if there is a way to sort it or is time for the bin here is the make and model :::

 

ADVENT T9306

[Match]

Hi and congratulations on your centennial post :)

 

Have you tried booting into safe mode?

 

and have you tried booting from CD/DVD?

[BeeCeeBee]

Assuming that you cannot get into safe mode, what can you tell us besides the make and model? What operating system is it supposed to have? Do you have any disks at all? What did the beeps sound like? (long, short, how many, etc.?)

 

Did it ever work for your friend? How much ram did you pull out and what is left?

[Dalo Harkin]

The error you stated is not good at all and would definately point to the HDD or a currupt install in my opinion

[ajackson269]

ok i cant seem to get into safe mode or bios atol but i will keep trying, it has windows xp home and i dont have any discs for the pc. The beeps where long and they seemed to be continuious, it had 2 gig 4 slots of 512 now it has just 512 in the first slot.. The pc was working for my friend then he went overseas for a year and left it now it aint working he cant remember what happened if anything atol .... cheers

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Did you also see anything that said something along the lines of;

 

"Checksum Error" on boot up?

 

Have you checked that all cables are secure and this is a really stupid question I know but have you ascertained that there actually is a hard drive in the machine.

 

Please tell us also just exactly how many beeps you get and if possible the make of the bios as shown on boot up.

[ajackson269]

hi wolfy ive checked all cables and i changed some too there is a harddrive :) as for the amount of beebs im not sure because once i removed some ram it stopped beeping and it starts to boot here is some other info ive found about this system ::

 

 

CPU Intel Pentium 4 651 Prescott (3.4 Ghz)

BIOS Phoenix-Award BIOS. Press DEL to enter

Motherboard MS-7091

Memory 2GB DDR2 PC2-4200 (4x 512MB)

Hard Drive 360GB SATA hard drive

CD Drive HLDS GDR-8163B DVD-ROM

Sony DVD±RW DW-Q30A

Video Card ATi Radeon X600 256MB PCI-Express

Sound Card CMI9880L

Network Card Intel 8255x 10/100 ethernet adapter

Modem Creatix CTX 607 SoftModem

Ports - Front 7-in-1 Card Reader

Ports - Back 1x PS/2 Keyboard

1x PS/2 Mouse

1x Serial

1x Parallel

1x Optical (audio) In

1x Optical (audio) Out

1x SPDIF In (Coaxial)

1x SPDIF Out (Coaxial)

4x USB 2.0

1x LAN

1x Firewire (IEEE 1394)

1x Rear Surround

1x Audio in

1x Microphone

1x Line-Out/Front

1x Surround

1x Centre/Subwoofer

1x VGA

1x TV-Out

1x Modem

Keyboard Advent 'Chicony' USB keyboard

Mouse Advent USB optical mouse

 

 

Drivers

 

Your PC should have a backup copy of all the drivers, you can find it by browsing to the c:\applications\drivers folder. If this folder is missing then you can download some of them from The Tech Guys website.

 

 

 

Motherboard Information

 

 

Form Factor: M-ATX Form Factor: 24.38 cm (L) x 24.38 cm (W)

CPU Support:

Supports Intel Pentium 4 Prescott LGA775 processors in LGA775 package

Supports up to Pentium 4 3XX, 5XX sequence processor or higher speed

Supports Intel Hyper-Threading Technology

System Memory: Four DDR2 SDRAM memory modules, Maximum memory 4GB

Core Logic (Chipset): Intel 915P. Supports FSB 533/800MHz.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Once you removed some ram it started to boot?

 

I thought it only had one stick?

 

It wont boot without ram Alan?

[ajackson269]

em not sure if it will boot without any ram ive not tried that.. Im digging out some cables just now so i can plug this computer in and try your ideas while talking to you all..

 

If its going to cost to much money to repair if we find out what the problem is i may just scrap it and use some parts for my own pc but im wondering if the pentium 4 3.4 ghz procesor is better than the pentium d 820 2.8 ghz processor im using in my own pc ??

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Alan slow down mate as your confusing the hell out of me.

 

You said;

 

i removed some ram it stopped beeping and it starts to boot

But earlier you said;

 

now it has just 512 in the first slot

Re-insert the 512, make sure all cables are secure, reboot and tell us exactly what happens.

[ajackson269]

well when i was first given the pc it had 2 gig of ram 512 in 4 slots but when i tried to start the pc it just gave out long beeps not sure how many then i removed 3 sticks which then left 1 512 stick in the first slot then it began starting up as i have posted in the first thread..

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Ok put all the sticks back, reboot and tell us how many beeps there are.

 

On the post screen you should see the make of the bios too, please tell us what that is.

[ajackson269]

Got it to run HEE HEE it would seem that there wasnt an os on it atol it think that some has been messing with this pc before me and wiped the hard drive. I just installed xp on it and away it went :)..

 

Now im unsure what to do with it, is the pentium 4 3.4 ht a better chip than the pentium d 820 2.80.

 

shall i ask this question as another thread..

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Well that was fast Alan, was the copy of XP installed on another box previously?

[ajackson269]

yes the os disc was a new disc i got when i built ma own pc but i thought i would stick it in to see if it worked and it did.

 

Im i right in saying if i wanted to use the pc i fixed i would have to get a new os disc..

[Guest Wolfeymole]

In a word.................YES.

[ajackson269]

thats cool atleast i know now what the problem was :)

 

but as in a previous post im not sure what to do with it shall i use some parts for my own pc eg. cpu is the pentium 4 3.4 ghz ht a better cpu than a pentium D 2.80 ghz

[Match]

Hi ajackson

 

personally from what I can find out about the two processors

 

Pentium D 2.80 ghz

 

Pentium 4 3.4 ghz

 

I would go with the pentium 4 3.4 ghz, But the thing is that they both use the LGA775 socket, so their for :) you could (if I'm right) just swap the processors and negate the need to buy a copy of XP ?

 

so if it were down to me I would gut the machine and install the best parts into your current machine

 

But in saying that Dalo is the man for this question, so before you start taking things apart I would wait till he posts a reply :)

[Guest Wolfeymole]

You can strip your mates box down to your hearts content Alan and put the bits in your box, well apart from his mobo, if you do change the mobo you will have to obtain a new license.

 

If you decide to just exchange the cpu's then you will still have to obtain a new license for your mates box.

 

Is this more clear?

[ajackson269]

ok cool thanks for the help guys i will stick another thread in the right area about the processor's cheers..

[danieltobe]

Safe mode first

 

Restart the computer and hold down F8 to get it into safe mode. Now try to put in a CD or DVD and tell me what happens?:cool: