PC powers up but won't boot up

[mollie]

I have a self built pc running on windows xp - home.

 

All of a sudden, pc wouldn't boot up, power comes on, motherboard power light is on, but no beep to indicate system start up. Screen stays black, the drives don't respond either. Have checked the hard drives on another pc, I have 2, both are fine and virus free.

 

Any suggestions as to what to try next?

[minerva49]

foxcomm motherboard

 

can any one help got two foxcomm motherboards two different pc both power up ok fans working but no output from onboard vga cant see if bios is engaging symptoms very simular to what mollie reported first pc went down 31st august second went down 2nd september both happened after an auto windows update

[minerva49]

hi mollie both my pc's have simular probelm both developed after an auto windows update let me know if you have any luck on resolving your fault so i can try it on mine.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi to both,

Minerva, your symptoms are entirely different from Mollies, and by the sound of it are related to a windows update, this points to a malware issue, so If you can start another thread for your own problems it would help to avoid confusion. If you wish I can move these posts of yours to a new thread if that is what you would want. PM to me, administrator (RandyL), or other moderator, if you wish them moved please.

 

Mollie, welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help.

By the symptoms you describe it sounds a lot like a PSU, (power supply unit) fault. Although you see the motherboard light, that only works off one of the outputs, the fact there are no beeps suggests at least one of the other PSU outputs isn't there. Do any fans start up or maybe only one?

Nev.

[mollie]

Hey Nev,

 

Thats what I thought too, so I changed out the psu for a new one (a more powerful one in case that was an issue). I switch it on, it powers up, the fans do start up, but thats as far as it goes, no beep, no drives kicking in - it stays like that indefinitely too, tried leaving it a while, but nothing.

 

Even changed the cmos battery, I'm at a loss as to what to do now except get a new motherboard and rebuild!!! That's the only part I can think is at fault now, having checked all the others that may cause boot problems.

 

Very frustrating!

[Plastic Nev]

OK Mollie, to try and isolate this, open it up, power off but connected to ground, then remove all connections to externals such as keyboard, mouse and monitor, speakers etc. Then the hard drive or drives, all CD/DVD drives and floppies if any, to be sure pull the plugs for any front USB connections and also remove any PCI or PCIE cards such as sound or graphics cards, modems, and anything else. Just leave the power leads connected and the front panel start button connected. Power it up and see if any POST beep then. If so reconnect everything but one at a time till it stops giving the POST beep. That should be the fault. I have heard or seen of the CD/DVD drive faulty and shutting everything down.

If however there is no beep at all, it may well be the mother board, or at least a short to the chassis or case. To rule that out remove the mother board from the case and place the board on something insulating such as dry newspaper or a dry wooden table top and try again with just the PSU and start button connected.

If still no beep, are you sure the beep speaker is working? if so on that, then it is quite likely the board is duff.

Nev.

[mollie]

Thanks Nev, will give it a try!