Crap!!

Post by **gannon** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 9:33 pm

My computer broke so I'm not going to be very active on the site or with updating my site for around a week.

For some reason when I try to boot the thing the monitor doesn't activate, so I figured it was something with the bios, so I unplugged the power and pulled the bios battery out for 18 hours, but they didn't reset for some reason.

Post by **Sparkfist** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 9:45 pm

Wow that sucks. If the screen doesnt boot, and you dont think it canbe the bios... it my be the OS. Beyond that I dont know what you can do. Though... if you know some UNIX/Linux you can get a live CD distro to boot into and fix any problem that way, if it isnt the bios.

Hope you solve your problem.

P.S. dont worry about updating your site, I myself have gotten use to you updating it every 2-5 weeks.

Post by **gannon** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 9:55 pm

Yeah, the monitor won't even work when I'm booting into dos either

I might just get a new motherboard if I can't figure out the problem soon.

Geebs61 · Post by **Geebs61** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 1:13 am

removing the battery wont do anything because BIOS chips are FLASH based so even if there is no power it will retain the information. It sounds to me to be a video card problem. or a problem with the monitor itself. I have had monitors mysteriously stop working before. My suggestions are to try the monitor on another computer(if possible) or try to boot with a different video card(if possible). on most motherboards there is a specific jumpers used to reset the bios. If you can find documentation on your mobo, you should be able to find out which jumper it is.

diggerdanh · Post by **diggerdanh** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 6:29 am

It sounds like it is a video card problem to me, too. I would do as Geebs61 says and either try another monitor with your computer or try your monitor on another computer. That will help to rule out problems with the monitor.

Does it give off a short series of "beeps" when booting? I don't know the exact sequence or count, but those "beeps" are a code that let you know of a problem. They are standardized, so you should be able to find some info by doing a search on google.

As I mentioned, though, it is probably the video card. I have lost about 3 different video cards (all from different makers, some older, some newer) over the last 2 years in various computers around here. Same symptoms - all of a sudden just no video, computer seems to boot fine. Have you experienced a power outage recently, or a brown-out, or a thunder storm? I have found that video cards are very susceptible to damage caused by power spikes.

If you have an AGP video card then switching out to a new one will be very simple. You can get good performace pretty affordably if you shop around - I bought a GeForce FX5200 with 256MB DDR for about $60 about 4 months ago. Not bleeding edge, but good enough for me to use everyday and good enough to play FarCry, though it might not be great for Doom3 - I haven't tried yet.

If your motherboard has built-in video and you have no AGP slot, then you will have to go with a PCI card. They are not as prevalent these days as they used to be, but they are still out there.

Good luck.

Post by **SpongeBuell** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 7:57 am

I know that the beep code for Award BIOS for a bad video card is long, short, short, and maybe another short.

Post by **gannon** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 1:04 pm

I've tried the video card and monitor on my other computer, and they work fine. I might be able to get that one working today, but it doesn't have a mouse port

Also, if you leave the coin battery out of the computer for awhile, the bios data is supposed to reset to the default settings.

Edit:
Oh yeah, I put the reset jumper in place, and it still didn't work. I also tried 5 other pci video cards that I know work, but the monitor still wouldn't activate.

vb_master · Post by **vb_master** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 1:36 pm

gannon wrote:I've tried the video card and monitor on my other computer, and they work fine. I might be able to get that one working today, but it doesn't have a mouse port
Also, if you leave the coin battery out of the computer for awhile, the bios data is supposed to reset to the default settings.

Edit:
Oh yeah, I put the reset jumper in place, and it still didn't work. I also tried 5 other pci video cards that I know work, but the monitor still wouldn't activate.

The mobo is tthe problem.

RNS0504 · Post by **RNS0504** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 2:40 pm

I do a lot of work in this area (building computers) and can think of a few other possible problems. 1. Did you use the same pci slot each time? I have known that out of all the pci slots, the one on the top craps out the most. 2. Check the memory. Sometimes, if he memory was seated right win first installed, a small bump can case it to not function properly. Try to reseat the memory. 3. IDE cables (ribbon cables). Sometimes, older computers will not display video if any of the ide cables are not seated properly. 4. TV output. If your video card has s-video/component out, try hooking up to a tv. 5. Keyboard/mouse. Although unlikely, this may be your problem. I have a old dell computer somewhere that will only boot if you are using a compaq cp-330 ps/2 keyboard. It used to work with all keyboards. Thats all i can think of for now.

Post by **gannon** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 3:18 pm

I've been thinking of replacing the mobo for awhile now, so that's probably what I'll do. This one is kinda old and uses the evil RD ram!

vb_master · Post by **vb_master** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 4:53 pm

gannon wrote:evil RD ram!

Ahhhh!

What's RD Ram?

JackFrost22 · Post by **JackFrost22** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 5:20 pm

Its the old type of memory i have a lot of it but new computers use sdram.

Geebs61 · Post by **Geebs61** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 6:34 pm

RD ram? Seriously, how many times to you have to crank it before it turns on? Or is it powered by steam?

All joking aside, I agree... It is definitely time to upgrade. You can get obo's extremely cheap nowadays. usually between $20-$50. mine was $70 two years ago and it was bundled with an AMD Athlon XP 1600+. definitely should be able to find something good comparable to that now.

If you need any help, go ahead and ask. Building/servicing computers is what I was born to do.

Post by **gannon** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 8:02 pm

I got my computer around 3 months before ddram was released.
I've been meaning to upgrade the motherboard for awhile. It would cost me more to double the amount of my rd ram with my current mobo than to buy a new motherboard and ddram.

Post by **gannon** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 1:24 pm

I just got my new mobo in today, which is 3 days earlier than it was supposed to come in

. I'll be setting it up in around an hour.

And is it just me, or was the title of the topic changed? Might just be my horrible memory :p

Edit:
Argh!! my p4 cpu uses the 423 socket instead of the 478 socket!! I've been checking around for converters, but I can only seem to find 478-423 converters, and I need a 423-478 converter

Worst comes to wurst I might need to buy a new processor.

Oh yeah, RD Ram came out after SD Ram and before DDR Ram