Hard drive failure?motherboard?

Hi all--I am trying to fix up my invalid daughter's computer,have problems.It is an Intel 233 or 266(not sure,she bought it about 1997)32Ram,not sure about hard drive.I know it worked 2 years ago but has been inactive since.
Anyway,on start,no beeps,no post,hard drive light on briefly only,fan is running,CD drive door will open,no floppy drive light,monitor screen blank.
I tried it with another monitor,same thing.
Opened the case,everything seems snug.It has Win95 OS.
Tried starting with a Win98 boot disk,same thing,hard drive does not spin.
I have a feeling it is a hard drive failure but open to other ideas.Would CMOS battery failure act this way?
I do have the vision and fingers of a 74 year old so too intricate repairs inside the case is difficult.
Thanks in advance.

 

Hi Marbar222.

There is plenty of help for you here but it will be very difficult. Your best
course is to call your nearest senior high school or college and explain the
problem. Leave your number and ask if it can be passed on to some of the
students that knows about computers. If you call a college ask for the computer lab or computer center. You should get plenty of help and maybe some new updated parts along the way. Some of those students live just for someone like you that needs them. Don't forget to let us know how you made out.

giles

 

Yes after such a long period of inactivity, and the PC being ancient in PC terms, it could be nearly anything or everything. You will need a tech, student or friend that has some spare parts for old PCs that can help you out, and plenty spare time to muck around with it.

Even if the PC was newer, PCs are like cars. They dont like to be used then inactive for long periods. Like a car you need to turn them over now and them to stop things seizing up or becoming brittle.

The PC you decribe would likely be dead by now if it had been used all along and is past its useful lifespan, except as a glorified typewriter if you do get it going. Might sound brutal and i have had clients that cant afford a new PC and wish the old one would work, but sometimes it is more constructive to be honest about it.

Good Luck!...I think the previous suggestion of seeking help from a student at a school or college is a good one. They will help for the experience and not so much the money.

 

I think that you should try a new battery on the motherboard before doing anything else. The battery in place is bound to be dead by now.

Roger

 

Thanks for replies.
r.leale--I put a new CMOS battery in,same resultNo post or beeps,fan runs ,can hear a sound as if the hard drive was trying to spin then stops.Drive light goes off.Today may have an old hard drive to try in it,but the problem is getting beyond my level of skills.

 

Today I took the hard drive out of this computer and put it in an even older machine(a 133)and it booted--wow.!So I have a working computer,really slow,but all I want is a machine my daughter can practice on to see if she can regain some of her lost skill.
Thank you all for your help,if I decide to try again with the first computer no doubt I will be back.I do notice that in this first machine the CMOS battery does not snap snugly in,maybe part of the problem.

 

Hi,

Congrats on acheiving the the goal

Some things that may help it go a little faster:
(First back-up anything that is important)
Go into Safe Mode (tap the F8 key when you hear the POST beep).
Go to Device Manager and remove any hardware that was related to the old machine. Remove any "double" listings.
If you have any trouble reinstall Windows over itself (if it is really slow it may be having big problems with drivers anyway).

Check in Start > Programs > Start Up and delete anything you don't need "running in the background" (I delete Findfast and MS Office Startup). These can be run from the Programs menu when you want them.

Check in the Windows > Temp folder and delete everything if it will let you.

Other general clean-up (remove unused programs in Add/remove Programs, Temporary Internet Files, Cookies, etc,etc).

Run a "thorough" Scandisk.

Defragment (regularly).

I hope it runs well for her.
PS My friend's 133mhz machine flys (when it's loaded up). I've offered him a 333mhz for nothing, but he is quite happy zooming around with the 133 and won't take it .

Matt