"old paint" just won't start up

Greetings,
I have an "older" machine that i just can't even get to boot up.
she powers up (or starts to), the HHD light comes on, the fan on the power supply starts up, and even the floppy light comes on, but nothing else happens. I tried putting in a start up disc, i even tried to put in a "non-system disc ", but it never advances beyond that point. i don't get the blue screen, i don't get even the DOS type screen as drivers load.
should i make it a door stop or what?
it ran Wni98se when it was up

 

IS the monitor working. Any curser blinking on screen. Does it power on from the amber standby state, indicating a video signal from the graphics card?

Have you checked/reseated the graphics card?