HELP !!! Machine seems lifeless...

Hey All,

This is my first post, but judging by the quality of some of the replies I have read, I have high hopes that my situation can be resolved.

I'm running Windows XP, on a E-machine, AMD processor. Have had it for 2 years with no problems.

Recently, after booting, and entering into my user profile, the computer would automatically shut down the minute I moved the mouse. It seemed to shut down more or less at the same time everytime. I kept rebooting, but it kept indicating "Windows shuttind down ", it would then power down, and immediately power back up, but would NOT reboot windows. The fan and computer would keep going, but the screen would remain dark.

I thought it was some kind of virus (perhaps Sasser), but I have VirusScan running all the time (through AOL 9.0), and I believe I have Service Pack 2 (although not 100% sure of that).

So anyway, I thought I would reset the CMOS, and try to boot from another source. So I popped the hood (with all power off), and switched the jumper to the 2-3 position on the motherboard, waited a few secs, then switched the CMOS jumper back to 1-2.

I then plug the power back in, and press the button and NOTHING. Absolutely nothing. As if I were no even pressing the power button. (There is no power switch on the power supply) so I have to use the switch on the front case.

I thought it might be the Power Supply, so I hooked it up to a tester, and it seemed fine, then I checked the switch for continuity and it seemed fine. Yet I cannot even get it to boot to the CMOS level.

Is there a way to test to see if it is either the mother board, or the CPU?

HELP !!! All my work is on this computer !!

thanks gurus,

EMachineXP

P.S. I noticed if I plugged the system in, and removed the CMOS jumper that the PS Fan, and the CPU fan would start going and all the lights on the front of the machine would flash.....hmmmm....

 

Are you by chance getting the message that 'windows has encountered an error and will restart'? Go to Control Panel\System Properties, click on the Advanced tab, then look for the button labeled 'Settings' in the Startup and Recovery area in the lower third of the window, and click on it. Then uncheck the box for 'Automatically Restart', then OK.
If the box for 'write an event to the system log is checked', then go ahead and close the System Properites.
Then right click on My Computer and select Manage. On the left side you want to go to System Tools\Event Viewer\System. To the right you will see system events, errors will have a red circle on them.

 

Hi and welcolme to the BBS,

If you are changing the CMOS jumper make sure that all power is disconnected. Even when powered-down the motherboard still receives power and changing the CMOS jumper when there is any power present can lose the BIOS.

I would suggest that you disconnect or remove any hardware that is not required for startup, ie. USB, PCI cards, optical drives. Just startup with CPU, RAM, video/graphics, floppy drive, harddrive (you could even disconnect the HD and try booting to floppy), keyboard and mouse. Remove and reseat the RAM sticks, if you have more than one stick of RAM, just try one and try it in other slots.

What type of graphics do you use? Onboard or AGP card? If a card, reseat it.

Disconnect the power and reset the CMOS again with the added hardware disconnected.

You say it started when you moved the mouse. Borrow another mouse and keyboard to try.

After that I would look at trying another PSU or checking the power-on button (if the power-on switch is connected to the motherboard, you can remove the connector and MOMENTARILY short the two pins with the end of a screwdriver).

Again, be careful with the CMOS jumper. You may as well get another battery, it should startup with a dead battery, but I worry about bad connections or corrosion. (Edit: Treat removing and replacing the battery the same as changing the CMOS jumper)

Matt

 

Thanks for the responses guys,

Markp62, I can't really try those suggestions, as I can't even boot the machine. As indicated earlier, when I press the power button, I might as well be doing nothing at all, as the machine acts as if I were pressing nothing at all. The fan doesn't even turn on.

Mattman, I went through your steps methodically. I disconnected all PCI cards (scsi, modem, and firewire), I then disconnected all optical drives, I reseated my RAM, (only have one stick, so I tried moving it to another slot, which didn't work, so I moved it back), my graphics are on-board so left that alone.

I swapped the battery as a precaution, with a fresh one that I checked at 3V.

I ran a continuity check on the power button and it seemed fine (but I also tried shorting it with a screwdriver). .....and nothing.

I ran the PSU through an ATX Power supply checking device, I ran the 20 pin port which came back all okay, then I ran each of the 6 feeders of the PSU, and all the tests indicated that all was okay.

I am completely baffled....

After all this I am still getting absolutely NO life from the fan, or computer when I hit the power button.

Mattman, if I lost the BIOS, what can I do to get it back? and how can I know if that's the problem vs Mb or CPU ?

Thanks again for all the help.

 

Sounds like the motherboard has died and needs replacing. Can you remove the hard drive and install on another computer as a slave and recover your work?

 

Hey Chuck,

Is there any way I can be 100% certain that my Mb is toast before buying a new one? (as opposed to the CPU being toast).

In terms of the HD, my only other computer is a Imac G5. So I was thinking of maybe buying an HD enclosure with USB2/Firewire ports and mounting it via USB2 or Firewire to my Mac and copying all the vital data that way.

Any thoughts ?

Thanks.

 

I might suggest trying another power supply just to rule that out as a possibility. Double check all connections to the mother board and if still a no go then in all likelyhood it is the motherboard. Also check to make sure the cmos jumper is on correctly as they are really small and hard to see.

If you cannot rma the motherboard my personal experience with MSI motherboards has been very good and probably will work in your computer.

 

100% would mean swapping out those basic startup items, CPU, RAM, (Graphics if you have an AGP slot to try a card in), floppy drive (or just try disconnecting it) and try starting with keyboard and mouse disconnected. You would need a very close match for your system. Changing the CPU is somewhat intricate.

Check that there are no capacitors on the motherboard that are swollen or leaking. Make sure that no loose bolts have found their way under the motherboard.

No activity at all does sound like the PSU, but I hope your BIOS is still there.

After that, shock treatment time (but at your own risk!)
The fans start when you have the CMOS jumper removed You should be able to start the machine with the CMOS jumper in the 2-3 (clear CMOS) position. Some motherboards are shipped this way from the factory (don't forget to disconnect the power when changing). You will then need to go through the steps to change it back to 1-2, hopefully that will reset the CMOS.
Power up with the RAM removed, you should get beeps.

You might be able to get a replacement CMOS chip for it, probably only available from e-machines, maybe not worth the effort considering that you may be back at the original problem if you fix that.


I am not sure that a Mac system will recognize a FAT32 or NTFS partition. I don't think so.
If you revamp your system using that harddrive, reinstall Windows to the same folder (C:\Windows?) and reinstall your applications to their original folders. You should be back in business.

Matt

 

Hey Matt,

So here's the latest.

1) No swollen or leaking capacitors, no lose bolts.

2) When I switched the CMOS Jumper to 2-3, the minute I attached the power cord, the PSU Fan, and the CPU Fan start going, and all the lights on the front of the tower start blinking. But there is no boot procedure (HD stays dead),and pressing the power button does nothing, not turn it on or off . Don't quite understand. So when I switched it back, to 1-2, it returned the old status quo of nothingness.

3) Was able to remove the HD, pop it into a case with USB2/Firewire and plug it into my Mac. The volume mounted and I transfered all the info to the HD of my Mac. (at least that)

I just hate the thought of having to toss out this system since it's almost new (2 years, I guess in computers years that's like 14 years). The other issue is that I can't find the board on any after market. it's made by FIC, and only E-machines still seems to have it in stock. Althoug FIC website claims that they will sell me an FLASH EPROM replacement chip if I think that is the problem...just don't know if it's worth tossing more money to solve this problem.

 

This is Crazy ?!?!?

And the Saga continues...

So I called E-Machines and forked out $150 for a new mother board.

I carefully swapped out all the components out of my system onto this new mother board.

And now, when I reassembled everything, the minute I plug the power cord into the wall (without hitting the power button), the PSU fan turns on, the CPU fan turns on, all the lights on the front panel turn on (HD, CD-ROM), except for the Power light. And nothing happens.

The computer does not start a boot sequence. I can hear the HD power up but then nothing, and nothing on the Monitor as well, just black.

I can't even turn off the computer without pulling out the power cable.

This has got to be the most frustrating PC experience I have encountered in my entire life!!

Any advice with this ? Anyone ?

 

Outside shot but your not going to like it if this is the problem. Remove the case cover and then the front panel (push tabs on either side accessable from inside). Keep all wires connected. Plug that puppy into an outlet and try pressing the momentary contact (power) switch on the inside front panel with a small object. Cost - about fifty cents if this is what ails you.

 

The harddrive starts up. Does it seem to be booting through to Windows, except without the monitor/screen? (Activity of the harddrive LED). If so I would think that the problem is only with the graphics/monitor. I have seen a monitor refuse to work on one PC. I tried another monitor on the PC and that worked, I then blamed the monitor. I thought I would try the monitor on another PC, it has been working fine ever since . Try your monitor on another computer and another monitor on your PC, that may "reset" things

You are using onboard graphics, so the only way of resetting that is to clear the CMOS.

Disconnect any added hardware until you get it going. Pull and reseat the RAM and connections. Some connections can seem to be fully seated (some Molex power connectors are very tight). Check the floppy drive cable is not offset on the pins (if the floppy drive connector does not have a seating guide).

Rockster2U thinks it may be something "basic ". So do I.

This may give you a lead. Startup with a key depressed on the keyboard. You should get beeps and this will tell you that the BIOS is, at least, partially going through POST.

Matt