very high fan speed - machine does not start

Seems something is wrong with motherboard. Time to call your hardware repair guy or shop around for a new board.

 

You might get a lead by which LED lights are lit when it "jams ". It sounds like it is in the stage where it tests/communicates with the hardware to load it. You may have noticed that the LEDs flash before anything is shown on the screen (normally).

If is not the motherboard, then it will be power, the CPU, RAM or the graphics adapter (as long as you have disconnected all other add-in hardware as I suggested), maybe the keyboard.

It sounds terminal, but if you are going to trash it, you can try anything you like (within safety boundaries). It will add to your experience level.

Try taking the RAM out and see if it beeps.

Matt

 

removed all hardware - removed the memory - no kbrd - mo mouse - no hdd, etc. - just the monitor in the on board video connection
on startup - power light is on - no beeps at all - no screen activity

I have a spare processor lying about from another machine - thought I would throw that in for fun to see what happens - nothing to lose now

thanks