[Novalug] Hardware problem

[Jay Hart]

Lets assume your theory is right, then what would happen if I pulled the RAM
out and then turned the PC on, with a bad vid card/shipset?

Jay

> If you have no monitor hooked up, how do you know there's a problem?
> Assuming bios is set to "power up" after power loss, then it could
> simply be a bad vid card/chipset.
>
> K
>
>
>
> Jay Hart wrote:
>> Ok, got a little problem here.
>>
>> Guy down the hall from me asks me to look at his computer, tells me it will
>> not power on.  Sounds easy enough, power supply dead, get another, I'm
>> thinking.
>>
>> So, I go and get it in anticipation that I need to research the model and
>> get
>> a power supply that works.  Figure first thing to do is to test and make
>> sure
>> its the power supply.
>>
>> So, I plug the power cord into the power supply, as soon as I do that, the
>> power supply fan kicks on, in additional to the CPU fan turning on. That
>> should not happen unless the power button is on. Disconnect power button,
>> same
>> thing happens.
>>
>> So at this point I have (with power to the power supply):
>> -fans kick in
>> -CDrom is powered, tray will eject
>> -HDD not spinning up (that I can tell)
>> -no beeps from POST test at all
>> -Front power button doesn't do a thing (when connected to motherboard)
>>
>> I take out the NIC, modem, and RAM, see if that will determine anything.
>> Result: no change in machine state. no beeps in POST determining problem.
>>
>> So, I swap to another power supply, maybe board not getting enough power (I
>> use a known good power supply), nothing changes, same as before.
>>
>> The two things that have me stumped are the fact that the fans turn on, (I
>> don't think they should be turning on until I "turn" the computer on) and
>> the
>> fact that nothing is happening during the POST test.
>>
>> I do not have a mouse, KB, or monitor hooked up, so this might be an issue,
>> but I don't think it is. I'm going to test that theory in a second.
>>
>> This is an HP Pavilion, anyone got any experience with this particular make
>> of
>> PC?
>>
>> Any suggestions very much welcome.
>>
>> I have three possible conclusions:
>> 1. motherboard partially dead.
>> 2. bad CPU
>> 3. some combo of #1 and #2, plus something else
>>
>> I can't see the CMOS battery being an issue here.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>