Computer won't Boot

[Clark031]

Just wondering if anyone has any clue as to what might have caused my computer to totally stop booting up. I was trying to play a game of Ghost Recon and it totally froze up. So I turned the power off. Turned it back on, but no luck, couldn't even get bios to come up, just a black screen. The computer was humming, but it appeared to be registering no activity. I've tried it periodically since then, but the same thing keeps happening. Any input would be great!

[ryan5262]

What excatly happens when you turng you computer on ? Any error messages? Or any Beeps? i have just had a simular problem with the computer not booting and i just Reset the Bio

[Midnightangel]

could be the power pack giving up, that might be where the hum is coming from.
when you attept to turn is on does it beep at all Clark031?

or try turning your monitor on and feel if it develops static as you turrn your system on.
my bet its the powerpack but couls also be CPU or ram like poko said.

[Clark031]

Nothing happens when I turn the computer on other than the sound of it running. I used to beep when it would run the memory check (a second or two after it starts), but doesn't even get that far now. Only have one memory stick in (256). Half of the time i've done this with the monitor off, but still no sign of any life.

[malbolgia]

im with poko see if you can get yourself some ram to test it

[ChiMusic]

I would say "A" power supply lead is dead, to MB. What happened was monitor/mem frooze with the last game. Shutting down killed all mem.

Sounds good huh?

[newby]

Bad ram. Just in case open your PC, pull out & re-seat the memory module into place.

[cadjak]

Can you get into the BIOS setup?
-cadjak

[VIPER_1069]

hmmm how many hard drives do u have fitted i had an 8 gig die on me that i was using as an image file drive and this gave similar problems that the system was dead!!, after getting a new tower with a bigger p.s.u as i need the spave anyhow........ thinking that this was the fault i rebuilt it and nothing worked !? after much head scratching and testing the p.s.u with a meter finding that both towers had fully working power supplys i started fault finding with the usual one component at a time test process that we should all try first but oddly enuff most of us forget to do the simple things 1st lol working with each board etc in turn, nothing seemed to work !? ..by chance i disconnected the 8 gig drive to gain a little more workspace to push the memory into the board in the case and forgot to plug it back in and lo and behold the system sprang to life !? spottin the cable off i powered down and plugged it back in and it failed again so i checked the drive in another machine and again that machine failed so one dead drive and a new pointless extra tower later i got sorted !!!

failing this try the above tips with 1 stick of ram instead of all the sticks and fault find by insertin cards and removing them and see if that makes any difference !!

also take pokos tip here that it could be a dead processor too as likely suspects as a fritzed processor may allow the memory to count up and little else ive seen this before in a system too it counts up ram and reboots to a black screen and nothin !!!

hope this helps

[cadjak]

One thing that I would try is clearing the CMOS. Your mainboard will have a jumper that will do it. Even most of the so-called "jumperless" boards will have one. Check the manual for it's location.
-cadjak

[svgusta]

Before taking out ram, checking p.s.u or other "big" things. Try to take out power cable , put it in, hold in power button for 5-7 secs, if this does not give any luck, test cadjak`s tip, I have done this for some times. It works often.
As long as you can hear humming from the power, cadjak`s tip is possible.

[ipdave]

A few lockups I had were fixed by popping out the CMOS battery for a couple seconds with the power cord completely out (ATX mb's keep voltage to the board unless power switch on the PS is off or unplugged).

I also had an ATI Radeon Video Card that would creep out of the socket and keep it from booting - had to back the screw off holding it in place.

Could be as the others suggested - bad PS, Memory, CPU *is the fan running?*

[ryan5262]

and another thing to do is get your Motherboard manual off the manufactuers website tells you all the tips and tricks what to do when things like this happen

[ChiMusic]

This is like a soap opera. I am waiting to see what the problem is.

[Clark031]

I apologize for the delayed response, but the end of a semester seems to suck all time from my life. I have tried a new stick of memory... no changes. I took out all of my cards except the video card... no change. I took out the video card... no change (my motherboard has diagnostic lights on it which should read all green when properly functioning). I examined the reading from the diagnostic lights, but it changed each time. I have removed the CMOS battery and also reset through the CMOS jumper, still no change. Yes, all my fans are running.

I haven't tried a new processor b/c my fan is attached to it and I cannot lift the lever that allows the processor to be removed (the fan sticks out over it). I had my processor and fan installed on my MOBO so I don't know how to remove it, otherwise I could order a new processor and see if that helps.

I will try to boot with my HD disconnected.

Thanks for your continued responses despite my absence!!!