Author Topic: Comp. Help (Read 1373 times)

Serenity · « **on:** February 21, 2007, 12:47:41 AM »

In a fit of PMS induced rage, my mum made the foolish error of not only removing the plug that provided power to my desktop monitor (not sure what type) but also, having remembered my saying that if you remove certain things from the tower, removed a card from my HP Pavilion 500 tower. Now, both of these have been replaced, the seem to have been replaced properly, (I have removed both in the past for various reasons, and have replaced them now the same way I did in the past) but this time, the computer doesnt work. All the parts are there, the computer turns on just fine, but when the moniter is connected to the tower, when I press the power button on the moniter, the light goes green, and then, after about 5 seconds, goes amber, as it does when the tower is off. When I unplug the moniter from the tower, thr light remains green, and a message comes on saying to check the connection to the tower. I can provide pictures in a day or two of the inside of the tower, so you all can tell me if anything has somehow slipped past me, is missing, or is replaced improperly, but for now all I can give you is the description. I called HP's help line, and since this is quite an old computer, they said it was too obsolete for them to help me. (Apparently once a computer is 5 years old information on it is as hard to find as the city of Atlantis). So, does anyone have any ideas? I really want to get back in the air on Aces High, and be able to charge my i-Pod. Until I get this up, all I have is my laptop which is even older than the desktop and refuses to support an i-Pod even to charge it. Thank you very much in advance!

Schutt · « **Reply #1 on:** February 21, 2007, 04:19:00 AM »

Hey serenity,

start with the easy things first. Make sure you have power on the plug where you plugged the comp in, check if the powersupply is switched on. Check if the disks /fans spin when you hit the power button.
Check if the monitor is plugged into the correct video output, some boards have an old onboard video connector as well which will remain dark when a card is in the comp.
Check if the card is plugged into the correct slot and fully seated, sometimes the cover lid on the back side doesnt slide in place correctly and the card isnt fully plugged in.
You should have a small speaker connected to the motherboard, if you disconnected it to get rid of the beeping connect it again and listen if it beeps when you switch on the computer.
Check on your motherboard which brand and model it is, its printed on it somewhere.

Also tell us which card was removed? The video Card?

If you manage to take a nice photo and put it online that would also help in the diagnosis, but i think youll find the trouble when you go through the list. If not, then accuse your mom of destroying the comp and tell her to buy you a new one, eaven better

.

Serenity · « **Reply #2 on:** February 21, 2007, 07:48:20 PM »

lol Schutt. If this dont work and she DOESNT buy another, well, it gonna be a FUN 3 years for her...

But...

Card is in right, im not sure which it is. I THINK it was video, but its in the right spot and all the way in.

Both moniter and tower are receiving power

all fans spin in the tower

I did not disconnect the speaker, the beeping came because the card was not replaced. When I put the card back in, that problem went away.

The moniter is plugged into the right spot.

theres lots of numbers on the board, but I cannotfind the one you are looking for. The sticker on the back of the twoer says:

HP Pavilion 500
HW BOM: 101 SW BOM: NA70
System Number: P8562A

Any of that help?

Serenity · « **Reply #3 on:** February 25, 2007, 10:37:16 PM »

Bumped because im still f***ed by this little problem...

eagl · « **Reply #4 on:** February 26, 2007, 01:47:24 AM »

If you can find the reset bios jumper on the motherboard, try moving it to reset for a few seconds and then back to the original position, and reboot.

When you tried to boot without the vid card installed, it may have fubared the bios and it could be looking to initialize a pci slot vid card instead of the actual vid card.

Anyhow, try a bios reset.

If the mobo has on-board video, you could try plugging the monitor into that first.

Also, check to see if the video card has to be plugged into the power supply internally. If so, make sure it's plugged in.

Other than that, you could try pretty much taking everything out and putting bits back in one at a time, starting with cpu, memory, and vid card all by themselves...

Serenity · « **Reply #5 on:** February 26, 2007, 02:15:39 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by eagl
If you can find the reset bios jumper on the motherboard, try moving it to reset for a few seconds and then back to the original position, and reboot.

When you tried to boot without the vid card installed, it may have fubared the bios and it could be looking to initialize a pci slot vid card instead of the actual vid card.

Anyhow, try a bios reset.

If the mobo has on-board video, you could try plugging the monitor into that first.

Also, check to see if the video card has to be plugged into the power supply internally. If so, make sure it's plugged in.

Other than that, you could try pretty much taking everything out and putting bits back in one at a time, starting with cpu, memory, and vid card all by themselves...

I have no idea what you just said. But I think you are right about rebooting. What would this reboot switch look like? And ive spent about 13 hours now taking things out and putting them back in. So, ill look for that switch and im 99% sure this inboard vid hookup thing is not included on my board. This is a 2002 computer, so...

eagl · « **Reply #6 on:** February 26, 2007, 03:14:53 AM »

Finding the bios reset jumper is not something I can explain in this forum, and randomly resetting jumpers and pushing/pulling things inside the computer isn't likely to do anything but kill it.

Basically you're going to have to either learn more about how computers are built (hint - google is your friend), you're going to have to find someone to come over and fix it for you (or pay them to look at it), or you'll always be at the mercy of other people who can fuxor your computer by looking at it wrong.

It sounds like your computer is in need of some major work, either serious geek troubleshooting if you're lucky enough to find a skilled computer repair technician who cares enough to try to fix it without simply swapping parts, or a fairly expensive rebuild if it's either the video card or motherboard that's ruined. Either way, you can expect it to not be cheap.

You're going to be at the mercy of your Mom's assistance until you learn more about computers as well as how to keep her from getting so upset that she rips apart your computer. I suggest doing exactly whatever she tells you to do until you move out of the house and working/saving so you can buy your own computer.

DREDIOCK · « **Reply #7 on:** February 26, 2007, 09:54:55 AM »

Pretty easy to tell which card is which by what plugs into it from the outside of the case

Personally I'd put my money on your mom toasting the Vid card when she yanked it out.

Easy way to check this is see if you know anyone with a spare old one and pop that in.

I have an old AGP Nvidia 128 meg card I could give you but given the distance. You can probably dig one up for testing purposes long before it ever arrived.

remember for testing purposes it doesnt have to be a top flight card. It just has to be able to work in your PC.

Anyway. before you start trying to move jumpers around. Particularly if you dont know which is which.

Serenity · « **Reply #8 on:** February 26, 2007, 06:50:10 PM »

I know a TINY bit about computers, my cousin taught me some before he moved. I asked what it looked like because I didnt see ANY switches in there. The interesting thing is that nothing plugs directly into this card. In fact, now that I am looking real close at it, it looks more like RAM. In fact, I dont think I HAVE a REAL video card. The slot that SHOULD hold one (If I am remembering this right) is empty and always has been. Is there any particular part of the motherboard this switch might be near?+

Tigger29 · « **Reply #9 on:** February 26, 2007, 07:18:48 PM »

OK.. memory is a very "small" card.. about an inch wide and several inches long.

The video card will be about 4 inches wide and 6-8 inches long with one side being metal that sits into an open slot in the computer case. Also on the metal side is the connector for the monitor. If the monitor plugs into the computer directly, then it is on-board video - built into the motherboard.

This "reset switch" we keep referring to isn't an actual switch.. it's a jumper... a very small piece of plastic with metal inside that slips over the little pins sticking out of the motherboard in places. Every motherboard has it's "bios reset" jumper in a different place, so it would be impossible to tell you where to look for it. Also if you change the wrong jumper you're going to break something.

I'm going to put this as nicely as possible. It doesn't seem like you are knowledgeable or experienced enough to mess with this any further without damaging something. Your options are to either get Mom to fix this for you (so you'd better start kissing some serious butt), pay someone to fix it for you, OR do some research on your own and learn how it all works. If nothing else search for jumpers and learn what each component in the computer actually is. If you can't tell the difference between a stick of RAM and a video card, I don't think there's much we're going to be able to do with helping you out, although believe me we DO want to help.

Good luck.

Serenity · « **Reply #10 on:** February 26, 2007, 10:29:07 PM »

Thanks trigger. And my mum cant fix it. She knows even less about this than me. And im 100% sure now, its RAM she removed. I took a closer lookat it. The moniter plugs directly into the rear of the tower, and that plug is plugged directly into the motherboard under another plug labled 'Serial'. Now, quick question. If I remember correctly, my cousin told me that the vid card will be plugged into a brown slot with 2 sections. That is it is a regular slat, but with a small spot filled in dividing the plug part in two. Ive found this slot, and like I said, it is now, and has always been empty. Ill try googling for this switch.

Speed55 · « **Reply #11 on:** February 27, 2007, 08:09:07 AM »

http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/pc-building/

Maybe that will help?

MrRiplEy[H] · « **Reply #12 on:** February 27, 2007, 08:19:51 AM »

If she messed with the ram it may be that the ram isn't correctly seated. It sometimes takes quite a lot of force to get the ram all the way in the slot.

So turn the computer off and try to wiggle the ram deeper into its slot. Before you start pushing it make sure it's seated the right way around. There's a notch inside the ram slot which aligns the ram and it can go in only one way. It is, however, possible to insert ram the wrong way if you try REAL hard. It won't work though. If the computer refuses to start even after reseating the ram it's likely that she gave an ESD to the ram while removing it, killing it.

That means shopping time.

Serenity · « **Reply #13 on:** February 28, 2007, 07:13:00 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by MrRiplEy[H]
If she messed with the ram it may be that the ram isn't correctly seated. It sometimes takes quite a lot of force to get the ram all the way in the slot.

So turn the computer off and try to wiggle the ram deeper into its slot. Before you start pushing it make sure it's seated the right way around. There's a notch inside the ram slot which aligns the ram and it can go in only one way. It is, however, possible to insert ram the wrong way if you try REAL hard. It won't work though. If the computer refuses to start even after reseating the ram it's likely that she gave an ESD to the ram while removing it, killing it.

That means shopping time.

On this computer, when the RAM is all the way in, it locks itself in. Its locked in tight. Shopping time I guess...

Krusty · « **Reply #14 on:** February 28, 2007, 08:20:23 PM »

Ahhh... don't be too sure...

I had to open my sister's Dell not long ago to write something down. While in there I popped out one of her DDR2 sticks (hey I'm a geek, I was looking at the labels and numbers on it!). Put it back in... BEEEEEEEEEP system won't start. I was reinstalling windows at the time and thought I'd screwed something up, til I went back in and checked the ram (on a hunch). The locks had engaged but it was NOT fully inserted. I took it out and reinserted it, and felt it go in further than it had when I removed it in the first place.

Next thing it boots fine.

Also, if you have 4 RAM slots and only 2 sticks, you usually have to fill the slots closest to the back of the case first. Some mobos give errors if you fill slot 3 and leave slot 0 empty.

EDIT: Digital camera pics would help a lot, if you have one.