Comp. Help

[Krusty]

Wait a sec... you say the monitor's plugged in next to the serial port? That's not coming from a video card. Unless you got a funky system that has integrated video that works with AH (99.9999% don't!) then you're missing a video card. The monitor should plug directly into the back of the video card.

Def need pictures.

Best bet, however, is to reset the CMOS, and I wouldn't suggest doing that without some... er... "research" first.

[Serenity]

I only have two ram slots and one is full. Yes, it plugs directly into the tower, to the left of the serial plug. I have not added ANY aftermarket parts to this. Im still trying to get digital photos, but its not easy. I cant get my camera to work with this laptop. This laptop is REALLY old, and chewed up by viruses. (I didnt do that, I got this second-hand) If I cannot get you digital photos tonight, I should be able to get them tomorrow. I want to thank you all for this help. I am currently suffering from 'AH withdrawl'. I cannot read/see/think anything involcing world war two without slippin into fits of depression, loss, and nostalgia

[Krusty]

Okay then let's start over...

Originally posted by Serenity
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.

Okay, first off if it plugged into the wall, and the part that went into the monitor was squared-off but with 2 angled corners, then it was a standard power cord. If it wasn't, please describe it.

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.

[/B]

Are you sure? Have they been put back the same way? The monitor's power cord should be in properly if it powers on. The card (we're assuming it's the RAM) might not be. Please take the RAM out and try putting it into the other RAM slot as a test.

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.

[/B]

Is the computer sitting there, or is it in fact booting up? Is the HD led light on the tower blinking? Can you hear the HD accessing, as it loads Windows? The problem could be the monitor, or it could be that nothing's actually happening when you turn your PC on.


[SNIP the rest]

If the only thing she did was yank the RAM, and now you have problems, I'd guess that the RAM isn't seated properly, or is giving errors of some sort.

Does it beep (3 beeps, pause, 4 beeps, or any pattern) when you start it up? Upon re-reading this entire thread I think your RAM is just unseated.

When you put the RAM in, don't just wait til the plastic latches pop inward. Gently but firmly push in the outer edges in. Wiggle it a little if you need to. Make sure it goes in all the way to the stops.

[Krusty]

bump

[Serenity]

By "Im not sure what kind" I meant the monitor. Its a standard cord.

Second, ive tried putting the RAM in both slots. Nothing.

Yes, it does boot up. HDs whir, it does its normal beeps, and everything.

Ive pushed the RAM all the way in. Hopefully I can upload pictures for you tomorrow night.

[Schutt]

Originally posted by Serenity
By "Im not sure what kind" I meant the monitor. Its a standard cord.

Second, ive tried putting the RAM in both slots. Nothing.

Yes, it does boot up. HDs whir, it does its normal beeps, and everything.

Ive pushed the RAM all the way in. Hopefully I can upload pictures for you tomorrow night.

It beeps, thats good. Please describe the beeps. There are long, short and combinations of that.

[Serenity]

Short. 3 I beleive, just as the manual says there should be... (I found the "manual", but it has been utterly useless in helping me.)

[Schutt]

If its Award BIOS or AMI BIOS, i suppose it is Award but you can see in your "useless" manual,
that says that its a memory failiure (see below). So either you damaged the memory with the removing and putting in or you didnt put it in correctly.

Something else, is this your motherboard ?


AMI (American Megatrends International) BIOS Beep Codes.
AMI BIOS uses beeps of the same length and pitch. The error is displayed as a number of beeps.   For example, 4 beeps indicated a timer failure.
 BEEP CODE     MEANING     POSSIBLE CAUSE
 1 Beep (No video)     Memory refresh failure     Bad memory
 2 Beeps     Memory parity error     Bad memory
 3 Beeps     Base 64K mem failure     Bad memory
 4 Beeps     Timer not operational     Bad motherboard
 5 Beeps     Processor error     Bad processor
 6 Beeps     8042 Gate A20 failure     Bad CPU or Motherboard
 7 Beeps     Processor exception     Bad processor
 8 Beeps     Video memory error     Bad video card or memory
 9 Beeps     ROM checksum error     Bad BIOS
10 Beeps     CMOS checksum error     Bad motherboard
11 Beeps     Cache memory bad     Bad CPU or motherboard

Award BIOS Beep Codes
Award BIOS uses beeps of varying duration. A long beep will typically last for 2 seconds while a short beep will last only 1 second. Award BIOS also uses beeps of different frequency to indicate critical errors. If an Award BIOS detects that the CPU is overheating it may play a high pitched repeating beep while the computer is running.
 BEEP CODE     MEANING     POSSIBLE CAUSE
 1 Long, 2 Short     Video adapter failure     Bad video adapter
 Repeating (Endless loop)     Memory error     Bad memory or bad connection
 1 Long, 3 Short     Video adapter failure     Bad video adapter or memory
 High freq. beeps (while running)     CPU is overheating     CPU fan failure
 Repeating High, Low beeps     CPU failure     Bad processor

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Yep it is indeed possible to force the ram 'upside down' in the slot _and_ lock the slots in place. If the ram doesn't have heatspreaders it's flexible enough.

I'm not telling why I'm 100% sure about this..  

[Krusty]

Oh, Ripley... You didn't...?

[Serenity]

My manual says those 3 short beeps indicate the computer is starting up normally.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Originally posted by Krusty
Oh, Ripley... You didn't...?

Indeed I did. The slots were incredibly tight in that mobo so using the 'normal' force for that mobo they actually went in also upside down.

No harm done though, everything worked normally when reinserted.

[DREDIOCK]

If the memory is in question. Try booting with just one stick at a time

unless both sticks are bad. the machine should boot with just 1 stick.

Just seems like the logical course of action

[Blagard]

One other thing, As it seems you have removed and replaced the memory on a number of occassions it is possible that one or other got damaged by a static discharge or even physically damaged in some way.

Drediock's suggestion to try with just one memory card in is a good one. Use the manual to check which slot to use with just one in place. If that fails swap the memory card for the other one and try again.

The odds of both cards being damaged are low so if it is a memory issue your PC should start with one or the other memory in place. If it works you have found the problem is one of the memory cards.

Just why have you removed the memory in the past ? - If they are the same ones as before when it worked, then no problem, but if you have somehow mixed different types of memory that may be a problem. i.e. different speeds and sizes.

[Serenity]

Originally posted by Blagard
One other thing, As it seems you have removed and replaced the memory on a number of occassions it is possible that one or other got damaged by a static discharge or even physically damaged in some way.

Drediock's suggestion to try with just one memory card in is a good one. Use the manual to check which slot to use with just one in place. If that fails swap the memory card for the other one and try again.

The odds of both cards being damaged are low so if it is a memory issue your PC should start with one or the other memory in place. If it works you have found the problem is one of the memory cards.

Just why have you removed the memory in the past ? - If they are the same ones as before when it worked, then no problem, but if you have somehow mixed different types of memory that may be a problem. i.e. different speeds and sizes.

Ive got 2 slots, but just one card. And the reason I have removed them in the past is because my cousin was going to upgrade my computer for christmas and wanted to know the serial numbers off of several things to make sure he could find something compatable. (I coulda just told him, but he wanted to impress me by guessing the type from SN). Its the same card. He never got around to it, so like I said, I have never changed anything in this one. Oh, and yeah, I had something of a busy weekend, so uploading some pictures slipped my mind. Im sorry. I hope to have them up this weekend though.