[SOLVED] Major computer problems. Its not starting up at all

[farahm2]

Hey there folks. I want to start off by saying that I'm not 100% sure if I'm posting this in the correct forum, so my apologies in advance if this is in the wrong section.

Okay, so I have this computer that used to work perfectly fine. Then one day, the monitor went blank, but the computer was still running. I just restarted the computer and it started working normally again, and I just brushed this little occurrence off. As time went on this started happening more frequently until one day this computer just stopped displaying anything on the monitor. That brings us to today. When it stopped displaying anything, I just put it aside, and today (just right now actually) I decided to try to fix it.

So here's what happens with the computer. I plug it all up, get a monitor, keyboard, and mouse connected and the press the power button and the little light on the computer lights up like it normally does. But nothing shows on the monitor. It will run for like 20 seconds normally, and then it starts beeping. The first beep is about 5 seconds, and the second one is a little longer, around 10 or 15 seconds. And all this time the monitor is just blank.

Some of the things I have already tried are using a different monitor, replacing the video card, and trying it with a new hard drive. No luck for any of those.

So what I'm asking from you guys is a little coaching and guidance on how I would go about getting this machine fixed.

The computer itself is an HP Pavilion a6120n. It originally came with Windows Vista, but I had later upgraded to Windows 7. Sorry for having such a long post, and for any help, tips, or advice I want to thank you in advance.

[tyza]

You should try cleaning the ram or replacing it .

[farahm2]

Hmmm, so I tried the computer again, and looked at that beep guide while it was doing its thing, and according to the beep codes it's the video card issue. It made 2 slow beeps, and one long beep and that happened 5 times in total. Okay. Thank you, at least I have an idea now on what the issue is. So, how would I go about fixing this? Because when this problem started happening earlier on, I bought a new video card and replaced it but that did not do anything.

[tyza]

According to your pc specs, you also have an onboard video.

Does it work when you just remove the gfx card , and use the onboard

instead?

[farahm2]

Ok, wow. So that beep guide ended up helping me out way more than I thought it would. So what ended up happening is that there were two problems with the computer that were preventing it form functioning normally. Initially, the beeps corresponded with sequence for a video card issue. I followed the HP troubleshoot guide and took out the video card and tried starting it up again. Then, it started beeping again, this time corresponding with the sequence for a RAM issue. I had two 1GB, and two 512MB RAM sticks in the computer, so I just took out the 512MB sticks and fired it up again. This time it was fine! No beeps, and as you said in your last post, I plugged the monitor into the on-board video slot and voila! Thank you very much for posting that beep guide. Before this I actually didn't know that beeps from a computer had meanings. I just thought that it was beeping because something in general was wrong.

Anyway, so if you don't mind, I'd like to ask one more question. This isn't anything hardware related. Do you know how I can back up the drivers on this computer? Because I am going to reformat this and start fresh, but I've made the mistake in the past of not backing up any of the drivers and it was a mess trying to get everything restored.

[Tyree]

Just download all the latest required drivers from the manufacturer's site and put them on a thumb drive, external Hdd, burnable media, etc.

[tyza]

We have a driver support section for that :D

Just download speccy and hw info into a pendrive before reformatting.

It will tell you what the unknown devices are later on.

Speccy

HWinfo

TSF Driver Support

Although it is best if you try download your ethernet driver before hand , which would make you get drivers easier ,

Ie7 installer would also help.

[farahm2]

Ahh, I gotcha. Thank you very much for your help by the way. I wouldn't have been able to get this computer back up and running without your help!

Thanks Again!

[tyza]

Glad to know you have identified the problem.

Be sure to visit the tsf driver section if you have any problems, after reformatting.