deejay100six

Hi Guys, Spent quite a bit of time now fiddling around with old computers but now i have a real one to fiddle with.

It belongs to my neice and i said i would take a look so i am out to impress her.

Tried searching for solution here but obviously the search forum facility is another one of them things on the site that needs fixing.

Its a Packard bell desktop with a celeron D processor, XP home edition, not sure yet if there is an o/s disk, there is a sticker on it with serial key but if it comes to reinstall might be difficult as my disk is XP Pro, might be able to borrow one.

Power it up and the on/off button is flashing, the light above start button is flashing red when apparently it should be blue, take the side off, flashing led top right corner of motherboard, ticking sound which seems to be coming from hdd, cpu and psu fans both operational.

Tried cmos reset, no effect and i noticed that the led on mobo has gone dim compared to first time i tried it.

The hdd is a Seagate barracuda 160gb and a brief google says its kaput.

Where do i start, do i need to start dismantling to get full system specs or should i just bin the hdd?

Just been thinking got 2 pc's here both barracuda hdd, a 120gb and other one much smaller but cant remember, Perhaps i should try one of those in it but would need advice about that with it not being my machine don't wanna risk breaking anything else.

Deejay

Deleted090308

Hi

Can you enter BIOS?
What model is the computer?
What happens if you start the computer with the RAM removed / with 1 RAM stick?

deejay100six

Hi Nick, No, i can't do anything. Tried plugging in another hdd, lights still flashing but no ticking sound anymore, nothing on monitor, its not even trying to do anything.

Its an IMEDIA1502 http://support.packardbell.com/uk/it...&pn=PB13201901

Not seen one of these before, site looks like it may be helpful. Trying to contact my neice to find out if its registered with PB.

Only one stick in it, did you mean try startup without ram or just reduce to one stick if more than one?

Thanks for response, no idea how i missed it last night, i was still online six hours after your post and been checking it all day.

Deleted090308

From the user's manual:

deejay100six

No effect but my hdd still plugged in so gonna try putting original back.

Glad to see you being optimistic that it could be something that simple.

Deleted090308

I think it's the power supply. Do you have another you can try?

Also - try starting the computer without a HDD connected.

deejay100six

Just unplugged hdd and powered up, on/off button flashing but no other lights.

Got psu's but only 300w max, will it do?

Deleted090308

Yes - temporarily (but, not if there's a power hungry video card installed).

deejay100six

Right, got to remove psu from another machine so will get back to you in a while. Doubt there will be anything special in this, it looks like one of them Pc world rip off setups, should i just pull the cards anyway to be safe?

@ Dr insanity; looks like you got flash player issues.

dr_insanity

flash player issues? what do you mean?

deejay100six

Hi, noticed you viewing this thread and not recognising you went to have a look at your posts and last time i had problems like you describe, box with x in where images should be, was told to update flash.

@ Eneles; there is a square 4 pin plug from original psu to m/board, this lead not present on this other psu which is likely to be an old one. Is this going to matter?

dr_insanity

Well I'd rather have this conversation in my thread as that's where it's relevant, but I don't think it is a flash update as a user with admin rights on the same machine can view the images fine, like I say, it sounds like a permissions or local settings issue, which one I just don't know.

and yes, the 4-pin will matter

Deleted090308

Yes, as dr. says, the 4-pin plug is necessary for the CPU.

deejay100six

OK, got a psu with the same lead but its in my regular machine so i will be offline for a while.

deejay100six

I'm back, glad my wife not here to see this, our lounge looks like a computer junk yard/workshop.

Ok first thing i was going to ask was if my old crt monitor might not be compatible cos not even a flicker when i switch the pc on, but there are none of the familiar clicking/whirring of the hdd to indicate a boot at all.

Put another psu in and no more flashing lights, the start button itself is on constant yellow, the light above start button flashes red when button pressed but not lit at all afterwards, the green led on the m/board is on constant.

Just realised the hdd was swapped and swapped back again to original and the clicking noise which i suspected was coming from hdd has disappeared.

Looks like its got onboard graphics, theres no card and i'm hoping to learn something here as well as the fix so would i be right to start suspecting the m/board ?

Btw, don't discount the idea that my nephew may have been in the back of this and i think maybe one of these thinks he knows a bit more than he actually does.

Going to have a look at packard bell w/site like i should have done in first place.

Any more suggestions?

Deleted090308

Clear CMOS again:

Get rid of static electricity by touching a radiator or bare metal on the computer case.
Then unplug the computer from the wall outlet and open the case.
Remove the little "coin-like" battery on the motherboard.
Move the "clear CMOS" jumper on the motherboard from pins 1&2 to pins 2&3.
Wait (at least) 15 minutes.
Replace the jumper to pins 1&2.
Put the battery back.
Close the case and start the computer.
Enter BIOS and choose "Load setup defaults" (or something similar) - save and exit BIOS.

deejay100six

Did all that, still no response from anything, nothing on monitor, no boot up sounds from hd and no response from dvd drive when button pressed, don't know if thats relevant.

Deleted090308

Reseat the power supply connections and the CD/HDD cables.

If that doesn't help - and the PSU is OK, then it has to be a bad motherboard.

Do you know what happened when the computer "died"?
Power failure etc???

deejay100six

Still trying to get in touch with her for details but as far as i know the setup was disassembled at my neices and reassembled at her mums.

Deleted090308

In that case you have to double/triple check all connections.

Also - reseat the RAM stick(s).