computer starts...screen stays off

[adam88]

Ok, I really need some guidance

I have a fairly old computer, from what I can remember its about 4 years old but I could be wrong.

one stick of 256mb pc133 sdram

I have no idea what kind of mobo is in this computer, nothing to identify it that I can decifer on it....any way to find out?

Pretty sure processor is an amd athlon 1800?? but not sure.

250w psu -- is there anyway to check its correct operation, I am kinda suspicious of it but the fan blows when the computer turns on.

Windows became corrupt, so I decided to reinstall, but when I was in the process the harddrive began making some really loud noises and would not allow me to continue with the installation. I assumed the drive was pooched and went to buy another one. When I tried to install windows on this drive it would not allow me to either. I did have it plugged in correctly and jumpered as the master. The computer was not essential so I just gave up and left it for about 8 months, but now I have some free time and want to get it running again.

Now when you start the computer, it comes on, but the screen stays in sleep mode. The video card is in good working order (checked in my other comp) and same with the monitor.

Can someone please help me determine the problem, I would really appreciate it

Thanks,
Adam

[boomer_106]

You could download and run the Belarc Advisor and it will give you alot of info about your system.

[adam88]

Thanks boomer,

I am aware of belarc advisor, but I can't start my computer so it won't do me any good right now

[photolady]

Which version of windows did you try to install? If prior to XP, you need to fdisk and format the harddrive before you can add the operating system. For this you would need a bootdisk.

As for you powersupply, fans don't need a lot of juice to operate, so the psu would be enough for that but could also not be enough to power the motherboard and all the PCI cards, harddrive and cpu. What size harddrive did you buy?

[boomer_106]

Oh sorry Adam. I didn't scroll the screen and read the rest of your post so I didnt see all that. My bad. I could only see up til where you said the fan blows then I missed the rest.

[photolady]

Does the BIOS see the new harddrive? Are you getting anything on the boot screen?

[104456]

Have you got another power supply you could try?

[chrsthorn]

Another good system info program is Lavalys Everest. www.lavalys.com

[Robert M]

Adam88,
Whenever a hard drive is purchased, it needs to be supported in one of the following ways or else it won't be operational.
1. "Natively" with the motherboard BIOS.
2. With a hard drive driver installed on an existing drive or overlay.
3. With a hard drive adapter card which has built in BIOS support for the hard drive.

In addition, before partitioning or formatting the drive, the drive needs to be set up or "auto-detected" in the BIOS/CMOS setup program or SCSI adapter's BIOS setup program.

To enter the motherboard's BIOS/CMOS setup once your display is working, a particular key or keys on the keyboard need to be pressed when the computer is powered on. Different brand computers use different key presses to enter the setup. See Vernon's post in the following link for the correct method for your brand of computer.
http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...d+IBM+AND+Dell


But first, about this display problem....
Assuming you have the monitor powered up and the brightness and contrast settings on the monitor turned up, and the monitor's other cable plugged into the computer and still have no display, check the following.

Turn off the computer, take anti-static precautions and check:

1. Memory. One of the first things a computer looks for and tests is motherboard memory.
If the memory is not installed, not seated correctly, or not the correct type, or in the wrong memory slot, the computer's motherboard BIOS does not ever yield to the BIOS on the video adapter, and it cannot initialize and produce a display. Sometimes memory modules must be installed in pairs also.

2. Be sure the video adapter card is well seated into the slot.

3. If the motherboard contains "on-board" video capability also, there may be a method to disable it. There may be a motherboard jumper to disable on-board (motherboard) video.

If any of these problems exist, nothing on the display will be the result. Since the video adapter works in another computer and the monitor works, I suspect a memory related problem.

Do you hear any beeps coming from the computer?
If so how many? What brand and model is the computer?
Without this information, any more help is difficult to provide.

[adam88]

Thank you all for your suggestions....

I took everything out and reseated the memory and video card and the computer booted right up.

However, my bios won't recognize the harddrive for some reason. It autodetected it about 6 months ago when I first tried to install it, but now it won't. (80gb maxtor hd) Also it is very loud when it is spinning.

I am trying to install xp on it and I just get an error message and to be sure that the drive is powered.

I tried to hook up the drive as a slave on my computer and it just seems to hang at the xp start up screen.

Is the hd no good, or is there something else i should check?

Thanks again,
Adam

[SuperSparks]

It does sound a bit like a dead hard drive, but check that you have the jumpers correctly set, as that can cause the symptoms you describe if they're not.