Green light on back of computer blinking/ticking

[kimsland]

This statement makes no sense to me.  Please rephrase.

I think quaxo answered that properly.

A red 'w i d e' wire? Hmm, probably SATA cable. No?
Connected to the M/B only, probably SATA cable. No?

I think yes

[Davda]

Sorry commando I realized I said that weird I meant to say that there is a thick red wire that has one end plugged into the motherboard but the other end isn't plugged into anything.

[Computer_Commando]

Is this i?


Maybe it came off the hard drive?

[Davda]

Ya that's it. So anyways do I need to buy a new power supply?

[kimsland]

Maybe it came off the hard drive?

Davda, does the Hard Drive have TWO leads coming out of it?
To save another, about what a hard drive may look like, here are two:

This one is IDE flat ribbon data cable


This one is SATA ie that red data cable, pictured earlier





If there is not two leads coming from the hard drive, you need to plug them in.
ONE comes from the power supply
ONE comes from the Motherboard.


Please Google internal Hard Drives pictures, if you are still not sure what a Hard Drive looks like

[Davda]

YES!!!!!!!! It worked!!!!!!! I plugged those cords in and it powered on!!!!!!!!!!!! However there is still one more problem. It is still making the 3 beeps when starting up. I read in some places that I need to take out the ram and put it back in is that right?

[Davda]

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! I decided to go ahead and take the ram out then put it back in. I then unplugged the power cord and moved the computer to the screen. I guess that was a bad idea because when I tried turning it back on it started blinking again and it wouldn't power on.

[Computer_Commando]

I suspect the RAM is not seated properly.  Push them in until the locking tabs catch the notches on the ends.  Make sure the notch on the bottom of the RAM is lined up with the tab on the socket.  You have DDR.

[Davda]

    I tried that. I pushed the ram in until it clicked. The light on the motherboard is still blinking and so is the one on the back of the tower. What I don't understand is how it was working once and then all of the sudden it stopped working. One thing I think I may want to mention is that this whole powering on thing has happened before. It wouldn't turn on. Everyone just kind of gave up hope on it. But one day after about a month after finding out it wouldn't turn on I came downstairs and pressed the power button and it turned on. Is this a sign of a bad power supply?

[jason2074]

Bad or failing power supply. Can you borrow one for testing atleast? Take out also one stick of RAM module if you have 2 to troubleshoot the problem.

[Davda]

Sorry that I haven't posted while I'm just starting to get discouraged. With my christmas money I was thinking of buying a new power supply but before I did I wen't down to my computer and tried again... and it turned on... but started beeping. I am not wanting to buy a new power supply because there is also the beeping problem. The computer is temporarily working so I was wondering what the problem with the ram is. I have taken out the ram many times. However I am kind of confused about that. I keep hearing that I should take out the two memory sticks but it looks like to me that there are 4 memory sticks. Should I take out all 4?

[Computer_Commando]

The beeps is a signal from the computer that some component has failed.  It's not the PSU.  Since it doesn't happen all the time, I suspect a bad RAM module.  You can test the RAM if you can get the computer to boot a CD & run for many hours.
Download memtest and burn ISO file to CD which will create bootable CD.
http://www.memtest.org/

[Davda]

Aaahhh. Well the computer won't turn on again. I am thinking about buying the psu but I firs want to know if I need to replace the ram afterwards. It seems to me that there are 4 ram sticks in there. Is it possible that it is just one of them that isn't working instead of all of them? Because I really don't want to replace my ram.

[Computer_Commando]

1.  You can test the PSU without removing it from the case.
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/ht/power-supply-test-multimeter.htm
2.  Don't replace any RAM until you can test them.

[Davda]

So I checked out that mem test thing but I am very confused. What am I supposed to do? Is there a program I burn to a cd then put it into the computer and then let the magic happen? I am just so confused.