Re: Computer doesn't start, black screen.. no bios

[Dumb_Question]

I have an ostensibly similar, but not identical problem to that described by boyo.

Not sure if it's a hardware or sofware issue.

If my computer should be turned off or otherwise reset, when I restart, 95% (or some other high proprtion) of the time I get the same symptom: the screen remains black, keyboard (and mouse) inoperative.  There is no display whatsoever on the screen.  The small proportion of times it does boot up, it does so normally (if you don't look inside the case).  Thus it is an intermittent fault - at present.  I am waiting fearfully for the day I can't start it, and have taken to leaving it on.

The main 'other' thing that may or may not be relevant, is that when it fails to start the fan comes on at high speed, and on those rare occasions when it does start the fan is very sluggish or doesn't turn at all.  The fan sounds relatively rough but not that noisy.  When it does boot up the fan remains inactive until a CPU temperature of 60C is reached, when it cuts in (so MBM5 tells me, and this seems to be in agreement with SiSoft Sandra {free edition}).  After this the PC is fine, although internet connection has become sluggish and when using the internet the processor often runs at 100% utilsation.

Other details:

I have tried checking that the cables to the 80GB HDD are plugged in properly.
When it fails to start, I get power to the fan and the USB, and the voltages on the connectors seem OK.  The orange light signalling HD activity flashes briefly, before the green lights (I forget the order) come on for a number of seconds on the CD, DVD and 3 1/2" floppy drives.  It does not seem to makes any difference if the is media in these drives, and it won't boot from a 'bootable' floppy.  (I am unsure how to make a bootable CD/DVD and don't know the difference between' burning' to CD and simply writing to it.  I do not know how to use a CD burning program, I downloaded one once but couldn't understand how to operate it.) I don't understand the order it seems to try the drives as in the past I am sure the boot order in the BIOS to try the hard disk last (in case my HD went down).

I have not tried changing the coin cell on the motherboard, that is the next thing, but I'm not hopeful that it make any difference.  I have also removed a lot of dust from the processor/fan by blowing air though it, but I have not removed, cleaned and replaced the CPU heatsink/fan assembly.

I have a set recovery disks (I think they're called) (5 of them) and at present restore to factory set-up is a potential option if the restart problem is software corruption.  The "recovery partition" for returning to factory configuration is not visible to me and this being a computer where the OS was pre-installed, I do not have an XP disk.

Has anyone any ideas as to diagnosis of ths problem ?  Please remember I don't want to switch the machine off for fear that it will not restart !!  I am reluctant to try anything that may result in data being lost, because of the inconvenience factor, but I may have to in future. Because of the value of this PC (scrap value ?) I don't want to spend anything on it ! Also it is the only machine that I can easily access the internet from, so if it goes down I may not be able to access this forum for a while.

Dumb_Question
6.May.2012
Compaq Presario S5160UK DT261A (Celeron 2.7 GHz) - MSI MS-6577 v2.1 - 1.5GB RAM - Windows XP/SP3

[Allan]

I moved your question to your own topic. Please do not start a new question in someone else's thread. Thank you.

[Dumb_Question]

About a problem with boot-up with this PC.
Things have moved on since I last reported.
The machine does boot after it has been off for a number of hours, but only after a number of hours.  If I try to boot as soon as it has been turned off, 30 minutes after, 1 hour later, the old symptoms of non-booting are always manifest: there is power, fans spin, computer tries (LEDs light) HD briefly and DVD and CD (that's another problem) for various lengths of time (no media), but there's nothing on the monitor (black screen), no beeps, no evidence of POST [on board speaker does work].  I've got to stress that the CPU fan comes on, seemingly at high speed.
Whereas if I leave it off for a number of hours, and try then, it does boot (it will even carry on after entering BIOS setup for a look): then I get a message about CPU fan failure, "F2 to continue booting...etc" which what I usually do [which is fair enough because on power up the CPU fan seems to receive a voltage 'kick' or impulse which starts it turning for a bit, but after the initial impulse there doesn't seem to be any power and the fan slowly stops turning and stops, even though I have a new CPU fan].  After that the PC boots into XP as usual  (when it gets to desktop, I immediately open Speedfan and start the CPU manually, which it does after getting to a reported temp of < 50C - my CPU doesn't have a sensor in the core.  It will run for days now, maybe weeks even though I haven't left it on for that long.
Two things strike me: the length of time I need to leave it before it will boot after being turned off, and the fact that when boot fails, the CPU fan is on, but when it succeeds in booting the CPU fan fails.

I can't remember, but I think the phenomenon extends to to the case where I try to boot from a CD (in the DVD drive).

The computer will 'restart' ok (on most occasions, I think if not all, as when I need a fresh start, after a software update needs it, etc).

Has anyone any ideas about this situation ?

Dumb_Question
9.June.2012
Compaq Presario S5160UK DT261A
(Celeron 2.7 GHz)
MSI MS6577 v2.1 Xenon4 (not all v2.1's are the same !)
1.5GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce 6200
XP/SP3

[patio]

Wow... someone doesn't get it...