my pc was working fine. i switched off then 2 hrs later tried to reboot-nothing happened. no post. i've tried reseating everything but have had no luck. the hard drive L.E.D and CD drive L.E.D are coming on but nothing else happens.
anyone got any ideas?

Frank...

Let's start by taking off the cover(s) of the
PC itself.

If you have an ATX type power supply, flip the
switch on it a few times. It's marked - and O.

Try to power up and watch to see if any of the
fans inside your PC are spinning.

Tell us everything you can about your PC as far
as Hardware and Operating System.

Even tho the Harddrive LED comes on if it doesn't
spin up and allow the MBR/Operating System to load
things aren't going to go very far.

Are you just getting a totally blank screen when
trying to power on?

A no post situation is caused by a variety of things
including but not limited to RAM..Video Card..CPU..Mboard..
Power Supply.


RD.

hi ranchdog thanks for replying.
it is an atx power supply and the fans are working( i should have made that clear in my original message)
motherboard is Gigabyte 7VTXE+ processor is Duron 1.2. - HDD is 30GB and i've got a FDD and CD DRIVE.
O.S is Windows 2000 professional
Yes screen is totally blank(have tried switching monitors) and there are no beeps at all
cheers
frank

Hello Frank

I'm using diagnostic flow charts.

1. The PC is not dead because you have lights, fans etc.
2. It appears that POST did not run and that there were no audible beeps. This is, therefore, a POST problem.
3. I will assume that the power supply voltages are correct.
[test if possible]
4. Disconnect all peripherals and system adapter cards except the keyboard and monitor.
[After switching off and disconnecting from the power source naturally]
5. Boot the PC and if POST still does not run you have a fault in the system board or something on it. [This is only if your power supply is good].
6. If it does run; re-connect the floppy,
[and run advanced diagnostics if you can and test the system board. If the system board fails the tests then it is faulty. If it passes the tests]
then:
7. Switch off, re-connect one peripheral or adapter card and reboot. If post does not run then this last item is faulty.
[If it does boot, test this last item with the diagnostics software. If it fails the test it is faulty.]
8. Repeat step 7 until all items are reconnected
[and tested then re-test the whole system.]

P.S. If you don’t have diagnostic software do what you can without it.

If you don't have diagnostic software, you could go to PCWorld.com (or any number of other download sites) and search there downloads for free/shareware diagnostic programs. They have a bunch of different things available.

Good luck,
Budfred

check speaker is attached to motherboard, clear cmos by removing battery or using the jumpers if available, remove and reseat vga card and ram.

my sisters pc once had a strange boot problem, turned out to be psu, so i would also suggest trying to boot after disconnecting floppy and hard drives from psu incase there is too heavy a drain from it. if pc boots with drive disconnected from psu, but not when they are connected it is a power problem.

Go here
http://www.tufftest.com/free.htm

for free, basic, easy, self loading, diagnostic programme.

Just boot with it in place and sit back and watch it test.

Press enter to skip a test.

many thanks to everyone for advice and links.
unfortunately i have had no success- i'm thinking now it could be a problem with the cpu and i maybe ought to try and replace that first.
will keep trying anyway
frank

Include your on-board fan as a suspect item.

My PC started to intermittently fail the POST and was ok after I replaced my aging and noisy fan.

So did your PC still fail to POST with only the keyboard and monitor connected?

Hi, I seem to have a problem like Frank but mine has a little twist, because sometimes it boots successfully like it doesn't have a problem and I can use it for hours and hours then if I power it off and power it on again then those symptoms occurs and the screen is totally dead no beep even. So I am baffled by this because its not consistent.
By the way I have a Pentium 3 600 133 SLOT1 type with a soltek motherboard and 128MB SDRAM 20GB HDD if that would help. Thanks.

So you have an intermittent failure to successfully comlete the "Power-On Self-Test" [POST] same as I did and similar to Frank.
The self-check steps have already been covered.
Basically you strip the hardware down to keyboard and monitor and see if it POST's reliably. Then take it from there.

I'd be inclined to borrow or buy a replacement fan and try that first if it fails when stripped down. Especially if the fan is old-ish.

Sylvander- yes it still failed to POST stripped down to keyboard and monitor.
The fan was bought new at the same time as the CPU(july 2002).it seems to be working as well as it ever did- but i will try and get another fan and check.
Brain drained- i'll be interested to hear if you find anything out about this problem.
cheers
frank

i had a similar problem once. see this thread if you're interested:
http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=4176

I have a shuttle ak31 v3.1 that won't post if I get a power outtage. If your psu voltages are fine (check with a voltmeter), and you've tried reseating and everything else diagnostic you can try, then you may be able to do what ranch dog suggested, and what actually worked for me. It sounds like voodoo, but what would get mine to work is shut the psu switch (toggle on the back of the box) down. Wait about 30 seconds for the power to dissipate (i actually get a barely audible discharging sound) and then toggle the psu switch on and off about 10 times. Then try to boot up. If it doesn't work, try it again. Keep trying. This actually happened to me again today, my house power went out cuz of a storm, and my box wouldn't post. I did this voodoo trick somewhere between 5 and 10 times, and eventually it posted properly. Good Luck.

I forgot to clarify, it's not just a power outtage that does it. It will fail to post even if I just shut down the psu (ie. anytime the mobo is totally discharged.

To Greetings
put a new battery in mobo