Here is what has happened:

About 10 weeks ago, I heard a scraping sound from within the Hard Drive, and a few seconds later my computer froze, within windows. I was forced to poweroff the computer, then restart it. Upon restarting everything started up as normal, though I heard some more weird noise coming from the Hard Drive and was presented with a Boot Disk Failure, immediately following the BIOS screens. I figured this to be a harddrive failure, through troubleshooting. I ordered another Harddrive. Harddrive arrived a few days ago, and I just got around to installing it today... and am dealing with a new problem, and looking for some input, from someone who knows more than me, about this type of problem... here is the problem:

I boot up and see no BIOS screen, as if the monitor isn't receiving a signal from the videocard. I swapped my videocard out, that was presently/previously installed, with a new one I had in the closet, which made no difference - still no BIOS.

I am now at a loss as to what I should do. I now know it's not the monitor nor the videocard. Whatever problem it is, has happened in the ~10 day time that it's taken to get the new HD and install it, since I first had the problem - what could this be? I was thinking maybe the battery on my motherboard went.. thus I have no BIOS to boot up to? but, what's the likelihood of this, and what other problems could it be? could the AGP slot have died?

Any response, is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

I mistakenly wrote 10 weeks, at the start of my above post, where it should've read 10 days. Sorry about that.

Thanks,
Chris

A few more system specs would be helpful...

Also when you replaced the drive did you check to make sure the jumpers were properly set?

Is the cable properly attached?


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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

Asus K7V Mobo
Athlon 900Mhz
384MB RAM

Cables, and jumpers are set correctly. What I'm mainly questioning, is why is it not even displaying the BIOS/POST screen, which to my belief was shown before looking for a HD, etc..

so, would that make this problem, a new and completely different problem? Or, is it possible that the installation of the new drive has created this? I hit the power, it seems to power up fine and all, just the monitor remains without a signal... though, it's not the monitor or the videocard, due to the fact that I've tested them on another system, and works fine.

Confused,
Chris

Have you tried with the old hard drive again to see if you get your original problem or this new one?
If the monitor plumps up with your error messages again it must be the new Hard drive causing the problem. if not are you getting any beeps from the system when it boots and if so how many?

Is the hard drive configured correctly?

Jumper in the master position, plugged into the end of the cable?

Many drives don't need a jumper or have a different configuration when they are the only drive in the system. Also you can try to power up without a hard drive( it give some kind of error message)...



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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

Hi,

Yes, I swapped out the new harddrive, with the old harddrive that was atleast booting up to Bios(atleast), and still the same blackscreen, and no sign of Bios.

I tried hooking up the minimum required to just boot up to a Bios, which still did the same thing (black screen - nothing else), and decided to try it on another motherboard as well, which also did the same thing (alot of nothing).

There is no beeps/noise coming once I power on, other than the fans.

I tried another video card and monitor, which did the same thing. So I'm thinking it's the processor, as I believe I've exhausted all other possibilities, which is in the mail to me.

I do find it coincidental, at best, that both my HD and processor failed, almost simultaneously? Maybe it was just the processor, but I don't believe It would've made the metal scarping noise I initially heard pre-new HD....and the boot disk failure messages, initially seen. I'll post back once I try the new processor.

-Chris

There might be a shorted connection somewhere. Remove the motherboard from the case. Plug in all the cards and connectors. Try to boot the system. If it boots, there is a short between the Motherboard and the case, or a short caused by one of the hard/floppy cables pushing against something.

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Gouverneur, the Dinosaur from pre-compter era.
Eschew Obfuscation!
If one hundred million people believe a foolish idea, it is still a foolish idea.

Hi Chris
Just had a thought. Are you sure that the noise was coming from the hd and not the cpu fan? I had a fan go on me that made a grinding noise when I booted the computer up then after a little while it would quiet down. It was one of 3 fans so i didnt fry anything. I think with a new cpu coming it might be good to check the fan.