ASCII boot screen

[quint]

First, the PC: Compaq 350 MHz P2, 384 MB RAM, Win XP Pro, (SP1+all updates), 10 GB WD HD, integrated ATI graphics and ESS sound. Haven't installed any new software or hardware for months.

At first, the PC would boot up to the Compaq logo, then hang. Ctrl-Alt-Del would produce a black screen with forty broken vertical green columns at top half of screen. These cover 5 fat blue columns.
Then it would complete booting. That worked once. Ever since, I get a black screen with 4 rows of ASCII characters in red, values 000-217 (I think). It won't restart, I can't get into safe mode, etc. There is no beep during POST, and I can't get into BIOS.

What I did: Checked all cabling and made sure connections were in right place. Took the hard drive out and put into another PC. Ran virus scan, scandisk, etc. Booted normally, no problems. Put the CPU and other components in another PC, they worked fine. Reseated RAM and CPU. Checked board battery. I've always used an anti-stat wrsit strap when working on it.

I'm thinking it may be the motherboard, power supply, or both. When the hard drive gets power, it spins for about 5 seconds, then stops. Jiggling the power cable to the hard drive will make the power go on and off to it. None of the other devices get power, so I can't boot from a floppy. I started with the minmal number of devices, same thing.

I can't use another power supply to test the motherboard, because it uses an odd form of the AT form factor for Compaq. The P8 and P9 connector are there, and a third one is nearby. And I made sure that the black matches black.

Any ideas out there? I'd hate to buy a new component (or PC) when I don't need it or can afford it.

Chris
:confused:

[ski]

If jiggling the HD's power cable turns it on and off, then it's possible that the power supply is bad.
First, make sure that all cable connections are secure.

If they're ok, then you can test the PS with a voltmeter as described here:
http://www.ochardware.com/articles/psuvolt/psuvolt2.html
If you do not have a voltmeter, then you can have it shop tested.
That will tell you if it's definitely bad, and you can decide where to go from there.

[quint]

Hi Ski,
I finally got a multimeter to check the PS. It checked out flawlessly, so I'm guessing the culprit is the mobo. I just can't figure out why it would function perfectly one day, then the other, poof!

[Budfred]

Welcome to http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif

It could be the motherboard due to power surges or just the heat/cool cycles that they go through. However, it could also be one of those boards that have a problem with capacitors. Check your capacitors to see if any seem to be bulging or leaking... if they are, you need a new board for sure. Before that, have you tried a different video card and/or monitor?? I would also try different cables if you have any handy. Did you also try the RAM in another system??

[Paul Komski]

Need to get this beast to POST properly first of all.

the power cable to the hard drive will make the power go on and off to it.

That sounds like a bad electrical connection - can you try another molex connector - or else try crimping the four molex connectors with some small point-headed pliers so that they sit more snugly on the four male pins on the HDD.

[quint]

After jiggling the P8 and P9 connector wires I can sometimes get the PC to boot. But only when using the multimeter probes. Only as far as the Compaq screen, though. Sometimes I can get it to the ASCII screen. When I get this far, it will hang here for several minutes, cursor still blinking, then turn black. And that's it. The wires leading to the connectors have solid connections to the pins, with no frays or kinks. I can only get the PC to boot this far when I use the probe in the backside of the P8 or P9 and jiggle it. No beep from POST. RAM was installed in other PC and works. Spare video card installed into Compaq and I get the same result. No capacitors leaking. I wouldn't mind it so much if I could determine conclusively the answer. It's one of those weird things that will bug me.
Here's the screen shot (a bit fuzzy, but this is what I get):

http://www2.freepichosting.com/Images/135412/0.jpg

[Beta Geek]

As Paul said, that fact that jiggling the connectors returns results really does sound like a connection problem. Also, I’m pretty sure your comp was manufactured well before that bad batch of caps found its way to the market.