Sometimes no display during bootup but power led is on

[brodcool]

Please help me on this: When I boot up my PC, sometimes I got a display sometimes not but the power led is on. Is there something wrong w/ my video card? Here's the specs: Jetway MB (Dual Slot 1 / socket 370), Intel chipset, built-in audio and video, 64MB SDRAM. Another query -> I installed Socket 370 Celeron 500Mhz Processor on same PC but the bios read it as PIII 633Mhz, displayed during PC start-up???? Thanks.

[Grumper]

Welcome to the forum.

Can you hear the computer booting up ??? going through it`s paces ??
Have you tried another monitor
Are you experiencing any random rebootings
Try reseating your video card

Dont worry about the bios reading a different value of the CPU then you might expect, thats a common happening.

[Sylvander]

Download my diagnostic flowcharts from here
www.erniek.eclipse.co.uk/downloads/sylvanderdiags.zip
and print them to leaf through.

During startup, do you hear the single short beep that indicates successful completion of the POST? The video card is only enabled if this completes, so with no POST completed, there is no display enabled.

DIAGNOSTIC FLOWCHARTS
If you begin on the START UP chart you may be taken to the NO POST chart and instructed to "Disconnect all peripherals and system adaptor cards..except...".
If the POST still will not complete, then there is something amiss with your motherboard, or something on it.
That could be the BIOS Setup's configuration settings for example.
[Some of the things "on the motherboard" are not hardware.]

You say this is an intermittant fault.
Is your CPU fan ok, or getting old and noisy?
The only intermittant failure to POST that I experienced was caused by an old and failing fan [which I think was shorting the PSU]. When replaced it the problem didn't return.

Also try this
http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/boot/walk/index.htm
The left side, bottom item is usually the successful step in the startup sequence.

[korky45]

In your post you mention video card but your mobo has a built in video, have you put your own video card in?

Make sure all the connections on the monitor are fully inserted and the same where they fit into the PC.

If you can, a few more symptoms of your problem may help. Does the computer always boot up, but sometimes without a display - and if this is true what do you do. Do you switch off then boot up again, and does it sometimes have a display the second time.

Any sort of detail like I mention could help.


Thanks :)

[brodcool]

thanks guys for the speedy replies...


After reseating RAM my PC will finally boot-up. But another problem came out. When I switch on the PC and windows is loaded, it will suddenly reset. On the first instance of resetting, booting up can only go up short beep and detecting hardwares...after that will reset again. On the second resetting and so on...no more display and short beep but the busy signal of CD ROM Led and HD indicator is blinking and on respectively. In other words, it will just keep on resetting...what's wrong?

[Sylvander]

Which exact point in the startup sequence do you get to before it resets? Let us know.
If it is during the loading of Windows, then you could use "Step-by-step confirmation" in the startup menu and press "Enter" at every command and see which one produces reset.

Try booting into safe mode, see what happens, and let us know the result.

Which version of Windows do you have?

[korky45]

Follow Sylvandar's advice and try the step by step startup procedure. I would do this with the minimum of components installed. You only need:-

PSU, Mobo and CPU, One stick of RAM, Video card (you have an onboard video), HDD, Mouse, internal speaker connected (to pick up any beeps), and Monitor.

Before you start just make a final check that every thing in installed properly. This includes the Mobo - it must not be touching the case anywhere. Check to see that there is enough stand offs pins so there is no flexing of the board which may allow touching of the case. Check that all the cable connections to the mobo are nice and tight.

If you boot up OK start adding the components until you come to the problem. If you don't boot try as Sylvander proposes "Safe Mode"

Thanks:)

[Sylvander]

It appears to be a Windows problem.
So booting into safe mode would be my first move.
If that's successful it confirms that it's a problem with the Windows environment.
Using "Step-by-step confirmation" might then pin-point the exact point at which the problem is produced.
If that doesn't identify the exact software component, you might then use the "Microsoft Configuration Utility" and "Disabling by halves" to find it.
See this http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;273738&Product=winme

A PC restarting is often the PC's response to a "Fatal Error".
The PC can be reconfigured to respond differently [I've forgotten how that's done for the moment].
Which is to instead, display a warning and possible cause.

If this IS being caused by a badly configured item of hardware, then disconnecting all non essential peripherals and adaptor cards might put an end to it.
Then as you re-connect one item at a time and restart, if one of them makes the problem return, you've found the cause.

[brodcool]

Sorry just replied...thanks for the help.

Finally, my pc is working properly. Power supply has low voltage, so after replacing it with new one, the operation is back to normal.

hope you still help me in the future...:)

thanks.