Boring Q, how to troubleshoot a dead PC?

[HomeSA]

I know this a boring Q for all of you into the latest and fastest, but I am hoping maybe one of you hardware Docs can give me a pointer or two.

I have a Compaq 7595 (PIII, 650 MHz) that is dead. How do I troubleshoot what is wrong with it?

What I have done so far is ....

1) put the hard drive into another case and it works.

2) replaced the power supply, and no dice.

Third possibility is the motherboard, but how do I check for that?

Any other possibility?

When the PC is tuned on, nothing happens. The DVD player LED comes on, the hard drive LED comes on, then nothing. The floppy/CD drives don't function, so I can't run diagnostic tools. The monitor stays dark. There are no beeps from the PC.

Any ideas on where to go from here? I know one answer is the recycling center :)

Thanks for reading my boring post ....... HomeSA

[PrntRhd]

Moving this to Core Hardware forum.

Download Sylvander's Flowcharts per this stickypost:
http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=24421

His charts give you a structured method to how to determine the problem without going around in circles.

[Sylvander]

Sylvander’s Diagnostic Flowcharts
Download a copy of my diagnostic flowcharts from here
www.erniek.eclipse.co.uk/downloads/sylvanderdiags.zip
and print them to leaf through.
Begin on the STARTUP chart.
Your PC obviously isn't "dead" because you have LED's glowing.
But is the POST running?
Startup the PC with all RAM removed to see if it gives a warning beep.
If it does, then the POST is running, but not completing.
Does the internal speaker normally work?
What's the history leading up to this problem?

Also try a bare-bones-boot as shown here:
-----------------------------------------------
NO POST, NO BEEP, NO VIDEO
www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=39685
-----------------------------------------------

[HomeSA]

What a great Forum, Lots of help and no flames. PrntRhd, thanks for moving my post to the right forum and pointing me the Sylvander's Flowcharts. I'll be studying them.

Sylvander, about the PC History;
I don't know the history. The PC belonged to the son of a co-worker who is moving out of the house. I bought it for $15 figuring that it'll make a good learning project, and if not, the parts would be worth more than $15. I paid $10 for the Viewsonic, Graphics Series GF775 monitor. It's a nice 17" CRT.
If I fix this, it'll replace the 400MHz e-machine that my younger ones use for kiddie games.

I don't know if this means anything. I checked the hard drive in another case. It has WIN98SE on it. It also has hundreds of spyware, two dozen trojans, and a few viruses. Cleanup was hopeless. I'll be reformatting it.

Right after my original post, I removed the one stick of RAM, and put in two crucial 32MB RAM sticks. I also put another hard drive in with WIN2K on it. BTW, the PC has onboard video and sound.

What do you know. The monitor came on. This is the sequence of what I saw on the monitor.

1) Compaq splash screen
2) 64 MB OK
3) 164-memory size error
4) Blank screen with a blinking cursor on the upper left hand.
No beeps along the way.

I guess I have made some progress. BTW, I don't know what is meant by "post running"

Thanks again for the pointers ... HomeSA

[rond36]

I don't know what is meant by "post running"

The POST (Power On Self Test) is a program that is initiated by the system BIOS (Basic Input and Output System) in the first stage of the boot sequence. POST is running from the time it is initalized by the BIOS until it successfuly completes (short beep) and the boot process is handed off to the bootstrap and the operating system begins to load or it quits with an error (164-memory size error) and the OS doesn't load.

If you hit the Esc key while POST is running it will remove the Compaq splash screen so you can see any other output from the POST routine.

[Sylvander]

Sorry I couldn't get back sooner; recovering from a stinker of a cold and can't do any serious thinking.

Where does the PC get in the following typical startup sequence?

A typical and successful startup sequence
1. Start of Boot Troubleshooting Walkthrough
http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/boot/walk/index.htm
2. Yes: The system power supply is functioning
http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/boot/walk/power1.htm
------------------------------------------------------
You should hear a single short beep at about this point indicating the successful running/completion of the POST. Some PC’s beep much later, possibly as late as just before step 12.
------------------------------------------------------
3. Yes: Something is being written to the screen during boot up [This may be only a flashing cursor]
http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/boot/walk/video1.htm
4. The video BIOS message is displayed on the screen for a few seconds and then clears from the screen, or more messages display under it
http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/boot/walk/vbios1.htm
5. Yes: The system BIOS startup screen is appearing
http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/boot/walk/bios1.htm
6. The memory test completes successfully
http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/boot/walk/ram1.htm
7. The BIOS accesses the floppy drives and the boot continues
http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/boot/walk/seek1.htm
8. The system is able to autodetect IDE devices successfully
http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/boot/walk/auto1.htm
9. The system is not Plug and Play compatible, has no Plug and Play devices, or has PnP devices but identifies them properly
http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/boot/walk/pnp1.htm
10. Boot sequence is A: before C: (floppy disk first)
http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/boot/walk/seqAC.htm
11. The floppy disk makes a noise and the light comes on
http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/boot/walk/fd1.htm
12. The floppy disk light goes off and the hard disk light comes on as it starts booting
http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/boot/walk/fd1hdd.htm
13. The hard disk boot process will continue here, if you want to follow it.
http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/boot/walk/hd1.htm
14. The system continues booting from the hard disk and the message "Starting MS-DOS" or "Starting Windows 95" is displayed
http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/boot/walk/hd1os.htm
15. Operating System Loaded From Hard Disk. The system has found a boot sector on the hard disk and is now starting the load of the operating system. The hard disk is working. You have successfully completed the hardware part of the boot process. Any problems encountered after this point should be diagnosed by looking for a more specific problem with a component, or under the section that contains run-time error messages.

"3) 164-memory size error"
The POST is running, is testing your RAM, there's a failure and the POST halts.
Could you beg or borrow a replacement stick to see what happens with it fitted?

[HomeSA]

Sorry for replying so late. I was out of town and returned with a bad cold. rond36 and Sylvander, thanks for the detailed info and explanation in your replies. Sylvander, I am impressed with your troubleshooting flowcharts. Kudos for a job well done.

I did get the PC to work just before I left town. I am not sure how, though!

For future readers' reference, here is a synopsis of what I did. Following the flowcharts, I determined that the Power supply worked and so did the motherboard. The hard drive already checked out in another PC.

I removed all PCI cards, all the drives, and the one stick of RAM. Then I installed an old hard drive with Win95 on it and put in a different RAM stick. What do you know, the PC booted up. Hummm?

What I did afterwards was to connect and disconnect all the ribbon cables. The floppy drive and the CD ROM drive started working. I did the same with the RAM sticks in the 2 slots. I repeated this process with different combination of things disconnected, but I am skipping the details.

Then I replaced the hard drive with one with Win2K on it and got a "NTLDR is missing". Hummmm. I booted with a Win98SE boot disk, Fdisk, reformat, and installed Win98SE on it. She works now. I have no clue what the problem was. I am guessing there were bad connections with the cables and/or the RAM stick. BTW, the original 128 RAM is in its original slot with another 64 added. Now I have to install the drivers that I downloaded from HP website.

Are there recommended ways to install drivers? I have had problems in the past.

I learned a lot in the process and thanks again for all the good help.

_HomeSA