Computer won't start windows when I turn it on...

Uthinkso

Uthinkso

Forum Member
Alright here is what I have. Firstly it runs XP. When I push the power button the tower starts buzzing and I can hear all things starting up like normal, but there isn't any display on the screen. If I try turning it on and off a dozen times or so it will eventually turn on. Now I was told previously that it may be a bad stick of ram. Well one of my friends gave me two sticks of ram from another machine to try. As a side bar, the donor machine has been working flawless. I installed the new ram, and there has been no change.

A few more tid bits, the computer uses an ATI motherboard with an onboard video/sound card.

Any ideas what needs to be done here?
 
try booting into windows via the install cD and do a repair install. if that doesnt work id bet its a mobo (video) issue. you can also try to get another video card and use that.

can you even get into the BIOS?
 
avbcon12 said:
try booting into windows via the install cD and do a repair install. if that doesnt work id bet its a mobo (video) issue. you can also try to get another video card and use that.

can you even get into the BIOS?
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I agree, more than likely a graphics card issue. I've had many on-board video cards quit on me over the years. Try and borrow a compatible video card to test out.
 
If his machine is newer than 4 years old it won't be AGP. It'll be PCI-e
 
dave89iroc said:
yeah, but he never said how old it was
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I built it probably four or five years ago so its a toss up.

As for the boot disk, I'm trying to locate that. As soon as I find it I'm gonna give that a shot. Everything I need from that machine I have on disc backed up.
 
Uthinkso said:
I built it probably four or five years ago so its a toss up.

As for the boot disk, I'm trying to locate that. As soon as I find it I'm gonna give that a shot. Everything I need from that machine I have on disc backed up.
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well, if you want an AGP vid card , just yell, and it's yours
 
could be ram, video, monitor probably not that big of a deal but If it's about 5 years old check for popped or swollen capacitors on the motherboard, that was a big issue back in the day.
 
TTA said:
could be ram, video, monitor probably not that big of a deal but If it's about 5 years old check for popped or swollen capacitors on the motherboard, that was a big issue back in the day.
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Monitor has been replaced within the year, and we've tried new ram, so I'm thinking its down to a video card or a blown out mobo. I've replaced the mother board once already too about three years ago. If its popped I swear I'm done with ATI.
 
Also, this may sound stupid, but make sure your monitor cable is plugged all the way in on both ends. I thought something was seriously wrong with either my computer or my monitor, but I pushed the cable in a bit more where it plugs into the monitor and everything was fine.

Just a quick suggestion.
 
AutoEuphoria said:
Also, this may sound stupid, but make sure your monitor cable is plugged all the way in on both ends. I thought something was seriously wrong with either my computer or my monitor, but I pushed the cable in a bit more where it plugs into the monitor and everything was fine.

Just a quick suggestion.
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I've had this issue for a little over a year, in that time I've switched monitors and still its the same issue. Thanks for the tip though.
 
Uthinkso said:
Alright here is what I have. Firstly it runs XP. When I push the power button the tower starts buzzing and I can hear all things starting up like normal, but there isn't any display on the screen. If I try turning it on and off a dozen times or so it will eventually turn on. Now I was told previously that it may be a bad stick of ram. Well one of my friends gave me two sticks of ram from another machine to try. As a side bar, the donor machine has been working flawless. I installed the new ram, and there has been no change.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a MB, videocard or PS problem to me. Not RAM or HDDs.

Uthinkso said:
A few more tid bits, the computer uses an ATI motherboard with an onboard video/sound card.
Click to expand...
Uthinkso said:
If its popped I swear I'm done with ATI.
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I don't believe that ATI has ever made motherboards. :headscrat: Are sure it's an ATI MB? Not an ABIT, ASUS or other 'A' name?


As far as what to do from here, I would get my hands on a known-good AGP videocard and swap it in... see if the POSTS consistently. If so, it's the VC. If not, swap a known good PS in and see what happens. If still not booting consistently, it's probably the MB (or CPU, but unlikely). At 4-5 years old, you're really due for an upgrade/overhaul anyway.
 
Could be the chipset. Like my MSI board has an Nvidia chipset. Just thinking as I don't know if ATI does anything like that. Though the onboard graphics could be ATI.
 
stalked_R/T said:
Could be the chipset. Like my MSI board has an Nvidia chipset. Just thinking as I don't know if ATI does anything like that. Though the onboard graphics could be ATI.
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Yes thats it. I looked last night and tinkered with it for a while. Its an MSI board and I beleive the graphics and sound that is on-board is ATI. At any rate I had to re-format my notebook so I had time on my hands and got the PC up and running after several attempts. For grins I put the Windows XP boot disc in the CD-rom and tried to start it. It still gave me the black screen so I'm pretty sold that it is a graphics issue.

As for an over haul, the cimputer really does what I need when its functioning. Its a simple web browser, with absolutely no gaming. I am due for a new CD-RW drive though. I still have the old one that I skanked from my HP unit 8 years ago. I think its finally giving up the fight.
 
Alright I just spoke with our IT guy. He asked me if there is a start up screen before the windows start-up screen appears. I told him that there is when it boots correctly. It is the MSI International little space scene and then windows XP boot screen comes up with its little scrolling deal.

Given that information, he feels that the issue isn't with my windows installation but rather that I need to flash the BIOS of the mobo. That something has interfeared with it and for some reason or another it isn't booting correctly. Does anyone have a clue what this means, rather how the hell do I get this fixed in the next 48hrs.
 
Flashing the bios can be very easy or a pain in the ass. Easy would be that you can get the computer to boot and run an executible that does everything for you. Pain in the ass is you have to get a floppy drive, floppy disk, book to the floopy with the bios revision on it, run some commands and you're done.
 
Mine (MSI board as well) started doing a very similar thing. It would not boot for the life of it, although I had picture... It would post and then lock up inbetween posting and loading windows, every time..

I'm just replacing the mobo/ram/cpu...
 
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