no POST

[kennedyb]

I have a pc which has not been set up for a year or so. It will not post, no beep, no activity on the monitor. I do get all power lights and fans are running. I have reseated the video card with no change, I have also changed the motherboard battery.

Any ideas?

Could the CPU be unseated? The fan on it works.

Bret

[Sterling_Aug]

Try pulling out everything but the processor, memory, and video card.

[kennedyb]

that only leaves the modem as there is onboard sound on this mobo.

[cableguy69]

Try pulling out everything but the processor, memory, and video card.

Like Sterling said, pull out EVERYTHING but the above, and of course leave the heatsink on. And try to boot it up. Let us know what happens then.

[kennedyb]

Well, here's another issue. This pc is not in my hands, and the advice I am giving to the person who has it, can only do a miimimal amount of work on it.

I understand the rationale behind removing everything except the bare necessities, however, this machine worked perfectly in the exact configuration the last time it was booted. The parts are all brand new (except for their age due to sitting around).

If for instance there was a resource conflict between the only card attatched to the mobo, the modem, the conflict could or would likely disable the soundcard's driver, but would that leave you with a standard vga driver and a screen with only 16 colors? The output is zero! There is nothing on the screen. This does not seem like a resource conflict to me. Remember, there is no post. Does that not point to a cpu?

[FijiJohn]

In my (limited) experience, no POST (when a machine used to work fine and no hardware changes have been made) is most often due to (in descending order): bad power supply, bad mobo, (and coming in a way distant third) bad CPU. Unless you are dealing with an OC'r or something has happened like the fan went bad, I just don't see CPUS that have dropped dead. However, I OFTEN see bad PSUs AND bad mobos.

[kennedyb]

The reason I lean on the cpu is that it is on a sloket adapter, a socket 370 to slot one converter. It seems like this could have loosened a bit with time as the cpu, fan and heat sink sort of hang on this thing. So, I don't actually think the cpu is fried, I just think that could be a reason for no POST.

For the mobo, I have power to the cpu fan which draws current from the board, all my peripherals have power, ie the printer kicks over when the pc is started (power from the printer port from the mobo), all my drive lights light up, and the psu is a solid brand, not a cheap one.

who knows....

[FijiJohn]

Well when you get it fixed, please let us know what it REALLy was. (FWLIW, I have seen power supplies that did all of what you list, but still had one bad line and that was what kept it from booting.) Good hunting!

[freem]

it happened to me once cause i installed the power cable on the floppy drive one pin over too far and it wouldnt boot. i now know that one pin off either way will not let the puter start or will burn the red wire to the power supply. thats what happens when you try to install a floppy in the dark