dead computer

[orionman]

I'm not sure if I'm in the right forum....

My friend's computer seems to be dead
I've tried few things and I would like to know if I've forgot something

It's an old Athlon 1200MHz
First it started to be really slow in windows xp and started to hang few seconds and then come back for a few seconds etc..
My friend tried to reboot but it didn't boot like if the HD was dead. ( no system disk)

Few days later, when I tried to boot it, everything was fine.
Tried to reboot and then it was always crashing when trying to load windows (HD was detected)
After that it has started to be weird like crashing during the countdown of the ''safe mode'' screen.

I've removed other HDs , cd-rom, sound card, network card
everything except RAM and CPU
Still crashing.
I then swapped the RAM modules. Nothing... I went in the bios to check the temps. everything was fine. Tried to reboot, no more post, total black screen, not even a beep....

tried to reset CMOS, remove the battery etc...
nothing

 

[7_vii_7]

sounds like your Windows is corrupt... have you tried keeping ALL of the same hardware and swaping out the HD with windows already installed in a machine that you KNOW will work?

if that does not work, run some system diag on your HD, or you can do a Windows Recovery.. and if all else fails...





re-install windows (but back up everything)

 

[badge]

I'm not sure if I'm in the right forum....

My friend's computer seems to be dead
I've tried few things and I would like to know if I've forgot something

It's an old Athlon 1200MHz
First it started to be really slow in windows xp and started to hang few seconds and then come back for a few seconds etc..
My friend tried to reboot but it didn't boot like if the HD was dead. ( no system disk)

Few days later, when I tried to boot it, everything was fine.
Tried to reboot and then it was always crashing when trying to load windows (HD was detected)
After that it has started to be weird like crashing during the countdown of the ''safe mode'' screen.

I've removed other HDs , cd-rom, sound card, network card
everything except RAM and CPU
Still crashing.
I then swapped the RAM modules. Nothing... I went in the bios to check the temps. everything was fine. Tried to reboot, no more post, total black screen, not even a beep....

tried to reset CMOS, remove the battery etc...
nothing

Looks like your down to failed MB or CPU or both. Too bad you don't have spares to test with.

 

[The_Prophecy]

A dying power supply is also possible.

 

[badge]

A dying power supply is also possible.

I just thought his processor and MB are so old there is a good chance one of them bit the dust. I guess if the CPU wnet out the screen would be pretty much black.

 

[orionman]

Thx, but right now I don't have any other mobo,cpu or psu to double check

Can I plug a modern 500+ watt psu on those old boards?

 

[Doughbuy]

I'm pretty sure you can... or at least get an adapter that will do it. I doubt its really the HDD, but you could always test that in a different computer. I would believe the mobo dieing a lot more than the CPU dieing. I've rarely seen a CPU die (I saw one go up in flames... nice death), but I've seen a couple of bad mobo's. Shrug...

Power Supply could also be it, especially if you were using an old generic PSU. Might want to get a voltmeter and start playing around with it to see.

 

[The_Prophecy]

I'm pretty sure you can... or at least get an adapter that will do it. I doubt its really the HDD, but you could always test that in a different computer. I would believe the mobo dieing a lot more than the CPU dieing. I've rarely seen a CPU die (I saw one go up in flames... nice death), but I've seen a couple of bad mobo's. Shrug...

Power Supply could also be it, especially if you were using an old generic PSU. Might want to get a voltmeter and start playing around with it to see.

That's why I like products like this....

Antec Power Supply Tester