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Suggestions need for non-responsive pc

Forum CPU & Components : Other Components - Suggestions need for non-responsive pc

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Tinker   09-01-2009 at 08:01:00 PM


PC: HP Pavilion a1520y
Pc's Age: 3yrs
Issue: No video signal
Description: Fans turn on, drive seek sequence runs, no BIOS tones.

I'm trying to figure out what is wrong with a neighbor's pc. They have a 3yr old a1520y (HP Pavilion). It had been running very slow prior to it's current state. The last thing my neighbor said they were doing on the pc was retrieving some updates from HP (after reinstalling Windows). She said the the monitor went black and that the pc made a sound but she didn't elaborate further.

I tried booting the pc and the fans run and the drive seek (cdrom light goes on momentarily). I'm not sure if the hard drive is running but it seems to be. However, the pc doesn't sound like it is booting into windows. The reason I'm saying "sound" is because the monitor is not receiving a signal. I've tried replacing the monitor cable but there was no change.

The pc is not emitting any audible BIOS tones.

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Darth_Kaar   09-01-2009 at 10:57:55 PM
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It looks like a motherboard failure. I had very similar problem, probably caused by a shortcut. All fans run but there was no video signal nor any BIOS signals. I tried to eliminate potential issues by removing or swaping extention cards one by one but it gave no results. After changing motherboard, all other parts seemed to be working just ok.

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RahBoT   09-01-2009 at 11:04:53 PM
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You might want to try a New power supply also. I got the same thing from some of the rails failing. So I got a new cheap power supply and it fixed it. I came to find out that cheap power supplys just do funny things till they take the whole PC out. Now I buy Power supplys with more than enought power and from well known suppliers.

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ainarssems   09-01-2009 at 11:45:48 PM
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First disconnect anything that is not essential. If it still does not show anything on screen remve RAM, If it does not give any beeps it is most likely to be motherboard fault, couldbe PSU as well. that is assuming You have case speaker connected to motherboard

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ainarssems   09-01-2009 at 11:47:26 PM
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Damn beer messing my spelling again, well never mind english is not my first language or even second

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ainarssems   09-01-2009 at 11:48:03 PM
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I normally speak 1's and 0's.

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Tinker   09-02-2009 at 12:31:53 AM
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Thank you all for the quick responses. I will swap out parts and see what works. I yanked out everything except mouse/keyboard but no change, so I'll yank the RAM next (great suggestion, ainarssems!).

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johnnyq1233   09-02-2009 at 10:52:12 AM
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does the bios screen come up and then blank?
if so then your problem is with the operating system and not the computer.
put the re-install disc in the drive and re-boot the computer..let the disc finish and you should have a working system...do the up-dates after....
hope this helps..JQ

Message quoted 1 times
------------------------------ Intel C2D E8400 @3.0GHZ, Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3L motherboard, 4GB OCZ vista platinum DDR2-1066 , Seagate320GBsataII 16MB HDD, BFG GTS250oc 512 GDDR3...3Dvision glasses and samsung 120HZ screen.
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Tinker   09-02-2009 at 10:54:51 PM
- 0 +

johnnyq1233 wrote :

does the bios screen come up and then blank?
if so then your problem is with the operating system and not the computer.
put the re-install disc in the drive and re-boot the computer..let the disc finish and you should have a working system...do the up-dates after....
hope this helps..JQ



No such luck. The monitor isn't receiving a signal from the on-board video port. If I can find a compatible video card I will give that a try, however if the on-board video is shot then I might as well replace the motherboard. If the power supply is bad and there was a cascade failure involving multiple components, it'd be cheaper to buy a new pc.


Message edited by Tinker on 09-03-2009 at 12:09:14 AM
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