My computer won't boot!

[cubewhat]

Hello guys,
I was on my computer, until my screen went completely black. I tried to restart it, but it refuses to start up. When it starts up, my computer makes a total of 10-12 beeps. What do I do?

Thanks for you help

 

[how2info]

I've had a friend that had this similar problem. We concluded it was a HDD failure, but he never fixed it.

It could be that, or something went wrong in the BIOS or motherboard. I'm not to technical, but I believe there is a BIOS chip. I may be wrong, but if there isn't a BIOS chip then nothing will start up. So if the BIOS chip short-circuited or some other ordeal, then it could cause the issue you have right now. I could be mixing up names or something else, and hopefully someone will correct me if I am.

 

[cubewhat]

So is it for sure something is wrong with the motherboard? I'm assuming so because nothing shows up on the monitor when I booted the computer. All I hear is those beeps.

Here are the specs to my computer if that helps any:
Quad Core q6600 2.4GHz
PNY Geforce 8800gt 1GB
Foxconn p45a
OCZ 4GB DDR2 RAM
Seagate Barricuda 640GB HD

 

[how2info]

So is it for sure something is wrong with the motherboard? I'm assuming so because nothing shows up on the monitor when I booted the computer. All I hear is those beeps.

Here are the specs to my computer if that helps any:
Quad Core q6600 2.4GHz
PNY Geforce 8800gt 1GB
Foxconn p45a
OCZ 4GB DDR2 RAM
Seagate Barricuda 640GB HD

I normally don't rely on wikipedia, but this page does give quite a bit information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS

If you would like some more information, you can do some more reading.

I wouldn't conclude it's the motherboard. Your processor or RAM could be dead or your power supply could have shorted out. Try to do some research and I will as well.

 

[how2info]

Here are three links that may supply information you can use:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/442411/computer_tips_what_causes_windows_not.html

http://www.computing.net/answers/cpus/cpu-will-not-boot-only-beeps/14472.html

http://www.karlsforums.com/faq/faq_pc_no_boot.htm

Hopefully you can get something out of those or the wikipedia link.

 

[cubewhat]

Sorry for not responding for a while, but I finally called foxconn support and they say that it could be my video card that's done instead. I tried to boot my computer without the video card and I get the same beep code. What do you think about this??

 

[how2info]

Sorry for not responding for a while, but I finally called foxconn support and they say that it could be my video card that's done instead. I tried to boot my computer without the video card and I get the same beep code. What do you think about this??

Well, I'm almost positive computers require some sort of graphics accelerator, graphics card, or integrated graphics. So, if you take out your dedicated graphics card (as integrated or mobility graphics cards cannot be removed) and you do not have an integrated one, it will do the beep sequence. However, if you have some sort of graphics accelerator or integrated graphics on your motherboard then it should boot up. I think you have a bad motherboard or it could very well be a hard-drive failure. If it was a hard-drive failure, the computer would boot up, but a message would appear that the hard-drive failed to load and will not boot properly. I am very well thinking that your motherboard or BIOS chip is dead/fried. My motherboard in my current computer is also developed by Foxconn. Did any of those links help in research?

 

[jsc]

Work systematically through our standard checklist and troubleshooting thread:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-read-posting-boot-problems
I mean work through, not just read over it. We spent a lot of time on this. It should find most of the problems.

If not, continue.
The following is an expansion of my troubleshooting tips in the breadboarding link in the "Cannot boot" thread.

I have tested the following beep patterns on Gigabyte, eVGA, and ECS motherboards. Other BIOS' may be different, but they all use a single short beep for a successful POST.

Breadboard - that will help isolate any kind of case problem you might have.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/262730-31-breadboarding

Breadboard with just motherboard, CPU & HSF, case speaker, and PSU.

Make sure you plug the CPU power cable in. The system will not boot without it.

I always breadboard a new build. It takes only a few minutes, and you know you are putting good parts in the case once you are finished.

You can turn on the PC by momentarily shorting the two pins that the case power switch goes to. You should hear a series of long, single beeps indicating memory problems. Silence indicates a problem with (in most likely order) the PSU, motherboard, or CPU. Remember, at this time, you do not have a graphics card installed so the load on your PSU will be reduced.

If no beeps:
Running fans and drives and motherboard LED's do not necessarily indicate a good PSU. In the absence of a single short beep, they also do not indicate that the system is booting.

At this point, you can sort of check the PSU. Try to borrow a known good PSU of around 550 - 600 watts. That will power just about any system with a single GPU. If you cannot do that, use a DMM to measure the voltages. Measure between the colored wires and either chassis ground or the black wires. Yellow wires should be 12 volts. Red wires: +5 volts, orange wires: +3.3 volts, blue wire : -12 volts, violet wire: 5 volts always on. Tolerances are +/- 5% except for the -12 volts which is +/- 10%.

The gray wire is really important. It should go from 0 to +5 volts when you turn the PSU on with the case switch. CPU needs this signal to boot.

You can turn on the PSU by completely disconnecting the PSU and using a paperclip or jumper wire to short the green wire to one of the neighboring black wires.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4&feature=youtube_gdata

A way that might be easier is to use the main power plug. Working from the back of the plug where the wires come out, use a bare paperclip to short between the green wire and one of the neighboring black wires. That will do the same thing with an installed PSU. It is also an easy way to bypass a questionable case power switch.

This checks the PSU under no load conditions, so it is not completely reliable. But if it can not pass this, it is dead. Then repeat the checks with the PSU plugged into the computer to put a load on the PSU.

If the system beeps:
If it looks like the PSU is good, install a memory stick. Boot. Beep pattern should change to one long and several short beeps indicating a missing graphics card.

Silence, long single beeps, or series of short beeps indicate a problem with the memory. If you get short beeps verify that the memory is in the appropriate motherboard slots.

Insert the video card and connect any necessary PCIe power connectors. Boot. At this point, the system should POST successfully (a single short beep). Notice that you do not need keyboard, mouse, monitor, or drives to successfully POST.
At this point, if the system doesn't work, it's either the video card or an inadequate PSU. Or rarely - the motherboard's PCIe interface.

Now start connecting the rest of the devices starting with the monitor, then keyboard and mouse, then the rest of the devices, testing after each step. It's possible that you can pass the POST with a defective video card. The POST routines can only check the video interface. It cannot check the internal parts of the video card.