Please Help !!!

[smittythesinger]

I am trying to help out a friend with an old computer. The power to the PC turns on, but that's it. The power light on the front is yellow instead of its normal green. The fan does not power on. My buddy said at some point he smelled something burning ( never good obviously ). I just replaced the memory module. 10 year old computer but need the info on the hard drive. Any thoughts ????

 

[saaiello]

Reset the Cmos and try just useing 1 stick of ram also make sure all connections are in right places and tight.

 

[Raidur]

Make sure you unplug all components but ram cpu psu and video, if you get video then plug things back in 1 at a time until you find the culprit.

The motherboard could be going bad if you can't get video after a CMOS clear and you are sure the ram and psu are ok.

Is he using onboard video?

 

[JDFan]

Also - if you need the info off of the HDD you could remove the HDD and plug it into another system to access the info on it and make a copy of the info you need to keep.

 

[dndhatcher]

If you smelled burning you should open it up and look/smell for signs of damage. You may be able to narrow it down to the PSU, motherboard or graphics card by seeing blown capacitors (looks like rust spots) or smelling where the burning happened.

 

[SidVicious]

Full specs would help a whole lot knowing what we are dealing with, help us help you...