Hi All,

Today my PC suddenly went dead like someone had pulled the power cable. It didnt start again. Its a 4 year old windows XP machine and was running smoothly. I checked the power supply and tried to start it and it didnt respond. I then removed the cabin and checked all the boards and connections and started it again. This time it started but no display. Now the fans are working. No beep sound as of a normal start. I think it could be a ram or hardisk or powersupply issue, but I am not sure.

I am in Liestal. It would be a great help if someone would help me. I will pay.

Thanks,
etin.

Hi Etin,

If there's no POST (Power On Self Test) beep, but the system has power, and the power supply fan starts turning when you press the power button, then I'm afraid that's usually a dead motherboard or CPU in my experience.

If any other component, such as RAM, graphics etc, had died you'd still get a beep (either a single beep indicating 'OK', followed by the system attempting to boot, or a sequence of beeps indicating a problem was found).
Hard drive issues usually result in some message on the screen indicating either a fail attempt to boot or that no hard drive was found. Also, hard drives that are mechanically knackered typically make a distinctive 'click-click-wrrrr' sound if you listen to the spinning up (usually this is the heads crashing into the platters).

Obviously I could be wrong, without seeing the system it's impossible to know, but if I'm right then its probably not worth fixing, given the age of your PC. The cost of replacement motherboard and/or CPU, assuming you have to pay someone to fit them and get it all going again, would likely be almost as much as a new netbook.

Sorry to be bearing bad news, although hopefully I'm wrong!

Hi Etin. Do you have access to a second computer with USB slots?

What I suggest is that you go to Stegcomputer in Basel and purchase an external case for your computer's hard disk. I bought one last week and it cost Fr 20.

Put your computer's hard disk into it and plug the case into the second machine which should then recognise it as an additional drive.

This way, you should be able to salvage your data which I am assuming is more important than repairing your (seemingly) dead machine.

Good luck.

If in doubt, you can PM me.
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Thank you Butters and Flashman4 for the quick reply.

I will try to get a external case for the hard disk from steg and will let you know the results. Some one has offered me to come and have a look. fingers crossed.

Have you tried a BIOS reset? it may not help in this instance but it's certainly worth trying, and can sometimes bring a seemingl farked system back to life. There will be a jumper somewhere on your motherboard, with three pins and a small plastic cap, most likely near the BIOS battery. Take out the power cord from your computer and move the small plastic cap over to the other side of the three pins, and leave it there for 5 mins.It's possible your BIOS jumper may differ slightl (ie: have two pins and no cap, so you'll need to take one from a hard-drive briefly), but the principle is the same.

Also try removing a stick of RAM, and testing the RAM individually in each slot.

Good luck with everything.

Thanks Richdog. I removed the RAM and cleaned the pins and nothing happend. I will try to reset the BIOS and let you know.

You're welcome.

The part you need is a Digitus DA-70580 (for an SATA drive), or a Digitus DA-70570 (for an IDE drive). Both cost Fr 29.90. The one I mentioned earlier is no longer available.

If you ring in advance, then you can simply go in and collect it as opposed to taking a number and waiting.

HTH
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It's worth noting that you don't really need the external case if you're planning on just copying all available date to another drive... if you don't want to spend the 30 CHF on a caddie you can plug thw HD directly into another motherboard using a SATA or IDE cable.

I only have other laptops with me. So I need to find a PC and open it up or spend 30 CHF. Thanks a lot for the advice. I really appreciate it.

mine is a SATA drive. I am going to ring them and pick it up. Thanks a lot. You have given me a great idea. As I do only have other laptops with me I was worried how to get the data out of my drive. Thanks a lot. I will let you know the results. One of our EF guys will be looking into my machine...till then fingers crossed

Hi Flashman, while looking at hd cases I found SATA 2.5" and SATA 3.5". what is this 2.5" and 3.5". I am confused.

My HD is Western Digital, WD2500, SATA hard drive, drive parameters: LBA 488397168 250.0 gb. hope this helps.

2.5" or 3.5" refers to the physical dimensions. You'll want the 3.5" enclosure.

Thanks a lot Sharkey.

I went to steg and collected the Digitus DA-70580. My hard drive and its data are safe. Thanks a lot Flashman4.

If you still require assistance getting the pc back to normal, please feel free to contact our company through email or phone.

Oh FFS! Everyone is giving the OP helpful information for free and you come along and try to make money out of the situation. Pathetic

Relax, it's an open forum.
If your tooth starts to hurt, and EF posters can not sooth the pain, why not go to someone who can get the problem sorted for sure?

Does the "I will pay" statement by the OP not sum it up?

Get used to it, he does it in every PC problem thread.

Besides, the OP does look to be in a spot of bother, and we've tried basic troubleshooting on it.

Glad to have been of help to you.