I Never Thought I'd Have To Do This.
<div class="IPBDescription">But I'm asking you guys for help.</div> So here I sit... after a week consisting of hundreds of futile attempts, this old Compaq Presario 5000 sits infront of me, still non-operational.
The Story
Friend has a Compaq. It stops working. He gives it to me because he already bought a new one. He thought I'd have some fun trying to get it to work again, and I thought I would... I'd make it into a linux monster.
Wrong.
The hardrive is functional. It's the same HDD thats in my computer now. 40 gig... Except mine is a Seagate, his is some wierd fireball thing. (I've already placed the HDD into my workin computer and installed Linux on it, then did a test run and it booted fine.)
The Processor is an AMD... and seems all good and such. Mobo is a typical Presario 5000 mobo...same as mine. (My computer and this one is nearly identical. Mine has a P4 instead, though.)
I checked both sides of the motherboard for any obvious visible damage and found none. (The entire machine has been dis-assembled and re-assembled by my hands throughought this whole process.)
The powersupply is fuctional as far as I can tell. The stuff turns on. I've tested the RAM (both sticks in all 3 slots, swapped around, and tested the ram itself in my machine...It's all good.)
I've tested 3 video solutions.. The onboard graphics, an old AGP Geforce 2, and my AGP GeForce 5700 LE...
*** The Problem: When power is applied to the system, nothing happens. Well, power goes to all of the devices. The CD drive activates, the HD flickers on, etc etc.
HOWEVER, the Harddrive does *NOT* begin operation. It will not make the active reading noise one would expect from a machine booting up. Also, no video is relayed to the moniter. The moniter (Both an LCD Flatscreen and a FS740 19' CRT moniter have been tested) remain in a "Stand-by" mode. (Yellow light instead of green light, as if the computer was off but the moniter power "on")
Any ideas folks?
If you need any more information, I'll glady supply what I know... but this is all off the top of my head.
The Story
Friend has a Compaq. It stops working. He gives it to me because he already bought a new one. He thought I'd have some fun trying to get it to work again, and I thought I would... I'd make it into a linux monster.
Wrong.
The hardrive is functional. It's the same HDD thats in my computer now. 40 gig... Except mine is a Seagate, his is some wierd fireball thing. (I've already placed the HDD into my workin computer and installed Linux on it, then did a test run and it booted fine.)
The Processor is an AMD... and seems all good and such. Mobo is a typical Presario 5000 mobo...same as mine. (My computer and this one is nearly identical. Mine has a P4 instead, though.)
I checked both sides of the motherboard for any obvious visible damage and found none. (The entire machine has been dis-assembled and re-assembled by my hands throughought this whole process.)
The powersupply is fuctional as far as I can tell. The stuff turns on. I've tested the RAM (both sticks in all 3 slots, swapped around, and tested the ram itself in my machine...It's all good.)
I've tested 3 video solutions.. The onboard graphics, an old AGP Geforce 2, and my AGP GeForce 5700 LE...
*** The Problem: When power is applied to the system, nothing happens. Well, power goes to all of the devices. The CD drive activates, the HD flickers on, etc etc.
HOWEVER, the Harddrive does *NOT* begin operation. It will not make the active reading noise one would expect from a machine booting up. Also, no video is relayed to the moniter. The moniter (Both an LCD Flatscreen and a FS740 19' CRT moniter have been tested) remain in a "Stand-by" mode. (Yellow light instead of green light, as if the computer was off but the moniter power "on")
Any ideas folks?
If you need any more information, I'll glady supply what I know... but this is all off the top of my head.
Comments
I know you have tested it as far as you can, but I would try to pull out a good power supply if you have one and go from there.
I would assume the PSU can't provide enough power to the peripherals... then again I am not a hardware wizard.
As for the Psupply... No, I've tested it in both of my computers. My good computer has a 250mw Psupply, and still has power to all of it's equipment. Both PSU's are 250mw, and the box is being ran with absolutely bare minimum equipment.
Does the motherboard have a backup bios chip on it?
do you get a bios beep when you turn it on?
Conditions when it stopped working - 2 years ago in my friends possession. He doesn't remember. What it originaly did - same it does now. As for the backup bios chip - I'm not positive.
Edit - While it could be the IDE plugs.. I'm praying it isn't. I've tested both Primary and secondary, and with multiple cables. Still nothing.
Honestly - From the lack of HDD and monitor activity...Everything seems peachy. (I don't have CD drives attached atm. Just a floppy drive.)
I'd hate to think the IDE port on the motherboard would be bad.
That's a picture of the bios backup chip and the primary bios chip on a gigabyte motherboard.
If it doesn't beep though, then there are probably other physical issues. Take a look at the capacitors on the motherboard (vertical cylindrical things.) Do any of them look corroded or puffed up on top?
I know, I was just checking.
Sometimes it can be subtle. I had a similar problem a while back and the issue was bad capacitors.
Power certainly isn't the issue... What remains is possible non-visible physical damage or bad IDE ports. (Both primary and secondary ports)
Oh - If this helps - For a SHORT time when he first brought it in, after fiddling with it (can't remember what I did), I had it functional and running on Windows ME. It was AFTER I pulled the HDD and installed linux that all functionality ceased. I ruled out a software issue on the HDD as both of our computers are near identical and the HDD itself boots fine in my computer.
do the devices get power for just a fraction of a second when the power button is pressed, then all stop
or
does the system power up & stay powered up as if normally, but shows the HD, video, & no-bios-beeps symptoms you were describing?
(Which I find odd, because even in MY compaq, if the HDD is removed, I still get the good old compaq display screen and access to BIOS stuffs.)
How often do IDE ports go bad? I've never heard of it happening.
(Which I find odd, because even in MY compaq, if the HDD is removed, I still get the good old compaq display screen and access to BIOS stuffs.) <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Then it sounds like there is in fact something damaged on the motherboard. I don't think there's any way we could diagnose it specifically. You could look into flashing the bios and see if that fixes it, but I'm guessing its a hardware problem.
Edit: by functional, what do you mean exactly? Is it booted up, just without any display? or do you mean just that things like the processor fan are running?
(Which I find odd, because even in MY compaq, if the HDD is removed, I still get the good old compaq display screen and access to BIOS stuffs.) <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Now that I've just read that the problems started when linux was installed, I have my doubts about how useful the following advice in this post will be. But just because I've already thought it up & typed it...
Agreed, the bios should still be accessible even without a hard drive. Of course it's hard to tell whether you're getting to it if you have no video output....so my next step would be looking in the manual for the motherboard & bios, checking which is the default highest priority video card to use (PCI, AGP, or onboard), resetting the bios (either by a jumper the manual points you to, or removing the plug & battery & leaving it out for awhile), and plugging the monitor into that default plug.
[edit]This'll be the end of my input to this thread -- I have too little experience with linux to comment. I <i>do</i> know that on particularly user-unfriendly distributions of linux, choosing the wrong video settings can damage hardware. I hope that hasn't happened to you.
Edit: I'll give that a shot Marik. I really want this computer to operate as a Linux machine... and since my current computer did so quite fine, I figured doing the same thing for this one would be easy. Bleh.
Edit2: For the record, it is MEPIS.
Edit3: Maybe I don't know what to search for, but I can't seem to find any information on this motherboard. All I've found is <a href='http://ctechinfo.org/model/uwave/uwave2.html' target='_blank'>this</a>, which doesn't help much.
*kicks computer*
Edit: I've taken a picture of the Case opened and how I've got it right now, just incase it'll help spark something in someone to say "Hey! Blah Blah! *fixed*"
Warning - Large picture. 56K Users beware. (The battery has been replaced. Thats the only difference between this picture and now.)
<a href='http://myweb.cableone.net/rtmm1977/mikes/100_0283.JPG' target='_blank'>The Motherboard Hi-Res</a>
are you using onboard graphics card or what?
If you can get the monitor to recieve you could access the Bios and reset it the easy way...
but I dunno... *shrugs* Never worked with a Linux before >_>
Other than that, try a different cord from the PS, and a different IDE, into a different slot on the mobo. If still nothing, its probably something with the motherboard, never heard of an IDE port dying though.
We have had a couple of machines pull stunts like that, usually following lightning strikes in the area. Beyond what you already mentioned, try yanking the battery and leave it for a few hours to clear the CMOS.
You can also try the motherboard's BIOS recovery sequence, if it has one, to reflash it from a DOA state. On the boards I am familiar with you need to set a jumper and give it a new image on a floppy, check the manual if it turns up.
Chris