Conked Out PC

[gumboil]

I switched on my 20 month old Gateway desktop PC this morning to find it wouldn't boot.

The CRT monitor attached to the system showed it's customary colour bars after pushing the switch on the front of the PC but the display showed no other info after that ie it remained black with no boot sequence.

In the meantime, the PC was giving out a POST beep sequence consisting of a four second beep followed by a four second silence. The sequence does not change until the power to the PC is cut by pushing and holding in the main power switch on the front of the PC - there's no reset button on the case.

The fan at the back of the cae is working OK along with the front case fans. I think I can also hear some hdd activity too.

Could a kind person give me some advice on what I need to do to solve this problem please based on the symptoms. I'm annoyed about it as it looks like I'll have to take the side panels off a PC that's only been used for a few hours once a week. Would it be worthwhile taking it back to Comet to see if they'd fix it for free given it's age?

Many thanks.

[ChuckFickens]

take the side off, remove the memory and refit it and if it's a separate graphics card do the same with that.

if you have more than one ram chip you can try with only one of them fitted in turn as well.

there is no listing that I can find for that beep sequence, but there is no standard for post error beeps it varies from each manufacturer

and commet are unlikely to fix it free of charge, it's out of warranty why should they

[gumboil]

Thanks ChuckFickens. I did as you suggested, taking the two memory modules out first. I cleaned the connector pads and vacuumed out the sockets. I reinserted the modules and tried the PC again. No joy - same problem as before.

I then removed the graphics card, cleaned the connector pads and reinserted it. This time the PC failed to boot again, but the error beeps were missing. This led me to think that it might be the graphics card after all.

The graphics card has two output sockets and obviously only one of them was being used. Due to the fact I was connected up to a CRT monitor, the blue monitor cable screws into a white adaptor and the white adaptor screws into the graphics card socket. I removed all the connectors, made sure the card was located properly and plugged the monitor into the other unused socket instead. The PC booted up like a dream.

I can only put it down to a dodgy socket as there might well have been an excess of mechanical stress on the socket due to the thick monitor cable, the socket and the adaptor being plugged in.

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction - it's much appreciated!

[ChuckFickens]

glad it's working now :)

yeah those adaptors are a bad idea as they do put a lot of stress on the connector but computer manufacturers don't seem to understand the concept of mechanical stress, thank god they don't work in the aeroplane industry!

normally post failures with a beep are either ram or graphics problems though.

[wildwood]

Hi gumboil. Glad you've fixed the problem with the help of Mr.Chickens.

If you want to prolong the life of your computer(components) you may want to consider cleaning it out every 6 to 12 months. Use a soft natural fiber paintbrush - not a synthetic one as that builds up static electricity which could easily harm sensitive parts - to carefully brush the electronics while holding the vacuum cleaner hose close to it so the dust gets sucked out and doesn't settle somewhere else.
As you have probably noticed, dust settles fairly quickly inside the case due to the fan assisted airflow. The frequent heating up and cooling of components attracts moisture and it doesn't take much moist dust to make false connections.

[gumboil]

wildwood, you've made some very good points and I'd like to thank you for your contribution.. I'll certainly do as you suggest from now on - I dread to think what this would have cost me if I'd taken the PC to a retailer for repair!

[ACtheTROLL]

20 months old ..... - they'll fix it - but in view of it's age - they'll charge

I wonder - is it overheating
one of mine goes be baaa be baaa when the fan stops

Has the pc been moved?

look inside - is the processor a fluffy bunny siting in the corner?

[gumboil]

Thanks ACtheTROLL. Yes I understand they might charge, but the reason I asked was because I've seen a few cases mentioned in "Computer Active" magazine where PC's just out of guarantee have been fixed for free after the magazine recommended taking the supplier to the small claims court. Seems it has worked in the past for some people.

I shouldn't think it's overheating; there's a massive fan inside a conical plasic tube sitting behind the front panel directly inline with the processor as well as the fan in the back of the case. The machine moves a hell of a lot of air during the first few minutes after booting.

Talking about the processor, it can't be seen. It's an Athlon 4600+ and sits under a five inch square multi vaned heatsink/fan module. These Gateway guys seem to know about the need for heat dissipation!

The PC has been moved forwards and backwards on it's shelf on the computer desk it lives on. It will only move in the one direction due to the 19 inch CRT monitor next to it. I've got little doubt now that the inflexibility of the thick monitor cable led to this problem. It occurs to me that the thinner monitor cable attached to the TFT monitor on my other PC is more flexible and the problem shouldn't arise.
I'll hunt out a TFT monitor in the new year.

[ACtheTROLL]

I know what you mean - I just think 20 months is a bit past "just" - they can only turn you down though - if you got the cheek .....