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Problems and their remedies
Problem
can crop at any of the previously explained stages of booting your machine. Let
us discuss
some
of the common problems, Click at the following links to know
more:
Well before moving any
further let me tell you the most efficient remedy which works most of the
time turn the system off, wait a few moments (at least
10secs) then turn it on again. Sometimes it
does work (don't ask me how
and why!).
Remember:
Wait at least 10 seconds before turning it on again.
Down
No
sign of life in your machine, it sounds dead
Check out for the
following signs:
-
No
sign of power everything sounds dead.
-
No
beep, no sound of rotating hard disk, no glow of LED, fan not rotating.
-
Monitor doesn't display anything.
Check Whether:
-
The
machine is plugged in
-
The
power switch is on
-
Power
cords are connected properly to SMPS (Switching Mode Power Supply)
-
brightness knob of monitor is properly adjusted and its properly plugged in
-
The
monitor is connected properly to display card port
Remedies
For the
first three cases remedies are self explanatory, one just need to plug in the
machine or
turn on the power switch. Try replacing the power cord, if doesn't
work SMPS might be dead. Change it! For the
fourth case if the monitor is not connected
properly to display card it might show a message like no cable signal or the
like, connect it properly and boot again.
Top
Signs of power but no POST
If machine shows sign of
power but performs no POST, the problem generally lies inside
the console box (cabinet), time to open it up, don't fear, it's not that
scary, just take care not to do anything you do not
know and to replace things as
they were, to
remember all this, I suggest you to make a
note or a rough
sketch of everything. Coming back to the problems, one can easily diagnose the problem
when there is no
POST from the nature of beeps
as explained earlier in Beep section, and check out the corresponding device.
Check out for the
following
-
Are there any missing pieces like
loose cables ribbons
-
Are
any internal cables loose
-
Is
the pc running too hot
-
Either some PCI device has come loose or some component has failed
You just need to check out
for the following things like for the internal cable missing cables or the
loose
PCI
slots (I presume that you know what PCI slots and devices are!!)
Remedy
Best way to handle this problem is by removing all the PCI slots and RAM
cards and replace them
all one by
one until the card with problem is sorted out.
Check all the cables and ribbons.
Top
POST but hangs
In this case the problem
will be displayed as a text message, most common text messages and the
possible
remedies for it can be summarized as:
Displayed Message
Possible Remedy
-
Bad
memory timings in BIOS Revert to default BIOS
settings.
-
Processor is over clocked Change the processor
speed in BIOS to proper
speed or revert to default.
-
Bad
RAM Try changing
the RAM module or slots.
-
Corrupt BIOS BIOS EPROM is
to be changed for new.
-
CMOS
checksum bad Remove
the CMOS battery and put it back*
if it doesn't work get new one.
-
Key
board, Floppy drive error Check for the connections
of internal cables
and ribbons of the corresponding device.
*Remember: Wait for at least 30mins before replacing the
CMOS battery or before inserting the
new. Enter the BIOS setup by
pressing Del key when asked during start up.
Top
POST but does
not boot
Most common error message one
gets is:
"Non system disk or disk
error Replace and press any key when ready"
Remedy
In BIOS setup one
can select three devices to boot. HDD, Floppy and CD are the most common boot
devices, HDD being fixed and OS is installed in it with the bootable files, so
it's common to select HDD the first boot device. suppose the order is Floppy,
CD, Floppy; PC will not boot if neither of the drives is provided with proper
bootable files. Program in BIOS checks the drives in preference order for boot
files, non availability of which will display the above error message; this
problem might also crop up if Operating system has the required files missing or
corrupt.
Top
trouble |
beep beep | POST
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post POST | problems | endeavour!
~~
critique me ~~
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