# Computer turns on but does not boot up.



## AzureDrag0n1

I tried adding an extra 1 gig of ram to my hp pavilion a1250n. I had also recently added a new OCZ power supply and a ATI x1600 video card. Well when I put in the piece of ram the computer would power on and a light would turn on and that would be it. Period. No signal coming to the monitor. No activity on any of the drives not a sound except the fans. I took out the ram and the problem remained. I checked the connections near the ram but no matter how many times I checked to make sure they were secure it didn't seem to help. I am confused. Maybe I knocked something else loose?

The OCZ power supply makes the space inside my computer really cramped as there are extra cables that I am not using and the wires are covered in thick plastic clothlike covering. I am not surprised I could have knocked something loose but what?


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## AzureDrag0n1

Oh I would like to know if using a seperate power source to power my computer's hardrive will have any adverse affects? I want to test where the bad connection might be.

Even if the hardrive was not working there should still be msdos right?


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## Snew

Ive done that a few times, and i found it was the Video card that was causing the problem (when the bios doesnt detect a video card, it doesnt continue, the computer will beep when its memory). You ma not have installed the ATI card properly or it could ahve become loose. id be checking these out first


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## Done_Fishin

Try putting the system back as it was before you made the upgrade. You can connect the power supply without physically removing the old one, just remove the cables from the new and replace with the old.

Check to see if it will now power up.
Once you get the old settings to power on , you can make your upgrades "ONE BY ONE" starting with the power supply to see whare the system doesn't like being changed.
Double check that your Memory is compatable and that you haven't breached the max memory limit. Like wise if you find that all stops when m,emeory is added , try just the new memory on its own in case there are incompatabilities between the different cards. Might require "matching" see your Manual for this.


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## AzureDrag0n1

Ok I unhooked everything and even took out the extra memory and hooked up the old power supply. 2 different connections to the motherboard. A small 4 pin cable and 1 big 2 part cable with many pins, 2 cables for the 2 optical drives, and finally 1 cable for the hardrive. If I listen carefully I can hear different parts of the computer turning on. The 2 drives recieve power wether its from the old power supply or not. The motherboard looks like it recieves power because it can beep if memory is placed incorrectly. Plus the dsl modem lights up and the video card fan turns on. All the othe fans on the computer turn on as well. I made sure the video card is secure by taking it out nd then putting it back in. The only thing that does not seem to be doing anything is the hardrive. Well I can't tell if it is doing anything. Touching it, it feels like it is shacking slightly but the whole computer is doing that to some degree. There are 2 cables connecting the hardrive. A thin red one that goes to the motherboard and connects to 2 possible slots. I tried both. The other one is the power cable. I took the power cable in and out with both power supplies and nothing changed. I do not believe the power supply and its connections has anything to do with this at this point.


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## Done_Fishin

If I read you correctly, replacing everything as it was has resulted in still not posting to the monitor but all fans lights and buttons appear to work.

As was said before, it could be your video card, try removing it, cleaning the contacts at the bottom of the card and replacing it. Make sure that it sits right down in the socket. If that doesn't work, try removing everything, including your motherboard, like this 

http://www.techsupportforum.com/showthread.php?p=666642#post666642

and see if it will work outside the case. 

Sometimes the GRAPHICS card will not sit 100% down in the socket and a very small lift will stop part of it from working, ie the mobo sees that it's installed but the card doesn't output to the monitor. It's worth bearing in mind.


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## AzureDrag0n1

Thank you so much. That info was very usefull. I unhooked everything and started from scratch. It appears that I have a bad memory stick that came with the computer. It was a 512 MB DDR 400. One of two that came with the computer. When I put in the new memory stick in its slot the computer turned on again. Now if only I could get the monitor to work so I can see whats going on. Hopefully the monitor will work after a while. It sometimes does that so I have to restart the computer a couple of times till it decides to display again. If I turn the power button on and offI can see what is being displayed for a split second before it fades to black. I have seen my old TV do this effect sometimes.

Edit: Ok monitor turned back on. Is it normal for the keyboard to not respnd even though its is getting power and is hooked up? It is currently in the press escape to enter setup/ recovery / boot menu screen. No response from there. I tried pressing and holding a bunch of buttons down to get that beeping response from pushing too many buttons but nothing happened. The hardrive is hooked up and recieving power. Optical drives are not hooked up. A few other things are not hooked up either like the PCI cards/ mouse / and the USB connectors/ fan.


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## Done_Fishin

AzureDrag0n1 said:


> Thank you so much. That info was very usefull. I unhooked everything and started from scratch. It appears that I have a bad memory stick that came with the computer. It was a 512 MB DDR 400. One of two that came with the computer. When I put in the new memory stick in its slot the computer turned on again. Now if only I could get the monitor to work so I can see whats going on. Hopefully the monitor will work after a while. It sometimes does that so I have to restart the computer a couple of times till it decides to display again. If I turn the power button on and offI can see what is being displayed for a split second before it fades to black. I have seen my old TV do this effect sometimes.
> 
> Edit: Ok monitor turned back on. Is it normal for the keyboard to not respnd even though its is getting power and is hooked up? It is currently in the press escape to enter setup/ recovery / boot menu screen. No response from there. I tried pressing and holding a bunch of buttons down to get that beeping response from pushing too many buttons but nothing happened. The hardrive is hooked up and recieving power. Optical drives are not hooked up. A few other things are not hooked up either like the PCI cards/ mouse / and the USB connectors/ fan.


Nice to see we are progressing, Sounds like you need to allocate some cash to some new peripherals .. Monitor sounds like it has power supply problems, either take it for repair or buy a new one .. probably find very little difference in price but a new monitor will be more reliable. Of course it could be the graphics card not wanting to post so I would suggest that you find a very good friend who is willing to help you sort out your system, by using bits of theirs if you have no spares of your own to use! 
Double check that no pins are bent inside the monitor connector (both ends if applicable). SOMETIMES a pin can be pushed back inside the connector so look for one that might be a bit shorter too!

NO it is NOT normal for a keyboard to stop responding, it usually indicates that the PC has crashed! As it powers on it should light up briefly all 3 led's for Number lock, Caps Lock & Scroll Lock, then depending upon your BIOS settings they will all be off except possibly Number Lock. Pressing the Number Lock and /or the Caps lock should turn on'off the associated indicator.
Make sure that it is pushed fully home & in the correct PS/2 socket. Hopefully you aren't using a USB keyboard, sometimes they won't initially unless USB legacy is enabled in BIOS.
Note that you have a fan removed hope it's not the CPU fan!
All the time that you have no Beeps coming from the mobo then the mobo thinks that everything is running correctly. If it crashes, try getting into BIOS first and make sure that everything is set up correctly there for your system. Initially you'll only be using the first 640KB of memory so if you have a memory problem not picked up by POST it will show when the PC tries to boot and use the higher memory positions for shadowing BIOS & GRAPHICS or adding data to the cache & stacks.
If you have no HDD installed then there will be a delay (up to several minutes) before you get an warning on the display that no bootable device can be found.


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## AzureDrag0n1

I can't seem to access the BIOS. I am going to try and hook up a few more components and see what that does. Keyboards does not seem to be functioning. I have no idea why it would do that. When I first started it up the screen would display some figures like memory and count it up. But keyboard still did not respond. I don't think the computer crashed.


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## Done_Fishin

Are you sure that you didn't plug it in the wrong way round? It should happen if it's a ps/2 but if you're using an old keyboard with adapter it can happen!
Likewise make sure that you didn't mix Keyboard with mouse


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## AzureDrag0n1

No at this point it looks like there is a problem with the BIOS. I dont believe this. The same week the warranty expires everything fails. BIOS, Monitor, RAM, powersupply... Last time I ever get HP again.

The BIOS is a Phoenix model. There are a bunch of numbers on the sticker and the chip itself. I am not sure what is used to identify it. The sticker states it is a D686 BIOS. Under it is a number 286189979.


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## Done_Fishin

Usually at the point that the BIOS starts to post on the monitor , a number appears at the bottom of the monitor which gives in code form the details about mfr, bios , chipset etc. Boot up with you Keyboard missing (should stop the PC from fully booting) and see if you get a chance to write it down.

but since you already told me that it's a HP Pavilion then a trip to the HP website should allow you ( in conjunction with details on the PC itself) to check for a BIOS update / download. Also if you get in quick HP might allow your warranty claim.


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## AzureDrag0n1

They didn't allow my warranty claim. I had another problem 2 weeks before the warranty expired but they would not take my claim. Said I had to renew it. I did not have my reciept with me at the time. I know I had 2 weeks left because the PC was obtained a day before holloween on my brothers birthday last year. So pretty much I got screwed by HP.

Anyway this is the information I got of the BIOS screen:
Pheonix - Award BIOS v6.00PG
Rev. 3.33 08/17/2005
v3.33

Oh yeah before I hooked everything up it would display the memory size and nothing else but now all it displays for specs is:

Main Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+


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## Done_Fishin

AzureDrag0n1 said:


> They didn't allow my warranty claim. I had another problem 2 weeks before the warranty expired but they would not take my claim. Said I had to renew it. I did not have my reciept with me at the time. I know I had 2 weeks left because the PC was obtained a day before holloween on my brothers birthday last year. So pretty much I got screwed by HP.
> 
> Anyway this is the information I got of the BIOS screen:
> Pheonix - Award BIOS v6.00PG
> Rev. 3.33 08/17/2005
> v3.33
> 
> Oh yeah before I hooked everything up it would display the memory size and nothing else but now all it displays for specs is:
> 
> Main Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+


If you can't find a way to get this running, a strong letter of complaint would be in order. If you are somewhere where trading standards are in force, send them a copy of your complaint too! It could be that your original problem is related to the current one!

The problem you quoted when you started of this thread is very similar to something that happened to me recently.
Last night I left a PC running to search for and find approx 12000 files that had been infected by trojans, malware & virus. When I woke this morning it had crashed leaving just the "marqee" screensaver banner frozen on screen. 
Ctrl alt delete did nothing. 
I hit reset. 
I ended up with a black screen! Everything powered up but no display!
Powered off. Powered ON, same thing. Not even a beep. I automatically thought about this forum!! I removed the RAM. Powered on got beeps like a key was stuck down on the keyboard. 
I Replaced RAM and it was doing the same. I removed the ram again and it didn't beep! I forget actually what I did but differeing times I removed something and it either did or didn't beep. I thought it might have been PSU related so I started to remove everything that wasn't required for boot. After removing the keyboard and mouse I found that the beeping stoped and my display was back. I replaced the keyboard and mouse and it still booted up and posted. Since then it has been working all the time. At one point I wiggled the RAM in the sockets thinking that it might have been making bad contact. I am still totally unsure what it was that got me back working.

I would suggest that you borrow a keyboard and see if that is your current problem. there is a possi\bilty that someone migt have spilt some drink on it .. even months back and it could cause malfunction. For a couple of bucks you will get a cheapie to use purely for emergency test purposes. If it proves that your other keyboard is faulty then you can get a more expensive one that won't cause you health problems later.


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## AzureDrag0n1

I tried a different keyboard with with the same connections. The one I am using now actually and it did not work. Same result. The thing that also bothers me about HP is their terrible service. Like they will not give any help or support at all unless I have warranty. Not even a tip! I had asked them if they have any idea or suggestions to what my problem could be and they were tight lipped. No help unless I paid a couple hundred dollars just to speak with someone.

I actually managed to get a reciept that proves that my warranty was still good and they basically lied to me. But its been too long since then and my warranty has truely expired at this point.

Writting a letter of complaint seems like too much trouble. It might not get me anywere. Maybe it might be better to just take it to some computer repair shop. I have read this one horror story of a person having trouble with hp's tech support. Where they basically did not fix the computer for weeks and ended up not fixing anything and simply replaced his computer. They also lost his video card and sent him some ****ty old one instead.


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## Done_Fishin

Currently the only thing tat comes to mind about your PC is that something has either got dirty contacts (memory?) or isn't seated properly. A noisy power supply ( electrical noise) might also cause your problems.

Are you using 2 identical memories in paired slots ?

I'm going to have to go now, but I have downloaded manuals and stuff from HP site. I'll get back to you after I return and have time to read & digest th latest info.


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## AzureDrag0n1

Hmm... I cleaned out the contacts on some of the parts. I took it apart and put it back together again so many times now. My power supply is an OCZ 700 watt. It seems pretty quiet and I don't see how this would make the BIOS crash. Maybe if I take out the BIOS chip and see what happens if I put it back in again and maybe see if I can clean it up. ALthough I am not sure how to take it out. Is it soldered on?


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## Done_Fishin

Sorry, haven't had a chance to look over the stuff I downloaded ..
However DON'T touch the bios chip, soldered or not!!

Electrical noise I am talking about has nothing to do with whether you can hear it working .. it's whether the components ( capacitors etc) are maintaining a stable supply, without noise and spikes on the rails. Something similar to the interference from your mobile phone that can be heard on the radio or house phone when someone tries to call you.
You can't see it only measure it with the right equipment.

you said that you are now using the "new" ram because the old ram seemed faulty, (if I rememebr rightly) .. have you made sure that you're RAm is compatable .. HP recommend DDR PC3200 • CL=3 • UNBUFFERED • NON-ECC • DDR400 • 2.6V • RAM for your PC.


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## Done_Fishin

Another question just came to mind , sorry I am rather tight on time and don't have time to re-read everything and type answers too! Is your Keyboard PS2 or USB? If USB try a PS2 keyboard since it could just be that you haven't got legacy USB support Enabled in BIOS.


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## AzureDrag0n1

I have used both types of keyboards.

After I had some time I did some research on this type of problem. It seemed that frozen BIOS screen had something to do with RAM 90% of the time. I took another look at the RAM and performed experiments. After some fiddleing I have found that the second RAM slot from the left appears faulty. Not the RAM itself. Perhaps that previous RAM stick was not so bad. 

I took it in and out numerous times to make sure and if I put any RAM in the second slot the computer would not work. I skipped a slot and put it in the third slot and it works. I repeated this step a few times. 100% failure on the second slot.

But what seems strange to me was that putting in the 1 Gig ram stick would allow the computer to start with BIOS freeze but the 500 ram stick would not let the computer start at all. How strange. Is it possible that the 500 mb ram stick is also bad and the slot is bad as well? Or did the faulty ram stick or slot break the other?

I pray... I pray to God that this computer will keep working. Please let nothing else break,


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## Done_Fishin

It may just be very light differences in thickness of the cards plus thickness of the metals that make the contacts that allows that "little extra' required to make slightly better contact.
If I were there in person I mighet be able to get a better idea, but I'm not so apart from taking it to someone to check out ... you'll have to keep guessing. It may well be also that the fault that exists in the contacts has damaged the memory that refuses to work.

hope you can keep it running like this til you can afford your next upgrade, Place a note inside the box to the effect that the memory slot is faulty, just in case you forget (highly unlikely after all this) or it has to go somewhere for a fix that you can't do yourself ..


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## RAW_90

i noticed AzureDrag0n1 posted that his computer has the same problem as mine. However i moved components to a new case and i only use the onboard video port. i thought it would be simple enough i am sure i put everything in correct place. Another problem is that once i power up the computer i cannot turn the power off unless i turn off at the wall socket. Any ideas? My motherboard is foxconn 45cmx if that helps.

thanks


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## Done_Fishin

Hi & Welcome Raw_90

Please note that this is an old thread dating back to November 2006 .. it is highly recommended, so that we don't confuse ourselves here and you get our best attention, that you open a NEW thread, stating your problems and listing things that you have tried .. we will take it from there .. please ensure you give full details of your Computer and what steps were taken that may have caused the problems you are now seeing .. ie was it a software upgrade . hardware upgrade . just moving to a new box ?? 

Thanks for your understanding 
Closing this old thread


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