noob ?

[chrisw91]

ya, im pretty sure, ill go back and check, but also on one comp it only had like a 16 pin plug on the motherboard, and on the new one it had 4 extra, but it is detachable on the wires from the PSU.

 

[StrangleHold]

Yea thats 20 and 24, 20+4 Motherboard Power plug. There should be another 4pin CPU power plug by itself, not the 4 pin connected to the 20 pin one.

 

[chrisw91]

ya, i have both pluged in. and i just wiggled all the connections around, made sure all of them were in. then i went to start it and the screen comes on now, but instead of showing the computer menu (not sure wat i is really called) the black screen at the begining where it says f8 for help and what not. it doesnt come up, instead there are random line patterns throughout the screen. so that sounds like somthing to do with connection huh?

 

[porterjw]

Pull out your video card, then re-seat it in the same slot. It might have been nudged loose with all the moving around you're doing inside the case.

 

[chrisw91]

its built into the mother board

 

[StrangleHold]

What kind of video card are you runing, a stand alone or is it onboard video? You swaped the P/S but it sounds like a P/S or a Video problem. Ok Onboard. Dont guess you have any kind of stand alone video card you could try

 

[chrisw91]

ya, i already switched the PSU's back to normal. its onboard video. but after about 5-10 seconds the computer just stops loading stuff, acording to the LED on the front of the tower. and about the motherboard power, i plugged in a 20 pin connector into a 24 pin. was that just a wasted try or what? what are the extra 4 pins for?

 

[StrangleHold]

Most boards will run with just the 20 plugged in but there are some that wont and some inbetween it will boot but not be stable, so its up in the air depending on the board. The extra 4 pins are 12V power leads.

 

[chrisw91]

o ok

 

[porterjw]

Now that the original PSU is back in, we are back to the problem of half booting, then failing, right?

If so, do you have a bootable-CD (Windows Setup would work) you could try to see if it loads up? If it does, it's a software issue, rather than hardware.

 

[chrisw91]

is still didnt get any farther with the other PSU either. and i dont have any of that software.

 

[porterjw]

You don't have a Windows Recovery CD? Can you burn a bootable CD off another computer in your house? Gparted would work - quick download, quick .iso burn.

Or, do you have a Recovery partition on your HDD?

 

[chrisw91]

where can i go to download one? and i cant navigate at all on the computer. it just flashes something real quick then goes blank

 

[StrangleHold]

If your not getting anything on the screen and when you were it was restarting before windows booted or you had to hit the Power button about 10 times to get it to boot I dont really think its a software or driver problem. My guess is either your P/S has gone weak or your onboard video is going out. If you have a friend that has a card you could try would help or plus a P/S with a 24 pin power connector, it helps if you have extra stuff to trouble shoot with.. I hate to tell people to buy stuff unless I,m atleast 90% sure what the problem is.

 

[porterjw]

If your not getting anything on the screen and when you were it was restarting before windows booted or you had to hit the Power button about 10 times to get it to boot I dont really think its a software or driver problem

Ahhh, I was reading/understanding that as meaning it would POST, then get funky, not get funky from the get-go. In that case, yes, software would have nothing to do with it.

How old is the MoBo? It's possible that could be the culprit, too. The thing with on-line diagnosis and troubleshooting is that a certain amount gets lost in translation sometimes. It's nobody's fault, it's just easier when you're holding/looking at parts/the system as a whole to play with what-if scenarios. I, too, hate to randomly suggest parts to replace, but in this case, since everything else up to this point has yielded no results, yeah...

As mentioned, the video card and newer, more capable PSU would be the logical first choices, since both are easy to swap out. If nothing comes from them, I'd suggest a new MoBo.

 

[chrisw91]

alright, but what about the part where i just stops loading. what would that mean? and the mother board beeps twice. the comp is about 2-3 years old. maybe i can post a video on youtube to show whats goin on?

 

[StrangleHold]

Yes before replacing anything I would ask around and see if you can get a P/S and Video card just to trouble shoot it. On line its hard to trouble shoot one thats not booting right unless you have stuff to swap out. Its more or less reconnect this, double check this, reset your bios till you get to where you really have to start swapping out hardware to track it down. My first guess is a weak P/S- second is the onboard is going out- third is a bad board-bummer!

 

[StrangleHold]

Two beeps can be what they call a Post Error then some call it a Memory error. But most memory errors beep code is a continues beep that doesnt stop. Since its that old it would not hurt if you just tried replacing the Motherboard battery. Most boards will boot with a bad battery and you have to reset the bios from a hard start but there are some boards that flat out just go weird with a dead battery. there just about 3 bucks.

 

[chrisw91]

alright, i took my computer down to geek squad and this kid got it to work, but when i got home it went back to doing the same thing. he went too fast for me to kno wat he did. but it was pretty much what u guys told me to do. he took out the memory then that little battery. i tried that like 10 times but still didnt get it. is there a certain order to do it in? he said it could be a sign of the motherboard goin out