XP Desktop Not Booting

R

rydin4life

New Member
My sister gave me an eMachines running xp on a 2.6ghz celeron. She's openeing a store with her husband and it will be used just to track inventory and do real basic Word/Excel functions. It's been sitting on a back porch (under cover and not in the elements) but still outside and through the hot/cold for about a year. I powered it up last night and it boots to XP screen and seems normal then the screen goes blank, light on the front goes green to yellow. I checked inside and nothing is running, processor fan stops and goes to sleep or hybernate mode. Could the bios battery be dead? Need to remove and re-install CMOS jumper? Reinstall XP?
 
Sounds like a heat issue to me. If the BIOS Battery was dead, the indicators would be the time and date in BIOS being reset or off dramatically. As XP is starting up, the processor is being used more and generating more heat. Take off the Heatsink and replace the thermal paste.
 
What InfectionZero advised could be correct. There could also be a bunch of dust and garbage in the heatsink. Open up the computer and see if you need to use some canned air to clean it out.

It could also possibly be faulty RAM, motherboard or power supply.
 
I did dust everything well...and the fan works on the processor. Once the amber light comes on the front, and it "sleeps", then the fan turns off. Will the computer boot up with no ram?...I don't remember hearing a fan from the power supply..so might be that..thanks for the help
 
rydin4life said:
I did dust everything well...and the fan works on the processor. Once the amber light comes on the front, and it "sleeps", then the fan turns off. Will the computer boot up with no ram?...I don't remember hearing a fan from the power supply..so might be that..thanks for the help
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Yeah the PSU could overheat, since you didn't hear the fan. Having it sit outside is really not a great idea. I would replace thermal paste and give it a great cleaning as well.
 
I replaced the thermal paste and removed the only card in it (an old modem)...It booted right up, I got online..gave it a good cleaning..downloaded some AV stuff and then just shut off..doing the same thing to me now..just not working...any thoughts? It has a 250W power supply now and the only one at the local staples is a 350W...can those be swapped?
 
Look in the event viewer for any details on why it shut off on you. It would either be under application or system.
 
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