PC Problem...Need help

Eh, this probably isn't the best place to post a tech question, but here it goes anyway:

About a week ago, something happened (no, I have no idea what) and the UPS got fried and started leaking acid. Needless to say, the pc shut down immediately.

When I booted the pc up again, it was fine. A few days later, it randomly shut off on me. I tried booting it up, and the drive grinds away, but the monitor flashes the orange at me as though it is getting no signal from the pc (like it is in hibernate mode or something). I try booting it a few more times, making sure all cables are secure etc, and then it works again for an entire day without problems and I assume everything is okie dokie.

But it ain't! Now the monitor doesn't register, the cd drives work sometimes, and if I wriggle the cable and smooth it out, the hard drive will boot a little bit. It's not the video card, because I placed a perfectly good vid card in it, and it didnt' work either. The cable from the HD to the Mobo has a tiny hole in it, but that had ALWAYS been there. Even so, I tried swapping the ide cable with a brand new one and it still won't grind like it should. I may have altered the order the drives are all placed, but I don't believe that has any affect because they are not set to 'cable select' mode and that shouldn't have anything to d with this problem of no boot and/or no monitor.

So, in short, the monitor, which is plugged into the wall, HAS power, but flashes orange instead of green and there is no picture. The HD does not churn sometimes, but does other times, but the monitor isn't working any of those times.

The monitor IS still good because I tried swapping it with another working monitor, and the other didn't work either.

I BELIEVE the HD is still perfectly fine as I had it up and running last night and all day yesterday.

Also, I actually got it to boot today. The tower was open and on its side. While it was on, I VERY GENTLY lifted the twer up about an inch to set it vertical, and the comp reset and wouldn' boot again.

I am hoping something is just loose, but I am thinking maybe power supply or mother board, but I really have no real tech training other than years at home and building and maintaining my own comps. But I have never encountered a problem like this.

For a few obvious reasons, I don't want my drive being handled by some shop guy.

ANY IDEAS??????

thank you all in advance

B

I've never encountered this either.

Did you replace the UPS? Or you are still using the one leaking acid? If you haven't replaced it...you should be doing that before anything else. I'm guessing it's fluctuating and not powering all devices as it should.

Nope. Not using that UPS. It is totally dead. Just plugged it into a smaller strip that I had on hand. Not a ups, but it is still a surge protector.

Ever seen any of those symptoms? It seems like the pc is stuck in hibernate. Both the orange light on the tower and on the monitor keep flashing when I turn it on. Still no picture...hmph

thanks though!

B

No I haven't. It sounds maddening. I'm guessing there was a power surge that blew the UPS and managed to get through to your system and do damage there, too.

You might try replacing the Power Source and see if that helps, maybe it got damaged.

It sounds to me like your power supply is on the way out. That could have been caused by a spike when the ups fried. Not very technical terms, I know, but descriptive. A new power supply is not that expensive or try swapping one out from an old computer. I have a graveyard in the basement for problems just like this. I can't tell you how many times I have said - gee, I've never seen that happen before. I hoard old but still working parts and then I can replace stuff and solve problems by process of elimination.

Kathleen

Ok, I tried removing some RAM, cleaning it and placing it back, and now the pc tower light is green (no longer in orange hibernate color), the monitor is still no signal and the Mobo (I think) keeps beeping at me when I turn the pc on...

This computer is a Dell, and it only has 512 RAM...yet I have 2 256 sticks in there, but there are also 2 sticks of something in there from Dell (that are not labeled) that fill up the last 2 of my four memory slots. Anyone know what these are?

thanks Kathleen and n Purist

B

I don't think it's the power supply from what you say. I would guess it is a short circuit on the mobo, which would need replacement. It's not gonna be cheap i'm afraid! Also, is it an on board graphics card or some sort of pci job? Sounds like thats f****d as well.

How many beeps?

Check the meaning of different beeps here: http://bioscentral.com/postcodes/dellbios.htm

or by downloading a file here:
http://techrepublic.com.com/5138-6249-729200.html

Most likely you've got faulty RAM, since messing with it seems to help. About the two other combs you have there, take them out and see if they have any text on them.


Ice

I have a 3rd party GForce 4 of some kind (I can't remember which I bought anymore it has been a while). I believe it is still good...but it might all 'be f***ed' hehe.

Is there such a thing as RAM 'placeholders' that don't actually do anything, but are necessary to fill empty spots or the computer won't work? That is what the 2 dell sticks seem like. There doesn't seem to be any actual RAM on them, they just fit in the slot.

Thank you all for the suggestions, I will check the beep thing tomorrow when I have more drive...so tired of pcs right now


Damn, I hate computers I haven't built

B

Alright, so I just checked the beeps, and it beeps like this:

5, 2, 2, 1

(5 Beeps, then 2 beeps, then 2 beeps, then 1 then nothing)

This doesn't seem to match any of the 2 and 4 Dell beeps. Am I misintepereting the chart? What do those numbers mean: Number of beeps per interval, or length of interval? Please explain ice!