Awesomeness!

theacoustician

Flaccid Member
Sep 30, 2004
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So I installed a new HDD into my computer. It was just going to be for media storage, no biggie. Open up the case, put it in there, hook it up, close the case, turn on the PC, and nothing. I mean absolutely nothing. The computer appeared to power up, but the screen was black.

1. I disconnect the screen and it immediately tells me "no signal detected", so I know the monitor did take a dump.

2. I notice that the HDD light was on and solid. So I try to turn off the computer and it won't turn off. I unplug it from the wall.

3. I disconnect the new HDD and try to power up again. Still a black screen. Have to unplug again to power down.

4. I disconnect everything from IDE bus (all drives) and everything from the back of the PC except the VGA cable. Power up, still black. Unplug to power down.

5. Reseat the video card, power up .... still nothing.


So I give up. I'm guessing because the motherboard wouldn't power down and was giving a constant activity light on the HDD even when it wasn't connected, my motherboard is hosed. I have no idea how the hell that happens. Anyone else have any ideas of something to try before I bash my head into the wall?
 
the fact that it won't power down when you hold the button down screams motherboard to me (i'm assuming that's the method you used).

have you tried taking the motherboard out of the case and putting it on a non-conductive surface (pillow), stripping it of everything but cpu, ram, and video card, and starting it? that's always my last-ditch "God, i hope it's not my motherboard" action. it's actually worked once or twice when i left a mount in or something got under the board.
 
wr3kt said:
No beebs or anything when you pulled out the video card on start-up?
Not a damn peep out of the thing. Except for the constant HDD activity light and the black screen, it appears to be functioning normally.
 
Kabn said:
the fact that it won't power down when you hold the button down screams motherboard to me (i'm assuming that's the method you used).

have you tried taking the motherboard out of the case and putting it on a non-conductive surface (pillow), stripping it of everything but cpu, ram, and video card, and starting it? that's always my last-ditch "God, i hope it's not my motherboard" action. it's actually worked once or twice when i left a mount in or something got under the board.
I'll do a full deconstruct tomorrow. Doubtful that it will do much good, but I'll give it a go. I'm too tired to screw with it now.
 
theacoustician said:
I'll do a full deconstruct tomorrow. Doubtful that it will do much good, but I'll give it a go. I'm too tired to screw with it now.
don't work on it if you're tired. that's about the worst thing you can do.
 
Kabn said:
don't work on it if you're tired. that's about the worst thing you can do.
That's why I'm posting from bed. I tried working on a computer once while tired and frustrated and ended up electrocuting myself. I woke up in a hurry and could feel my arm spasm for about 10 minutes afterwards.
 
Something you didn't post but probably already checked:

When the monitor doesn't turn on like that but the computer is working, possible power surge on monitor. Unplug the power to the monitor for 5 seconds then plug it back in.
 
we have a bunch of pc's here with shady power supplys. if you unplug them while still on, they do exactly the same thing. Unless you use the power button to shut them down, they stay stuck in not being able to boot.