Switch on, nothing

[oshta]

My grandads being his PC round tomorrow for me to have a go at fixing.

A few weeks ago i 'died' in the middle of him using it, and failed to power up again, he took it to a shop, who confirmed it didnt work, tested all the parts, found them all to be fine, reassmebled it, and i worked, so they gave it back, and charged him about £25 (not too much)
- He got it back, and the Kboard didnt work, so i messed about for abit, and it did it again. and again, you hit the power, nothing shows on the scren, apprently.
- He rang the pc shop again, who said its prolly the mobo, and prolly not with replacing it, get a new pc.

So anyway im going to stick the HDD in one of my machines, and backup his data onto dvd or CD, then have a go at geting it to work.
- I dont know is when you hit the pwr button it just donst power up at all, or weather its just the screen that stays blank.
- Anyway, im guessing it eather mobo or Gcard, so we'll see.

Its a three year old medion, early P4 i think, all he can tell me it is a geforce4.
- But, he doesnt need any more, infact, anything more than a 486 is a bit of a waste!
- And he does is word process, and surf the net at 56k!


Daniel

[StormPC]

Is there a question in there somewhere or are you just keeping us informed?

[RDL]

Is there a question in there somewhere or are you just keeping us informed?

Good point there!

[kidzer]

Maybe he's looking for a reccomendation on a spec for a new maching to fulfill his dads requirements?

[Matt1eD]

Or he may be informing us of his death, hence his abscense from hexus

A few weeks ago i 'died' in the middle of him using it

[oshta]

Is there a question in there somewhere or are you just keeping us informed?

Urrrm, yeah

It was late, and i guess i was just thinking aloud.

Anyway, ive got it here now, when you fire it up, all the fans/hdd etc spinup, and then it just beeps, long slow beeps, from the mobo, nothing on the display.
- Mobo seams to be a "medion 3500" mATA board
- Also seams to have some sort of weird card, which is 56k modem, firewire, usb card, that also powers the front mounted mic/s-video/etc and plugs into a blue PCI socket, which im guess is special in some sort of way (seen as both mobo and card are made by medion), so im not sure what all thats about, but im sure we could live without it.

I have another investistigate...

Daniel

[NightshadowUK]

... and then it just beeps, long slow beeps...

How many beeps, the number generally tells you what kinda problem you're looking at.

[maranatha]

Try reseating the Graphics Card

[Thorsson]

Try reseating the Graphics Card

Or the RAM, after properly earthing yourself. Video Card and RAM are the most frequent causes of beep failures. Next is CPU fan stopped working.

Outside that only connect the minimum necessary to boot. If you have two RAM sticks try using one, then the other.

Go here for lots of BIOS beep codes:

http://www.bioscentral.com/beepcodes/amibeep.htm for AMI BIOS
http://www.bioscentral.com/beepcodes/awardbeep.htm for AWARD BIOS

Other BIOSes have links on the page.

[oshta]

Well, thanks everyone.
- It been a slow day!

5hours and all ive done is burn some file off a hdd into dvd, and 30mins worth of trying to get it working again.
- I spent 25mins just trying to ask him what is used to veiw is emials with (ie, if i need to back up his emails from outlook, AHhhh!!!)


I took out everything nessary,still no joy, tryed the memory/Gcard in my pc, both fine.
- So its eather cpu or mobo, (i dont have a p4 based system to test them it)

The beep pattern is long beep, short silence, repeated endlessly (well, i got to about 25ish and got fed up)
- So i guess i'll have a look for a suitable 2nd hand mATA mobo to replace it with, hopefully i can find somthing relatively cheap.
- Otherwise, i think ill just tell him to get a new pc for about £300/400 and sell what works on ebay.


Thanks, again Daniel

[Koolpc]

Pity you can't try another CPU mate. Have you tried re-seating it?

[oshta]

Yeah, it is, but like i say, i dont have any P4 based systems or mobos here (just 3 sktA althons, and a spare, slightly dodgy, sktA mobo)

I had to remove the headsink to get the HDD out, to the smallness of the case, and the lack of HDD cage. (the hdd had to come out backward, and the cpu hs was in the way)
- When i tryed to lift the heatsink off (gently) i actually ended up pulling the cpu out of the zif socket
- I then couldnt get the cpu off the heatsink, and ended up pushing it back in with the zif socket closed - So i hope its ok, but it seamed to go in quite easyly, im 99% sure all the pins when back fine.

So yeah, i guess i did reseat the cpu!

The Medion 3500 seams to be a re-baged MSI Ms-6513, which seams to be a skt478board from what i can gather via google.


Daniel

[Thorsson]

I don't think MSI ever did a 6513 board, this was clearly for the OEM market. It's probably about 2 years old.

Maybe your CPU is OK, or maybe you pulled some pins right out - you must have given it a hell of a yank to pull it out.

It seems that although there is a Medion UK, most of their sales have been in Germany. This is an Award BIOS, which is unfortunate as these are often altered by the board maker, but one consistent feature is that one long beep means memory error.

As the memory is working in another PC that means the mobo. Replace nasty Pentium by one of your socket A's. Buy self new socket 939. QED.

[oshta]

i dont know, i cant find any info on the 6513 board, but a found two german sites that say thats what it is (reading it via google translator)

I actually didnt pull it that hard, and all the pins where still on once it was out. (and as i say, i think it went back fine too)

So options are, get £15/£20 second hand mATa mobo replacemnt an hope that cures it
- or tell him to find a new pc, and sell the working parts on ebay.

Daniel

[dannyboy83]

It isnt't a Packard Bell PC is it?

My mates is and Im sure that's a Medion mobo. Like an MSI, but not actually made by them. Very hard to get drivers, etc, for it.

[oshta]

It isnt't a Packard Bell PC is it?

My mates is and Im sure that's a Medion mobo. Like an MSI, but not actually made by them. Very hard to get drivers, etc, for it.

Its a three year old medion, from aldi, one of the first.