Weird Problem

[Haze]

I've got a friend's PC that I'm trying to fix. He started having problems after he sent it for an upgrade. It's an old HP - 1Ghz Celeron - 128MB of RAM. He sent it to have RAM added and a new, larger HDD installed. I tested the RAM, no problem. The HDD appears to spinup - it's a WD 70GB IDE. Here's where it gets fishy. Before I even continue let me also tell you that the machine doesn't POST at all - When I turn the machine on the monitor stays in the inactive/no-signal state. It's as if there is no output from the PC at all. I initially suspected the MOBO/CPU had failed but I went on to test the rest of the components and found several other fishy things. Continue reading to see what else I came across...

I have an old system that I KNOW works - it has similar specs and is about the same age as the one I'm working on. I pulled the new HDD out of my friends PC and put it my test-PC and BIOS doesn't detect the HDD. BUT, when I load the XP disc into the system it shows an existing partition with XP installed on it. So I thought it may have been a BIOS issue - so to try and isolate the problem to the HDD I pulled the HDD out of my test PC (WD 20GB) and put it in the one I'm trying to fix and I still get nothing.

So - what is most likely the problem? I'm still leaning towards the mobo/CPU. I'm trying to find a more current machine I can test the HDD on as I really don't feel like flashing the BIOS on my old test machine if I don't have to. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

[wonkanoby]

wd have a funny jumperless setting if alone on an ide

[Haze]

I tried it as both Master and CS - I've never had a problem with my WD's in that regard though.

[wonkanoby]

cs should work but you only jumper a wd master if it actually has a slave

[Pc geek]

Ok does the system do anything like fans spin up and the like? have you tryed another psu?also is the video onbord or add on card?could be a dead video card?Also do you get any beep codes?

[Haze]

The machine doesn't POST at all (if it does, I can't see it). No HP screen or anything like that. Like I said it's like there is zero output from the VGA port. The HDD was originally set to CS - I jumpered it to Master just to see if I could get anything. All the fans spin up and everything turns on like it should. There are no beep codes. This is onboard video as well.

[wonkanoby]

try clear cmos,try ram one at a time

[Pc geek]

Is the cpu skt 478 or 423? if it is 478 you could put in in another mobo and see if it starts up and does another psu do anythig for it? also like said above try with one stick of ram take everything out but the stick of ram and cpu and see if anything happens.

[Haze]

Tried the RAM already. Didn't work.

[Pc geek]

well the only thing to test would be the cpu.

[grumblemarc]

PULL THE JUMPER!!! I believe it was suggested but don't know if it was tried or not.

[Haze]

I'll try it...but regardless of the HDD issue shouldn't the machine at least POST? I'm going to try pulling the jumper - also...I need to have a mobo that's compatible with that CPU in order to use it for testing don't I? It's like a 900MHz Celeron.

[Haze]

Ok...I tested the power supply and put a known good one in there. No change. I pulled a stick of RAM and presto the machine POST's. Now we're on to the next problem. After dealing with checksum errors after the initial POST I got "A disk read error has occurred. Press Control+Alt+Delete to restart."

I CAD and it restarts and does the same thing over and over again. I did this with two diff disk drives - one of which I know is good. So...what could this mean? Bad IDE cable maybe?