Emergency! Pc Not Booting!!!!!

[vbuser1976]

Hi everyone!

I need help BADLY! I have a pc that has suddenly stopped working. The computer turns on, it reads the CD-ROM, but doesn't read the hard drive or floppy. The power supply seems ok, but I need for this pc to boot. Could a virus from the internet cause something like this? What troubleshooting steps can you give me?

Thanks in advance.

[chrisjk]

Open the case and check all the power and IDE cables to the drives. Try swapping the cables on the CD drive with those of the HDD. If still no go, go into the BIOS if you can and check that it's picking up the drives and that the boot order is correct (e.g. floppy, HDD, CD, Network or similar)

[KayJay]

Check this out as well. In the power slots, unhook the "Reset" button's jack. A short circuit in the Reset wire could "loop" through and keep the PC "Resetting" thus preventing an actual boot.

PS: That did happen to one of our PIII (ATX cabinet) machine and the Hardware Guys we employ, simply, were stumped. An enterprising programmer solved it for us in 10 minutes flat

[JoshT]

Does it POST and do you get beep codes or light codes from the BIOS? Do you have to hold the power button down to get it to switch off?

[vbuser1976]

Yes, the switch has to be held down in order to turn off. It does not POST , no beeps codes or light codes from BIOS are emitted, and it does not even go through BIOS. The power only stays on, and no lights turn on from the floppy or hard drive. We thought it was maybe the hard drive and switched it, but it didn't solve the problem.

Thanks all for your input.

[Max Power]

Did someone or something flash the ROM perhaps?

[vbuser1976]

Originally posted by Max Power
Did someone or something flash the ROM perhaps?

Please explain the question you asked. Thanks.

[Max Power]

Well, if your ROM is flashable then maybe something flashed it and screwed it up

Without a working ROM, your computer is just gonna sit there

[vbuser1976]

that sounds like that is what happened. how do I know and how can that be fixed?

Thanks again.

[Max Power]

It's a bit of a wild guess, so it may or may not be it

If it is that, the only solution as far as I know is getting a new motherboard, or at least sending it off to the manufacturer for re-flashing

[BigBosky]

just out of curiosity what is flashing the ROM?

[Sastraxi]

Mobos with flashable BIOS' are common these days; it allows updates to be made to the mobo's ROM so errors are fixed, things are more stable, etc. It's entirely possible you got a virus that nulled your ROM....

[Liquid Pennies]

uh, that happened to me once. i called technical service from my pc provider.

it turns out my hard drive had "failed." i got a sqeaky clean one in the mail a week later. i lost EVERYTHING..now i back up everything important once every 2 weeks

[Pc_Madness]

Are u sure its just not a problem with the BIOS?? My old comps battery must have died for or something cause when I turned it on I got an "No Operating System Found" message. Anyways, went through the BIOS and set the harddrive back again and it worked fine.

[Gimlin]

It could be the BIOS, see if you have a reset switch on your Mobo. Also dont rule out PS just because the CD rom is going on.

[JoshT]

There might be a jumper on your MB to clear the CMOS - there's a small chance that'll work - see your MB docs for how to do it.

[Bjwbell]

If your CDRom drive is bad it will flick the lights and then go off I had that happen to me once so try taking the Cdrom drive out.