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Computer won't boot

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tntnardo

Registered
Joined
Dec 27, 2002
Location
Michagan
Problem started when a friend turned computer on and mouse curser was missing, she said that there were no lights on mouse or keyboard. So she then tried replacing mouse. Now the computer will not boot. It gets to the black screen where it say's Main Processor .. memory Testing... and then it say's, "Detecting IDE Drives ..." it does not say anything else. On the bottom of the screen it states," Press DEL to enter setup" but nothing happens if you press delete. Also the light is not on the mouse or keyboard. I've tried two different mouse's and keyboards. I tried clearing cmos both by jumping the pins and also by removing battery, still no luck. I also tried putting windows cd in but it would not boot to cd. Same screen would come up. It is a MSI KM4AM-V ... Sempron 2400. It has onboard sound and video. Any help would be appreciated.
 
Reconnect EVERYTHING! Sounds like the mouse isn't plugged in all the way. Also sounds like the HDD could have a bad connection.
 
Pop the case open and check the capacitors near the CPU socket. Any of 'em look bulged on top, or have brown goo coming out of 'em? That motherboard falls in the age range where that was a common problem, and your symptoms fit well with it.

Unfortunately, if that is the problem, you'd need to replace the motherboard. (Or the capacitors, if you're technically inclined enough to do so.)
 
Pop the case open and check the capacitors near the CPU socket. Any of 'em look bulged on top, or have brown goo coming out of 'em? That motherboard falls in the age range where that was a common problem, and your symptoms fit well with it.

Unfortunately, if that is the problem, you'd need to replace the motherboard. (Or the capacitors, if you're technically inclined enough to do so.)


They all look good.
 
"tntnardo" Disconnect her harddrive and try to post with out it. I have seen bad hardrives do strange things. Your running a Socket A system too. Try removing her power supply and swapping in yours. Still not it, try putting in her Sempron 2400 in your motherboard, might as well toss her ram in too. If it all works it must be her motherboard gone bad.
 
I'd also try disconnecting the mouse, and then booting while holding down the 'ins' key. If that gets you into the BIOS, reset everything to fail-safe defaults.
 
Replace the CR2032 battery and reset the CMOS. Then blow dust off the motherboard and reconnect the Molexes and IDE connectors.
 
I tried a boot without HD connected and it did give more information. As I mentioned in the fist post, it would get to,"Detecting IDE drives" and go no further. With HD disconnected it added info: Primary Master
Primary Slave
Secontary Master
Secontary Slave
It listed my two CD rom drives
it also say's:CMOS checksun eror-defaults loaded, on the bottom of screen it say's press F1 ... Delete to enter setup put when I press the key's it doesn't resond. Don't know if this helps with problem, but thought I would mention it.
 
Ok, I removed the battery, reset cmos ... same problem. I then removed both sticks of ram, all hardware from slots, disconnected both cd's, unplugged mouse & keyboard, disconnected HD ... same problem. My guess at this time is it is the MB. The one in there now is a MSI KM4M-V (socket A 462). I would like to stay with MSI, also need onboard video, I could not find many for sale, found one used on Ebay KM4M-L for $46 shipped. Will update when new MB is installed. Thanks for all the help!!
 
Ok here's the update, I replaced the MB, started it up and got to the same screen: It does not show any of my hardware and at the bottom it say's,"Press delete to enter". Nothing happens when I press the delete key. I then disconnected the HD and was able to get into the bio's. I set the bio's to all of the proper setting and pressed F10 to save and boot. It did not boot and message said,"Disc boot failure-insert system disc and press enter", this was with the HD disconnected. I then reconnected HD and tried to boot ... It then goes to that same screen where it does not show any of my hardware and say's to press delele to enter setup, but nothing happens when I press delete. Does this suggest that it could be HD?? Any suggestions before I buy new HD?????
 
just got a hold of used HD ... installed used HD .... Problem solved!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thanks for al the help it was GREATLY appreciated!! Time to do a format :(
 
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