Will not post

My mom has an E-machine w3400 and one day while she was playing Heroes of Might and Magic 3 the screen started displaying raw code "like on the Matrix" as she explained it. Then it turned off and science the it wouldn't post. It Gives a beep every once in a while but I can't find one listed for it. It has a Phoenix bios and gives one beep about every 15-20 secs. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry for posting the thread twice it acted like it didn't post the first time

Make sure all connections are in, reseat all parts. If you have thermal paste, reseat the CPU with new paste.

Start removing stuff you don't need to post, all you need is:

MB
CPU
CPU heatsink
RAM
PSU

If that doesn't work, try 1 stick of ram at a time. If that doesn't work, try no sticks, if you don't get a RAM beep code, then either the CPU, MB or PSU is at fault. Start swapping out parts with known working parts.

If it does post, start adding parts until it fails to boot.

Thanx it was the CPU for some reson the pins had some black stuff on them I think it is because they smoke in thier house and have no fans blowing air out of the comp.

FatCamel said:

Thanx it was the CPU for some reson the pins had some black stuff on them I think it is because they maoke in thier house and have no fans blowing air out of the comp.

Click to expand...

Eww....smoke will kill a computer pretty fast.

thideras said:

Eww....smoke will kill a computer pretty fast.

Click to expand...

maoke = smoke?

huh

hehe.

Yeah My dad's PC died by smoking too much. Every single fan in the computer ceased!

Come on, guys, it's NOT that bad. I've still got a 4 year old XP running in my den where I smoke all the time. But I do clean out the system every so often as everyone should.

On the other hand, my son-in-law managed to fry his computer after three years in his smoke-free home - but he never cleaned it. He brought it over here and the PSU was dead from heat (the intake ports were clogged with dust) and most of his fans were on the verge of failing from dust. No home is 100% clean whether you like to think so or not. Regular cleaning is a must, smoking and non-smoking alike ...