computer won't start...

my father has an older P4 computer... today, all of a sudden, the computer would not boot up... the power led lights up and all the fans are spinning but there's no beep or anything... doesn't even show a post screen... it's as if the monitor is not even connected to the computer...

also, the led light on the cd rom drive is on but when i pressed the eject button, it does not open the cd tray...

before, holding down the power button for 5 seconds will instantly power off the computer... now, it would not power it off... the only way to power it off is to turn off the power from the power supply... because of this, i'm thinking it might be a motherboard problem...

Could be, see if you can get your hands on a POST card, get the code and go from there.


Any local computer repair shop should be able to check the POST code for you.

Many things can cause this. Bad memory, bad cpu, bad power supply, bad motherboard. You can narrow it down by following these steps:
1. Remove the memory, power up. Any change? If yes, one of the memory sticks is bad. Replace them one at a time, power up. If it boots up, the other stick is bad. If not, the one you just put in is bad.
2. Remove memory and cpu. Power up. Any beeps? If yes, suspect cpu. If no, then it is either the motherboard or the power supply.
3. Try the power supply in another computer or get another power supply to try in your computer. If the power supply is bad, then the other computer won't work. If you other power supply works in your computer then the old power supply is bad.