My Dad got a computer that someone was going to throw away and gave it to me to see if I could fix it. Well I open it up and cut it on and all the fans are running the CD drive opens and closes, but nothing shows on the monitor. The LED hooked to the Hard Drive does not blink or do anything. So I put my hand on the Hard Drive and don't feel anything moving in there. So I feel like the HDD is dead is it? If it is can I take some kind of linux that boots from a CD or floppy and use that? My Dad is using a really old computer and I want to fix it up for him to get on the internet and stuff can you get on the internet with the CD-bootable Linux? I don't think this is possible but my dad asked can he take his hard drive out of his computer and put in this computer?
If nothing at all apperes on the monitor its not a hdd problem. Could be mobo,gfxcard,ram,cpu or psu but not hdd im afrade as it would atleast POST. slater..
yeah nothing comes on the screen it appears as if the monitor is cut off, but it's not. I feel like the PSU is working because all the fans and CD drive is working. The computer has intergrated graphics card. So it is probably something wrong with the mobo,CPU or ram huh? Anyway to check this stuff?
Do you get any beeps on power up? Gotta listen to the beep codes... Just the motherboard and cpu at first. Then ram if that works. Keep everything else unplugged. If it turns out that you get the right single beep on power on (usually its one beep for a sucessfull post), then try and put a graphics card in there. Maybe the intergated one is dead but the rest of the board will work.
There's no point. As has already been said, your computer will turn on and POST (Power on selft test) for at least 5 seconds or so before it realises it can't find a HDD. Clear the CMOS as someone said. Sounds like the motherboard's probably dead though. And just for the record, Knoppix is great for bootable Linux, and yes, you can use the internet with it.
What is the CMOS and how do I clear it? So if it is the motherboard what can I do? How can I totally wipe a hard drive so I can put it in another computer for extra storage since it is a 20GB HDD in there?
Theres normaly a jumper on the motherboard that you have to swap over and start the pc, Then swap it back and restart. Sometimes you can do it by removing the bios battery aswell. You could reuse the hdd, just plug it in another system and reformat it. If the mobos dead all you can relly do is get a new one. slater..
What does this jumper look like? Does it have any wires hooked to it? What color is it or is it diffrent colors on diffrent motherboards?
Do you know what mobo it is? Look for writing on the mobo saying CMOS, they should be 3 or at least 2 pins next to it. either short them together using a flat head screwdriver, or find the battery and remove it for about 30 seconds, replace it and power up.
If you want a full motherboards specifications look for the manufacturer/model and search for the documentation on the manufacturers website. Think carefully though if you have the necessary skills to start using jumpers to clear the CMOS. Some points: A computer will POST with knackered memory, but you'll get a message on the POST screen informing you the memory check has failed. If memory isn't inserted correctly you'll find out quickly by the smoke and bad smell. A computer will quite happily boot without a working internal HDD providing you give it something to boot from, like a CD. If the case and CPU fans are spinning the motherboard should be OK as its power distribution is working correctly. It is rare for motherboards to die unless you've been hacking at it with a screwdriver or playing "electric-shock torture" with it, in which case I'd say you have bigger things to worry about. If absolutely nothing appears on the screen but the system appears to be working otherwise there is a possibility the graphics are at fault. Although having the integral graphics fail is somewhat unusual, out of interest has it always run off this or has it ever run from an AGP/PCI card? Quck check have you swapped out the PSU for another unit? Humour me.
I have decided to just take the computer apart and use the parts inside. But I don't have and type of software for none of the parts. So can I take the Modem and CD drive out and put it in my dad's old computer and it still run?
Yes. But, for nearly all computer hardware, you can find any of the drivers with a simple Google search .
Im guessing that your dad's computer isnt running Windows XP, so the best thing to do when you take the parts out of the broken computer is to write down any part or model numbers that you can find on it. atleast with a few numbers to work with, google should be able to find some drivers for you.
What kind of computer was it? major OEMs like Dell, HP, and Gateway have there drivers and information online.
My dad is running windows 95 . So would I have to download drivers for the CD drive or not? What about the modem? My dad's computer internet connection ins not very reliable. It would be near impossible to try to keep it on the internet lon enough to download a driver. Thats why I want to replace the modem, to see if it will help it stay on the internet longer. Another problem is I want to put MSN on it but it's not going to run the new versions of MSN. Any ideas?
www.driverguide.com is good for drivers. I believe the username is "driver" and password is "all", as far as I can remember. Everyone uses the same user and pass.
