wilkes

Prob the motherboard....

My computer did the same day right after a storm and it was the motherboard. Good luck to you Eshep!!!

THANKS EVERY ONE WHO REPLY VERY HELPFUL

* cheapest place to start is the coin battery in the tower its about the size of a nickel and under $3.00 at radio shack

There are a few possibilities: it could be the monitor, video card, hard drive, CPU, motherboard, or power supply. I can ask a few questions to narrow it down.

Very first thing, make sure that all of the cables in the back are in place correctly. This could be something as simple as the monitor cable being partially unplugged.

If that checks out, then proceed. We'll start with the easiest to fix, which is what we're hoping for.

1. When you first turn it on, do you hear a "beep" about 1-2 seconds later? If so, this signifies that the hard drive is coming on, which implies (but does not guarantee) that the motherboard is OK. This narrows the problem down to the monitor, video card, or less likely, the CPU or power supply.

In this case, the easiest (read, cheapest) thing to do is try a different monitor. If you don't have on on hand, you can usually buy a used one at Ebenezers or Goodwill for around $10. Just plug in the new one, and see if that solves the problem.

If it still doesn't come on, then the next problem to check would be the video card. This is an internal part of the computer; the plug that the monitor cable plugs in to. If you're comfortable in trying to replace this, you can buy a used one online for anywhere from $10 to $20 (try the GoWilkes classifieds first, then if that doesn't work, try Ebay). These are easy to replace; just unplug the computer, open the case, pull the old video card out, and push the new one in its place. Be sure that you don't touch anything else, though; a static shock to the motherboard could ruin the whole computer.

If THAT doesn't work, but the computer still beeps when you turn it on, then it's probably a little harder to fix. A CPU isn't hard to replace, but it requires a little knowledge to find one that works with the rest of your system. And a power supply usually comes when you buy a new case, which means that you have to remove all of the internals from one and move it to the other. Either will cost around $100 new, and I would recommend that you have a pro to do the labor for you. But in that case, it might be wiser to just buy a new computer and be done with it.

2. If the computer does NOT beep when you turn it on, then you either have a bad hard drive, CPU, or less likely, a bad power supply. A hard drive is cheaper to replace (you can buy a good, used 2G drive for around $15), but you have to completely install a new operating system, and you will have probably lost everything on the old one (it's possible to salvage the information, but not exactly easy to do).

If that doesn't work, then the next thing would be the CPU or power supply, which I discussed in the last paragraph of # 1.


In your case, I'll be hoping that the problem is just the monitor; ESPECIALLY if it stopped working right after a storm. Otherwise, you'll probably end up paying around $100-150 to fix it.

MY SONS COMPUTER ONE DAY JUST WOULD NOT WORK . ALL THAT COMES ON IS THE FAN ON THE TOWER . DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHAT HAPPEN TO HIS COMPUTER .