Dead desktop

[zoobie]

Curious what would suddenly cause my HD monitor and all usb (wireless, audio, etc) to all go dead. XP won'start and the redlight stays on. Fans work and I get the one beep. PS is 6 months old. Offhand, this sounds like a major failure - perhaps of the mobo? I've reset the cmos yet everything is dead and/or not working.

[Budman1]

You don't mention the brand of computer and this is important since the beeps can vary widely from IBM beep that means ok to others that mean corrupted bios. Also, things can cause a failure that are not necessarily what the beep directly calls out.

For this type of failure its best to get the beep list for your computer and then go to minimum configuration (Processor, ram, hardrive). See if the hard drive appears to be loading the operation system and then let it finish and power down and add devices, retest

Since the USB devices do not work, you aren't getting very far into the boot, so be sure it isn't your Power supply first.

[Nelson37]

Pull the power cord. Wait one minute. Unplug all peripherals except monitor, plug in power cord, turn on.

Describe in detail any and all text appearing on screen. This is a far more useful diagnostic than what you have described so far.

If nothing at all, Power Supply is most likely cause.

Describe reason for previous replacement and make and model of 6 mo old power supply.

Are you using a good-quality surge protector/battery backup. Panamax. APC, Minuteman?

Make, model, and age of PC may also be useful information. My crystal ball is in the shop this week.

Also describe ANY and ALL recent changes to the PC. Also any recent electrical storm activity in your area.

[LMotlow]

zoobie's PC details and motherboard are listed in his personal profile.

[Budman1]

Just saw join date of 2005 and many peoples spec are old So thought it best to ask instead of giving beep code instructions for from wrong brand. Oh well, instructions for removal of peripherals is the best suggestion.

[zoobie]

Everything's still completely dead unplugging the peripherals. Red light stays on - doesn't boot.
One beep is what it always did when it ran fine for years.
I haven't done anything to it recently except add some ram. I just removed it to test - still no boot.
The onboard video went out 6 months ago so I stuck an ATI x300 card in there. Been editing HD fine.
I threw out the old PS 6 months ago and found a new unused one lying around my place - probably a cheapo.
Can the PS be bad and still run 3 fans and 2 DVD drives? They're the only thing responding.

[Nelson37]

Absolutely positively on the fans and DVD drives, assuming by "run them" you mean they will power-open the loading tray.

Make and model, wattage rating, of power supply will give definite info rather than probability.

Cheap power supplies are a very bad waste of cash. Possible damage to components, as well as unreliable.

FOR WHAT REASON did you discard the old power supply? This would tend to indicate some sort of power-related or functionality issue, which may, or may not, have a very important bearing on the current problem. Changing a power supply for no reason is not a common action.

Just noticed on-board video went out AT THE SAME TIME as the power supply was replaced. IF psu was defective at same time as mobo component, strong evidence of possible electrical surge damaage. EDIT: - Note that additional missing info regarding surge protector strongly affects this possibility. APC, Panamax, Minuteman almost eliminate it. If APC is present, and damage is due to surge, they will pay for the new parts. I have seen the checks.

Remove ALL RAM and see if beep code changes. Not good if it doesn't. Usually changes to multiple beeps with no RAM installed. No change in beep code indicates possible mobo failure, combined with possible surge damage, odds go way up.

More complete information is necessary for diagnosis. Make, model, age of pc not yet revealed. Many people own multiple computers, and update their pc more often than their user profile, and/or work on friends/others computers.

Unknown age of PC and components directly related to probability assessment of possible mobo failure. No-RAM beep code test and replace power supply with KNOWN GOOD unit of decent quality primary next test. Re-seat and/or remove video card and unplug ALL cables for all internal drives, USB and audio case plugs, confirm KB and mouse unplugged also worth trying if no alternate power supply immediately available.

EDIT #2 - Extremely Important you describe any activity on the monitor. ANYTHING other than absolutely blank, including "cable not connected" or similar message."Doesn't boot" means different things to different people, from a dead mobo to an OS loading error to Windows locking up before completing load. Power and single beep (indicates POST test completed and basic functionality) you should be seeing at least some BIOS info. Where, EXACTLY, is this red light indicator that you speak of? PC or Monitor?

[zoobie]

Turns out it was a loose connection and a HDD failure.
Got knocked off the internet.
Thanks for the info. I'll apply it to my next box.

[newpball]

Curious what would suddenly cause my HD monitor and all usb (wireless, audio, etc) to all go dead. XP won'start and the redlight stays on. Fans work and I get the one beep. PS is 6 months old. Offhand, this sounds like a major failure - perhaps of the mobo? I've reset the cmos yet everything is dead and/or not working.

How old is your computer?

[turk690]

Turns out it was a loose connection and a HDD failure.

CMOS coin batteries that are about to die can also be a non-trivial concern.

[bevills1]

Turns out it was a loose connection and a HDD failure.
Got knocked off the internet.
Thanks for the info. I'll apply it to my next box.

Do you mean the HDD failure was due to the loose connection, or did you have a loose connection and a bad HDD? Recently I thought I had a bad HDD when Windows failed to complete the format of a partition on the drive. I replaced the HDD only to have the exact same partition on the replacement drive fail to complete the format. Finally I unplugged the sata cable connection to the mobo and replugged it which fixed the problem for both drives. My loose connection to the mobo caused me to incorrectly conclude I had a bad HDD.