Duc Posted February 20, 2012 Report Share Posted February 20, 2012 I have a several years old pc that is failing and I want to know which part of the hardware that is at fault. The pc currently have an Ubuntu server os installed and is serving personal websites. The pc works fine when it is on and running. I don't see any fault as far as software failing or glitching when the pc is running. However, if the pc needs a reboot or turnd off, the pc will not boot pass the os. Most of the time it would freezes anywhere between post. It also freezes when I am in bios. The keyboard would not function; the lights on the keyboard would not respond as well. If I am lucky and after many hard setting, the pc would like me boot into os and everything would work fine. The problem only persist during a reboot of pc. Here is what i have. dfi PS83-BL motherboardpentium 4 cpux800 gto 245mb graphic cardcooler master 460w psWD 60gb ide harddriveno media player(cd rom) installed 2gb (I think) corsair ram You can rule out the following as I have replaced with a working/new unit. I am thinking it is the motherboard but I want to know for sure before I replace it with another mobo. powersupplychange the cmos batteryclean the pc from dust Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ennash Posted February 20, 2012 Report Share Posted February 20, 2012 Did the system update is upto date? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bludgard Posted February 20, 2012 Report Share Posted February 20, 2012 Just a quick guess: I say the hard drive. Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS (CD) can be found here? Burn the .ISO to CD/DVD and boot on the problematic machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duc Posted February 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2012 Did the system update is upto date? Are you referring to the latest firmware of the motherboard? the firmware is dated back to 3/18/2005. this might be the latest from my quick search on the net. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duc Posted February 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 Just a quick guess: I say the hard drive. Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS (CD) can be found here? Burn the .ISO to CD/DVD and boot on the problematic machine.Well, I tried to run the Data Lifeguard disk, but the monitor will not even turn on. The pc is not giving any signal to the monitor apparently. Only once it did, but it went as far as the pentium 4 logo and froze. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bludgard Posted February 24, 2012 Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 Is there another monitor about that could be connected to the machine? Or has this troubleshooting step already been tried, Duc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duc Posted February 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2012 The monitor was purchased last November; I use it for my other pc. I don't have another monitor to try. The lifeguard disk is for scanning hard drive only? I can put that hard drive in question in my other pc and test it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bludgard Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 Sorry for the delay, Duc.Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS (CD) (follow the images until the correct product is found) is a hard drive diagnostic tool only. As I see now from your first post, the ailing machine has no CD/DVD ROM. CAn the machine be booted from other media? Such as memory card, external hard drive, thumb drive, firewire device or floppy drive?How old is the hard drive? Is there another hard drive lying about on which experiments could be done to test this theory? Well, I tried to run the Data Lifeguard disk, but the monitor will not even turn on. The pc is not giving any signal to the monitor apparently. Only once it did, but it went as far as the pentium 4 logo and froze. If the hard drive can be connected to another machine, grab Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows which can be found within the above link. Let us know.... Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duc Posted February 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Sorry for the delay, Duc.Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS (CD) (follow the images until the correct product is found) is a hard drive diagnostic tool only. As I see now from your first post, the ailing machine has no CD/DVD ROM. CAn the machine be booted from other media? Such as memory card, external hard drive, thumb drive, firewire device or floppy drive?How old is the hard drive? Is there another hard drive lying about on which experiments could be done to test this theory? Well, I tried to run the Data Lifeguard disk, but the monitor will not even turn on. The pc is not giving any signal to the monitor apparently. Only once it did, but it went as far as the pentium 4 logo and froze. If the hard drive can be connected to another machine, grab Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows which can be found within the above link. Let us know.... CheersFor some reasons, I am not getting email notifications when new posts are posted. Anyways, I will do more testing and let you know what I find or not find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 For some reasons, I am not getting email notifications when new posts are posted.You need to click on the "Follow this topic" button at the top of the topic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duc Posted March 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2012 Here is an update of what I have done to no available. I have either replaced or swapped out different hardware to test. psumotherboardcpuhard drive In addition, I have 4 ram chips in total and have tried to run pc with one ram chip at a time to eliminate a possible bad ram. Is not possible for all 4 ram chip to go bad unless there was a static discharge? What I have not replaced is my video card and ram. I have spent many hours tinkling on a pretty old system and shelled out some $$ already. At this point, I think it is the video card, but I do not think it is worth the $$ to fix it. The card must be fried to not have any signal outputting to the monitor. I do have a question though. What is the bare minimum (hardware) to have the pc turn on and go into bios only? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duc Posted March 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2012 Also, I noticed my HDD and cd rom led are on all the time now. The hard drive disk doesn't seem to be spinning nor can I eject the cd rom tray. When I swapped it out with another hard drive(sata 1TB), the drive does spin, but the hdd led doesn't lit. When the pc is first power on, is there an order of what is to be turned on first? I would assume any power that is plugged in to the hardware, it will be on. Now if the video card is fried/bad, would the system act the way I have described? I have been searching for a video card and the price is not too bad. I just hate to fork out the fund and find out it is not the video card afterwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viresh Posted April 16, 2012 Report Share Posted April 16, 2012 Open the case, locate the i/o panel cable where it connects to the motherboard, this is a flat grey ribbon which almost always connects to the board in the back right corner directly below the psu. It will have a yellow pull strap. with the i/o cable out make sure all leads are connected and insert the power cord, making sure the wall plug is on. This normally bypasses the i/o panel on a dell and will boot the machine up if this is the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N0k14 D14b10 Posted April 27, 2012 Report Share Posted April 27, 2012 did you open up the case and do a though check of HARd ware ? make sure theres no dust or shorts , Check EVERYWARE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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