HDD Crash or Video Card

[Mike]

Hi,

My dad brought his PC to me a few weeks ago, which was infected with 3
or 4 viruses and about 600 spywares. I fixed it all and sent him on
his way. It's an HP, Wal-Mart special, 1.2GHz CPU, 128MB RAM, 40MB
Seagate HDD. Video card is built in to the mobo.

A few days after I clean the viruses, he calls and says that the
monitor isn't coming on anymore. He said he left for work and the
monitor was on, and when he came back it was off and wouldn't come
back on. I was pretty swamped, and since he couldn't wait a few days
he took it to a "friend" to look at it, who concluded that the HDD had
gone bad.

This doesn't seem right to me. I've never known a hard drive to just
go bad like that, when a few days ago it was running fine. The PC is
probably a year or two old. The guy said he tried a new motherboard
and still nothing came on, but I don't know if I believe that because
it would take forever to pull the PC apart then put it back together
again. Of course, he could have tried sticking the HDD in another PC
altogether, but I didn't talk to him myself so it's all hearsay from
my dad.

My dad brought it to me today, and here's my observations: you can
turn on the PC and everything seems to come on: the power supply comes
on, the fans spin, etc. The hard drive spins and seems normal, but the
monitor never gets the signal to come on. All connections seem intact,
and a good internal cleaning didn't help (the thing was just filthy).

I took the HDD out all together and tried turning on the computer,
because I figured that the HP splash screen would come on and then
give an error, but still the monitor didn't come on. This implies to
me that it's either the mobo or the video card. Is that a logical
assumption?

FYI, I took the bios battery out (didn't know how to short it) and put
it back, with no effect.

If I'm correct that it's either the mobo or video card, any
suggestions on how to narrow it down further without replacing things
willy-nilly?

TIA,

Mike

 

[Rod Speed]

My dad brought his PC to me a few weeks ago, which was infected
with 3 or 4 viruses and about 600 spywares. I fixed it all and sent
him on his way. It's an HP, Wal-Mart special, 1.2GHz CPU, 128MB
RAM, 40MB Seagate HDD. Video card is built in to the mobo.

A few days after I clean the viruses, he calls and says
that the monitor isn't coming on anymore. He said he left
for work and the monitor was on, and when he came back
it was off and wouldn't come back on. I was pretty swamped,
and since he couldn't wait a few days he took it to a "friend"
to look at it, who concluded that the HDD had gone bad.

This doesn't seem right to me. I've never known a hard drive to
just go bad like that, when a few days ago it was running fine.

Some do die like that.

The PC is probably a year or two old. The guy said he tried
a new motherboard and still nothing came on, but I don't know
if I believe that because it would take forever to pull the PC
apart then put it back together again. Of course, he could
have tried sticking the HDD in another PC altogether,

Not a good idea with the boot drive.

but I didn't talk to him myself so it's all hearsay from my dad.

My dad brought it to me today, and here's my observations: you
can turn on the PC and everything seems to come on: the power
supply comes on, the fans spin, etc. The hard drive spins and
seems normal, but the monitor never gets the signal to come on.

You mean that the monitor displays a No Signal or its just black ?

Can you hear it booting even tho there is nothing on the screen ?

All connections seem intact, and a good internal
cleaning didn't help (the thing was just filthy).

Hardly ever relevant.

I took the HDD out all together and tried turning on the
computer, because I figured that the HP splash screen
would come on and then give an error, but still the monitor
didn't come on. This implies to me that it's either the
mobo or the video card. Is that a logical assumption?
Yep.

FYI, I took the bios battery out (didn't know
how to short it) and put it back, with no effect.

If I'm correct that it's either the mobo or video card,

Does it actually have a separate video card ?

You could try physically removing it. It
should beep if the motherboard is working.

any suggestions on how to narrow it down
further without replacing things willy-nilly?

Unplug the video card and any other cards
and see if it will beep when you turn it on.
If it wont, likely the motherboard has died
and thats all that happened originally.

If it does beep, try a different video card.

Likely it is a dead motherboard tho if it doesnt beep
with no video card and you cant hear it booting with
the video card and hard drive installed. You should
try a spare power supply next because the 12V
may be coming up but not the 5V. Uncommon tho.

See if there are any visibly bulging or leaking capacitors
on the motherboard. Those are short vertical blue or black
plastic coated posts standing off the motherboard. Thats
a quite common cause of motherboard failure lately.

 

[Lil' Dave]

Start at the beginning. Check all the output voltages of the power supply.
Disconnect all peripherals from the PC including internal cards except
video. Disconnect HD and floppy ribbon cables, mouse and keyboard at mobo.
Try a spare generic video card. If it doesn't work. You've narrowed it
down.
Dave

 

[Mike]

Hi guys,

I appreciate your help on this.

You mean that the monitor displays a No Signal or its just black ?

Can you hear it booting even tho there is nothing on the screen ?

Does it actually have a separate video card ?

Everything's onboard except for the modem. Blah!

The monitor is the type that, normally, it keeps an orange light on
when the power is off, and it turns green when the monitor comes on.
At this time, though, it doesn't make it past the orange light,
implying that it's not getting a signal at all, and the screen stays
black.

Unfortunately, it doesn't make any noise other than the spooling sound
of the HD. I don't get the familiar "beep" a few seconds after
booting, but I wasn't sure if this sound goes through the sound card
or through some other internal piece. The sound card and video card
all seem to be the same piece, so I figure that if the beep comes
through the sound card then it could all be bad.

Likely it is a dead motherboard tho if it doesnt beep
with no video card and you cant hear it booting with
the video card and hard drive installed.

<snip>

You're probably right. My first guess was the motherboard, too, but
the guy that said he tried a new one made me doubt myself. I think he
probably just stuck a different CPU in.

Wow, it sucks that a mobo could go bad that quickly. I mean, the PC is
only a year old! The first computer I bought was in 95, and I still
use it just fine. I added more RAM and upgraded the CPU awhile back
just for the heck of it, but never had anything break on it.

Thanks again,

Mike

 

[CWatters]

This doesn't seem right to me. I've never known a hard drive to just
go bad like that, when a few days ago it was running fine.

Oh yes they can. In fact I suspect quite a significant percentage of drives
are fine one millisecond and dead the next. I was lucky, my last drive took
20 to 30 of minutes to die. Just long enough for me to get the data off that
had changed since the last backup.

 

[Rod Speed]

Everything's onboard except for the modem. Blah!

The monitor is the type that, normally, it keeps
an orange light on when the power is off, and
it turns green when the monitor comes on. At
this time, though, it doesn't make it past the
orange light, implying that it's not getting a
signal at all, and the screen stays black.

Unfortunately, it doesn't make any noise other
than the spooling sound of the HD. I don't get
the familiar "beep" a few seconds after booting,

The motherboard isnt starting much,
tho it is turning the power supply on.

but I wasn't sure if this sound goes through the
sound card or through some other internal piece.

There is normally a small speaker connected for that.

The sound card and video card all seem to be the same piece,

All integrated in the motherboard, anyway.

so I figure that if the beep comes through
the sound card then it could all be bad.

The lack of any beep usually means that the motherboard
isnt running at all because you should get one in the POST.

Its possible that the speaker has got disconnected
tho given that you're the second one to play with it.

You're probably right. My first guess was the motherboard,
too, but the guy that said he tried a new one made me doubt
myself. I think he probably just stuck a different CPU in.

Yeah, the story could well have got scrambled in transmission.

Wow, it sucks that a mobo could go bad that quickly. I mean, the
PC is only a year old! The first computer I bought was in 95, and
I still use it just fine. I added more RAM and upgraded the CPU
awhile back just for the heck of it, but never had anything break on it.

There has been a problem with capacitors that have gone bad
that have affected quite a few motherboards in the last few years.

Basically a complete stuffup with the manufacturing process.

I'd check that visually, looking for obvious bulging or leaking
blue or black plastic colored post like things sticking up from
the motherboard surface. If you can see that, its dead, Jim.

If you cant, it would be worth physically removing the
motherboard from the case and running it loose on the
table top with the speaker and power supply and mains
switch connected to eliminate the possibility if a short to
case that can produce that symptom.