Computer Dead any advice?

I run suse 10.2 and this morning for the first time ever it has failed.

On power up, the hard disk seems to run, the lights are showing on the front. The philips monitor says no signal received, which changes to cable not connected. No blue screen or anything. The system does not get far enough as to recognize the keyboard and light the LED’s.I am not a computer expert but have tried a compatible TV as monitor and it still says no signal.

I am thinking that the power unit is probably ok but suspect main board or hard disk?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Re-seat video card. If that fails, then try a different card, if you have one. Or try the video card in another system, if you can do that, to rule out a dead video card being the problem.

Hi
The other one it to check the cmos battery it may be dead…


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.1 x86 Kernel 2.6.27.7-9-pae
up 2:19, 1 user, load average: 0.11, 0.07, 0.09
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 177.82

HI

Thanks - I will re-seat video card. I do not have another video card.This was an Nvidea card. I will re-seat and get back later - thanks.It appears the monitor knows when it is connected but gets no signal. The boot up does ot get as far as finding the keyboard as the led do not glow and I would get this a little into bootup, when you could press esc and see what was happening.

Thanks for advice.

Ah really - this battery must be 4 years old and it was very cold overnight… mmm interesting thought.

I will try that and change it - if I have one.

Thanks very much

I had a similar problem a while back and it turned out to be a motherboard failure. Luckily it was under warranty. I hope you find that a new battery is all it needs.

Hi

I hope so but with my luck I expect the worse.

Thanks

Hi Again,

If I take out the cmos battery for testing what will be lost - also if it is dead what will have been lost?

I will try re-seating the video card first but will wait replies before taking out the cmos battery.

Thanks

All your non-default bios settings will be lost, like time, date, and any changes you made to booting order or to disable on board sound or whatever. Plus any overclocking settings or changes to memory timings you may have made.

Not a huge deal, but you’ll have to reset all of that.

Hi
In either case (if it’s dead or removed) any changes you made that
aren’t the default, eg boot order time etc.

Also have you tried booting without the keyboard connected, if it’s a
PS/2 one, don’t plug it in with the power on…


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.1 x86 Kernel 2.6.27.7-9-pae
up 3:47, 1 user, load average: 0.13, 0.17, 0.24
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 177.82

Hi

It’s a USB keyboard.

Thanks

Hi

I see would the settings have been saved in a file - in linux 10.2 by any chance?

Thanks

The bios settings are stored in memory located on the motherboard itself. Clearing the settings by removing the battery changes all settings back to default, but you don’t lose anything except the changes you made to those default settings.

After reading this you may luck out with a cmos battery but it is probably the power supply. After being in IT for so long and using computers the main thing that seems to fail most is the power supply. It is the easiest thing to skimp on for manufactures and the cheap ones fail after a while. (that is why I build my own) What sucks is often they fry the MB on the way out. There are ways to test the PS too so check that and you may get it back up and running.

Just took out the video card, disconnected the key board and put back.

After putting the keybord back - there were some notes but to carry on it said press F1 - I did this and it booted up and is working fine.

I will post the bootup notes - if anyone can help.

Thanks again

Hi

I cannot find a battery on the motherboard. They used to be round like a CR2032!!

Anyway on booting

the screen comes up
Phonix Award Bios v6

System is running in fail safe state

Please re-check UGuru utility the u being the greek symbol maybe with the u having a tail.

Press F1 to continue and DEL to set-up

I press F1 and all seems to be working well.

I have not touched a battery - just refitted the video card. disconnected and fitted the key board.

Thanks

Hi
Sounds like foresthill hit the nail on the head… :slight_smile: Although have
seen the battery and the keyboard (PS/2) do the same sort of thing.


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.1 x86 Kernel 2.6.27.7-9-pae
up 6:17, 2 users, load average: 1.10, 1.19, 0.70
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 177.82

Hi

But should it have a battery?

Should I hit DEL and go through whatever?

Sorry about these probably stupid questions but this was set up for me.

Thanks

Hi
It may be on the back of the motherboard if not on the component
side…

I would get into your BIOS and just check everything looks ok,
time, date etc.


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.1 x86 Kernel 2.6.27.7-9-pae
up 6:51, 1 user, load average: 0.38, 0.27, 0.28
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 177.82

signetone wrote:

>
> malcolmlewis;1922771 Wrote:
>> Hi
>> The other one it to check the cmos battery it may be dead…
>>
>> –
>> Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
>> openSUSE 11.1 x86 Kernel 2.6.27.7-9-pae
>> up 2:19, 1 user, load average: 0.11, 0.07, 0.09
>> GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 177.82
>
> Ah really - this battery must be 4 years old and it was very cold
> overnight… mmm interesting thought.
>
> I will try that and change it - if I have one.

For a real quicky check, heat the CMOS battery to something like body temp
(not blistering hot!). I kept fighting a garage door opener the wife had
in her car until we figured out that if the car was in the garage or she
had been driving with the interior warmed up it always worked - but if it
sat out in single-digit temps for a couple of hours it wouldn’t trigger the
door. Voltages checked OK, but warming the battery fixed the problem until
I got around to picking up a new battery.

If this is the case, you’ll probably have to reset your BIOS and save it to
cmos before the machine will boot. You will need a new battery but the
machine will run until the next time the old battery gets cold.


Will Honea