Major PC failure

[Vespula]

Monitor works

Graphics card works

I switch on the PC, monitor comes to life, lights come on on PC, hard drive makes start up noises, then nothing.

Nothing on screen, so can't get into BIOS, or safe mode.

It is an Acer Aspire desktop and the ALT+F10 combo to reinstall windows does not work either.

I am out of ideas.

It won't boot from the DVD drive either, not sure if I left DVD drive first boot option, but I think I did.

Edited by Vespula on Thursday 29th July 08:15

[marshalla]

If there's nothing on screen, how do you know that the monitor and graphics card are working ?

Are there any beeps while it's apparently failing to start ?

[Vespula]

Swapped out monitor and graphics card.

No beeps, I can hear the fans starting and the hard drive makes start up noises.

The fact that I cannot access BIOS has me worried it might be a motherboard problem.

Thanks for taking the time to answer.

[Jinx]

Do you have another PC you can test the components in? If not you need to eliminate one thing at a time. Disconnect the hard drive (and all other drives) and remove the memory. Put a single stick in the first slot and try getting into the bios. Try again with different stick - and repeat until you are out of sticks. If you have a spare PSU around try replacing that.
Download the mother board manual and try to find the reset jumper. Does it have onboard graphics? Remove the graphics card and try that. The lack of bleeps isn't encouraging but it maybe the speaker is malfunctioning and the motherboard can still post.
How old is it - have you googled to see if this is a frequent occurance for the model?

[SpunkyMonkey]

Does the motherboard have an LED board on it? Some motherboards use these to show error codes instead of beeping.
Are any of the power cables to the motherboard loose - modern motherboards often require a 6 pin cable in addition to the standard wide block.

[Vespula]

Thanks for all the help. It was a loose connection, although how connections get loose is a mystery.

Cheers.

[dodgyviper]

Vespula said:

Thanks for all the help. It was a loose connection, although how connections get loose is a mystery.

Cheers.

ah cable creep - how I love it. It does happen, tension in the joint pushing connector out. Thermal expansion/contraction. Corrosion on the contact surfaces.

etc, glad all ok cos my immediate thought was m/board