Hello techie friends, this is my way of giving back to those who love computers, but don't necessarily have the expertise to troubleshoot one properly.
First off, lets talk about troubleshooting and what it is. Troubleshooting is a process of elimination that one uses to determine a bad part in a computer. It's impossible to know by glancing at a computer what could be wrong with the multitude of resistors, transistors, cpu's, integrated circuits, and so on. Even one who designs motherboards on the circuit level, could not look at one, and know what's wrong with it, without having to test across every circuit. Proper troubleshooting is key to finding out what's going on with that rig of yours.
Where do you start if your computer is turning on, but not P.O.S.T'ing? Before you start scrambling your brain with which of the 12 components in your pc could be bad, start with what is crucial for your computer to just POST and give an error code. Think about what makes your computer POST, and not just BOOT, those are too different things.
What a computer needs to POST:
1. Power Supply
2. Motherboard
3. CPU
4. RAM
That's it! You've just made your troubleshooting that much easier by eliminating every other variable in the equation, by removing devices that are not needed for POSTing. You can tell right away if your video card is the problem, by just turning on the machine without one installed. If the card was your problem, then you will receive an error code from the BIOS indicating, that "hey!", theres no video card installed! This is a good sign, which means your card was bad, or incompatible with your board.
If you still get problems, then try removing your ram, and see if the motherboard will POST. Does it beep when you have no memory installed? Voila! Your memory is bad!
Repeat the process of troubleshooting each device individually and, I stress this heavily, ONE AT A TIME. IF you pull the ram and video card at the same time, and the board POST's, then how do you know which one it was? Unplug one device, turn on the computer, see if it POST's, and if not, on to the next device.
In the end, if it's still not working, you should be left with a power supply, a board, and a cpu. Reason dictates trying a power supply next, as it is the easier of the three to install, and the cheapest to replace. Still not working? I'd buy a new motherboard. A motherboard will NOT POST at all without a CPU installed in it, and can actually damage the board, so don't try booting one up without the CPU installed.
In my experience, when a computer does not POST at all, but turns on, it is either the power supply or motherboard. These components are highly sensitive, and easily damaged.
Troubleshooting can also involve having a test machine that you know works, so you can test your parts in it. Not sure if your video card works? Pop it into another machine, and see if it does. Having a test bed machine can make troubleshooting that much easier!
I hope this helps, and hope that all of your troubleshooting experience goes well! Remember, ALL experience fixing computers will add to your mental database of troubleshooting. Catastrophes will benefit your knowledge to no end.
First off, lets talk about troubleshooting and what it is. Troubleshooting is a process of elimination that one uses to determine a bad part in a computer. It's impossible to know by glancing at a computer what could be wrong with the multitude of resistors, transistors, cpu's, integrated circuits, and so on. Even one who designs motherboards on the circuit level, could not look at one, and know what's wrong with it, without having to test across every circuit. Proper troubleshooting is key to finding out what's going on with that rig of yours.
Where do you start if your computer is turning on, but not P.O.S.T'ing? Before you start scrambling your brain with which of the 12 components in your pc could be bad, start with what is crucial for your computer to just POST and give an error code. Think about what makes your computer POST, and not just BOOT, those are too different things.
What a computer needs to POST:
1. Power Supply
2. Motherboard
3. CPU
4. RAM
That's it! You've just made your troubleshooting that much easier by eliminating every other variable in the equation, by removing devices that are not needed for POSTing. You can tell right away if your video card is the problem, by just turning on the machine without one installed. If the card was your problem, then you will receive an error code from the BIOS indicating, that "hey!", theres no video card installed! This is a good sign, which means your card was bad, or incompatible with your board.
If you still get problems, then try removing your ram, and see if the motherboard will POST. Does it beep when you have no memory installed? Voila! Your memory is bad!
Repeat the process of troubleshooting each device individually and, I stress this heavily, ONE AT A TIME. IF you pull the ram and video card at the same time, and the board POST's, then how do you know which one it was? Unplug one device, turn on the computer, see if it POST's, and if not, on to the next device.
In the end, if it's still not working, you should be left with a power supply, a board, and a cpu. Reason dictates trying a power supply next, as it is the easier of the three to install, and the cheapest to replace. Still not working? I'd buy a new motherboard. A motherboard will NOT POST at all without a CPU installed in it, and can actually damage the board, so don't try booting one up without the CPU installed.
In my experience, when a computer does not POST at all, but turns on, it is either the power supply or motherboard. These components are highly sensitive, and easily damaged.
Troubleshooting can also involve having a test machine that you know works, so you can test your parts in it. Not sure if your video card works? Pop it into another machine, and see if it does. Having a test bed machine can make troubleshooting that much easier!
I hope this helps, and hope that all of your troubleshooting experience goes well! Remember, ALL experience fixing computers will add to your mental database of troubleshooting. Catastrophes will benefit your knowledge to no end.