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bad motherboard?
Name: t1nk3rb3ll Date: March 15, 2009 at 11:57:05 Pacific OS: Windows XP Subcategory: General
Comment:
i found a computer on the garbage and it doesnt work. it turns on but nothing comes up on the monitor. just black screen. if i press all the buttons on the keyboard i get a couple of beeps. the led lights turn on when i press the power button and i can hear the fan and cpu but thats about it. can some1 help me figure out whats wrong with it. thank you
Name: aegis1 Date: March 15, 2009 at 12:49:49 Pacific
Reply:
If you get beeps, that's a good sign. It normally means the motherboard and CPU are working fairly well. The first thing to try is another monitor.If the monitor isn't the problem, and if it has an onboard graphics adapter, try a graphics card.
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Response Number 2
Name: t1nk3rb3ll Date: March 16, 2009 at 12:51:14 Pacific
Reply:
thank you so much for your reply. im pretty sure is not the monitor because i used a different one and it doesnt work. i dont really know much about computers soooooo how do i know which graphics card to buy? also every once in a while a couple of purple lines on the screen appear and if i click the mouse repeatedly the screen fills up with white little boxes. is there any way to know for sure that it is the graphics card so i dont waste my money?
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Response Number 3
Name: OtheHill Date: March 16, 2009 at 12:58:12 Pacific
Reply:
If you can get white boxes then the problem may not be the onboard graphics either.
Try continuously tapping F2, F12, F6, F8 or Del as soon as you start the computer. If you get to the BIOS screens then the problem may be Windows or the hard drive. Open the case and see if there is a hard drive inside.
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Response Number 4
Name: t1nk3rb3ll Date: March 17, 2009 at 13:08:17 Pacific
Reply:
ok, so i opened up the stupid thing (this was my first time opening up a computer) and got to the motherboard. there is no graphics card i think its built into the motherboard. does that mean i have to buy a new one or is it fixable? p.s ( there is a hard drive inside) should i just give up on it?
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Response Number 5
Name: cliffpage Date: March 17, 2009 at 13:27:47 Pacific
Reply:
should you give up? depends what kind of pc it is. eg. if a pentium 1 or 2 - yes , more or less obsolete. if a pentium 4 then may be worth pursuing. but it's not worth buying parts if you done know it will fix it. really needs someone who has spare parts to try in it. do you have a small local computer shop who you can take it to and say that if they try a graphics card in it and it fixes it you will buy one from them?, or they might be able to tell you rough spec from looking inside, some are easy to tell from style of parts eg. pentium 2, long processor in black plastic casing.
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