I am having a really frustrating problem with my P4. I woke up in the morning and tried to turn my computer on but the fan started then stopped and nothing happened. The monitor didn't turn on, the boot sequence didn't start (no beep), the hard drive didn't start at all. It was like it was dead but the led light for the comp stayed on. I have taken the comp apart - dusted everything, checked if the RAM is loose, checked the cables. The only thing that seemed to work to give it life at all was when I unhooked the HARD DRIVE from the system, the fans stayed on and the beep happened, but there was still nothing showing on the monitor. Yet, when I put the the power cord back into the Hard Drive(without even attaching the hard drive to the motherboard) it goes back to being dead. The same thing happens with I attach it to the Motherboard. But when I just attach it to the motherboard and not to the power supply it stays on and does the initial beep again. I tried this with the DVDrom with the HD disconnected and I got power and the beep, so it seems like it is a problwem with the HD only. I am confused as to whether this really is a hard drive problem or a power problem or a Motherboard problem? Any Ideas would be greatly appreciated as I have been working on this thing for a few days now and it is driving me nuts.

Thank you

Geneviv

If you've tried it with everything disconnected, including the hard drive and still get no BIOS info showing on the screen, then you may have a dead motherboard. Try resetting the CMOS and see if that doesn't change anything. If it doesn't, I hope your PC is under warranty! If it is, get it into the shop as soon as possible.

If you do get the BIOS screen back, reconnect everything and try booting it. But to be honest, from the sounds of it, I think you're mobo is dead.

Hi,

Thank you for the advice - I reset the CMOS and I got the bios screen when everthing was disconnected but once again the second I put power to the Hard Drive the machine went dead again. I unhooked the power to the Hard Drive and the system started. The PC is not under warranty unfortunately AHHH Does anyone know whether this is a HD problem or a Power problem. I am hoping we have ruled out it being a Motherboard problem now.

Any advice appreciated.

Thank you

Geneviv

It sounds like a power supply problem. Locate another and without installing it into the case just test by plugging the cables into the motherboard and drives and see if it will boot up. If it boots it's the power supply and if it doesnt it's the motherboard.