i'm trying to diagnose a PII. the fan and the lights run, but i hear nothing from the motherboard, is it fried? it doesn't seem to be running. any suggestions would be helpful. could it be the CMOS?

Sounds like a ribbon problem to me. Remove the CD-ROM ribbon so only the hard drive remains connected. Adjust the ribbon to use each of the two connections to find the one that works. If the system still dosen't detect it try looking at the jumpers on the hard drive. If none of this works try a different hard drive (hard drive problems are unlikely in this scenario). After the hard drive is detected you can add other IDE units like the CD-ROM or the zip drive or what ever. Good Luck Jason Nelson www.RK7.com

There are two bunches of wires that come from the power supply to the motherboard. Are they firmly plugged in? I assume you have no monitor. What else can you say for sure is not working? Can you feel or hear whether your hard drive turns? If your hard drive turns, it could be a video card. Can you boot from a floppy and hear booting sounds? This would suggest a video only problem. If it is not, you might suspect the power supply next. It is this kind of process of elimination that you come to the defective or unplugged component.

You should hear some beeps if the cpu is running at all. If you don't hear any beeps that's kinda serious. Power off and pull all the cards out. If you still don't hear any beeps, it's either the motherboard, cpu, memory or power supply. You could try re-seating the memory, power connector and the cpu. If you do start hearing beeps, you probably fixed the problem. Plug everything back in. If after pulling all the cards you do hear some beeps, put the cards back in one at a time, starting with the video card.

also you might check your manual or get one and look to see if there is a CMOS Clear jumper TheGorx TheGorx.com Windows Help